East High School parents advocate for transparency from DPS on school safety
A newly-formed group of DPS parents is frustrated by what they call a lack of transparency and action from the Denver Board of Education on school safety. Several parents attended Monday's school board meeting to express concerns.
"'Mom, Denver police have tweeted that two deans were shot in the building. I'm really scared,'" said Lynsee Hudson, co-founder of the Parent Safety Advocacy Group.
She was reading a text her son sent her while hiding in an East High School classroom on March 22. In the wake of two recent shootings at the school, parents are demanding action.
"I have a daughter, instead of taking her around the country to look at schools I'm sending her to a therapist," said East parent Vince Jordan.
They've created a Parent Safety Advocacy Group (P-SAG) and called on the Board of Education to make changes.
"The safety plan right now offers the administration and schools no options and nothing of consequence to deal with the behavioral issues that are plaguing our schools," said DPS parent Jennifer Wahlers.
P-SAG says requests they made last week for the board to stop holding safety meetings in private, received no response.
"The board should immediately become transparent and stop with the inappropriate use of executive session starting with the meeting today," said Hudson.
Now the group is adding additional requests including the creation of comprehensive plans for safety and discipline, and a "whistleblower hotline" for DPS staff to report concerns.
"Stop saying 'We're looking into it.' We need answers and need them quickly. If it were your child you would do it as fast as you could," said East High parent Astrid Ruiz.
If the district doesn't listen, some parents say they'll pull their children from school.
"Parents all over our community are exploring whether they'll send their kids to private schools if they're fortunate enough to be able to do that, or if we're gonna pack up and move," said Wahlers, "it's come to a point where if we don't get some concrete answers and steps moving forward, we need to do what's best to keep our kids safe."
CBS Colorado asked DPS about P-SAG's requests. They responded with this comment: The district recently approved a plan to put armed school resource officers (SROs) back in Denver high schools. That's been in place for a week. P-SAG has not come out for or against SROs. Parents say while many students may feel safer with SROs, others won't. They say SROs may just be a Band-Aid, and they want to see a lot more action on safety than just adding SROs.
"On March 23rd the Board of Education directed the Superintendent to create a Long-term comprehensive security plan. This plan is to include extensive community involvement and be presented to the Board of Education for approval by the end of June 2023. The DPS Board of Education looks forward to engaging with the community during this process and is eager to learn more about the Superintendent's plan to keep our students safe," said Board President Xóchitl Gaytán in a statement.