Students express fears to school board after terrifying East High School shooting

East High School students gathered in the school gym on Thursday to raise money and help the family of a classmate injured by gunfire. 

They held a volleyball game between the boy's and girls' soccer teams, raising $4,000 to help.  

Luis Garcia was shot in his car on Feb.13 as he apparently was leaving campus at about 3 p.m.

The topic of gun violence and school safety is weighing heavily on the minds of students since the shooting of the talented young soccer player.

"I do worry about being in school and walking around," said Dynasty Esparza, as she left school after the benefit.

As the school board met Thursday evening in the lobby of the building downstairs, some students shared their worries.

"Having to go through things like that, it's real hard," Alberto Velasquez said. 

"You go to school to get and education and to like advance your intelligence not to be scared for your life," Olivia Saavedra said. 

Senior Ellie McGoldrick said the school felt more dangerous than at any other time during her four years there. 

"Sometimes I'm too scared or stressed or anxious to go to class," she said. When I am going to class I feel like I'm being distracted all the time… I do think the school board needs to take some time and DPS needs to take some time to figure out a way to make learning safe and make school safe because I'm not learning anything right now."

Outside the meeting, district superintendent, Dr. Alex Marrero says, "This is not a DPS issue solely. This is a city, county state and also a national issue. My colleagues across the council at Great City Schools have the same things happening. Unfortunately in some cases in their schools." 

Students see that it is a big issue. 

"The bigger issue is with gun violence and gun regulations," Saavedra said. 

"The real source of the problem, the school can't really do that much about," said True Scott, a student. "It's more of a youth violence thing that is starting to rise in Colorado."

Some students, including those who took their concerns to the city council Tuesday night, are calling for the return of school resource officers, which the district removed when it ended its contract with Denver police in 2021. 

"I think that our school needs better law enforcement," said Jayda Westmoreland. 

"I struggle with that because I know that there's a lot of issues with police and I also know that I'm a person of privilege who typically has a more positive experience with police than others. But I do think that for the time being there does need to be a more heavy police presence in and around the school," said McGoldrick.

While the school board did not bring up the topic of violence around East High School on Thursday night, Vice President Auon'tai Anderson said while discussing the district's relationship with police. 

"I want to dispel the notion that the only way to curb violence in schools is by having SROs in schools. That's not true," Anderson said.

Students are planning a gun violence summit at the school on March 1 to talk more about their concerns and what can be done.