Is it appropriate for Denver Public Schools educators to do pat-downs? Safety coordinator says it's not an "authentic question"

The student safety coordinator for Denver Public Schools has weighed in on community concerns regarding educators being required to conduct pat-down searches of students who are deemed threats to others. 

For weeks since a shooting at East High School, in which two school deans were shot by a student who they were pat-down searching as part of his action and intervention plan, CBS News Colorado has heard from several teachers, parents, and administrators about their concerns on district policies, including school educators being asked to conduct these pat-down searches. 

Faculty at some schools in DPS say that campus security guards, who are not cops, are allowed to do the pat-down searches of students deemed a high-level threat, but that school faculty are being asked to do these searches more often.

Many teachers and administrators say that shouldn't be their job, especially given what happened at East. 

"Where in my job description does it say we are responsible for a pat down?"  said Rachel Sandoval, a teacher in the district, who chatted with CBS News Colorado this week. "It is crossing the line to make us pat down a child if that child is a high threat level. The district needs to put supports in place for faculty."

So, CBS News Colorado asked DPS Student Safety Coordinator Dr. Jane Lineman if she believes making educators conduct searches of students deemed dangerous is acceptable. She said it's not an "authentic question."

"I don't know if it's necessarily the question of whether it's acceptable or not," Lineman said. "I think what you might be receiving is some feedback that is a typical response after a crisis occurs. Everyone has a range of emotions and a range of questions... so, for that particular inquiry of like, is this appropriate? Is that or not? I don't know if it's really an authentic question. I think it's more reflective of a crisis response of people looking for answers."

CBS News Colorado found of the more than 1,000 students currently enrolled in DPS who have been assessed for threats, 151 of them were a high threat level, meaning the student had the potential to act violently on the threat and there was an identified target. 

Once a threat like that is determined through a threat assessment, school faculty members implement an action and intervention plan specifically designed for the student in question to make sure the student and others at the school are safe. 

Interventions in the plan can include mental health resources, daily check-ins and check-outs, schedule changes, or pat-down searches. 

See more about threat assessments by clicking here.

Lineman says the district trains staff regularly on how to manage threats and carry out action and intervention plans.

"We also do continuous professional development in our district with all educators around how to identify if there's a concern, how to engage students how to build relationships, how to implement plans, how to monitor those outcomes, which I think are all reflective of the success of our students in our district," Lineman said. 

CBS News Colorado obtained hundreds of pages of district training documents about how threats are assessed and handled.

The documents show items of which staff should be mindful when conducting pat-down searches, for example, the staff member conducting the pat down should be the same gender as the student, but there doesn't appear to be much guidance on what to do if a pat-down search goes wrong, or what to do if a student pulls a gun on a faculty member conducting that pat-down search.

Read the district's full policy on student searches here:

That's something parent Bryan Clark, who has two children in DPS, wants to know more about. 

"Are deans trained with how to respond to someone pulling a gun on them?" Clark said. "These should be occurring in an isolated location, not by a school administrator."