Denver schools ramp up security as fall semester kicks off
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With kids back in classrooms, school districts in metro Denver are taking steps this fall to better keep students and staff safe.
Why it matters: The school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in May resurfaced all-too-familiar fears for Colorado parents about the safety of their children.
What's happening: Officials at Denver Public Schools have equipped every exterior door across the district's 200-plus schools with new sensors, district spokesperson Scott Pribble tells Axios Denver.
- The sensors trigger alarms to the school office, where staff have immediate access to cameras and can call police with a panic button.
- Officials are also in the process of replacing cameras across all district schools.
Context: DPS phased out school resource officers in fall 2021 as a means to reduce the school-to-prison pipeline — the link between punishments and the criminal justice system that disproportionately impacts students of color.
- The district now utilizes 77 onsite "campus safety officers," or staff armed with tasers, to help with school security, Pribble says.
- DPS also works with 22 armed officers, who are stationed in patrol vehicles in their assigned part of the city and respond to schools when dispatched.
Zoom out: Other public schools in metro Denver have also ramped up security measures in recent months.
- The Cherry Creek School District has installed new technology that lets teachers in every classroom lock their doors with a single button, and is also working to improve its radio system and communication between personnel during lockdown events.
- All classrooms are equipped with "RedBags" that contain first aid supplies marked with a QR code that activates a secure communication system via cellphone during a security lockdown.
The big picture: Public schools across the country have been scrambling to improve security for the new academic year in the wake of Uvalde.
- Similarly to Colorado, a growing number of districts are investing in panic buttons, security cameras, metal detectors and other tools and strategies to prevent another tragedy.
The intrigue: The heightened interest in school safety has made for a busy summer for security consulting companies and driven sales for new safety products like bulletproof backpacks.
- "The inquiries have increased greatly since the last shooting, just based off what our product is and does," Peter Facchini, co-founder and CEO of ProtectED Rooms — which produces mobile bullet-proof shelving systems — told Denver7.
The bottom line: Kids are returning to the classroom this semester fearing for their lives.
- "I'm nervous to go back … because you go to school never knowing what'll happen that day or even if you'll make it home," Kenzie Abbott, a junior at Cherokee Trail High School in Aurora, told 9News.