By: Suzie Glassman/NewsBreak Denver
(Castle Rock, CO) DougCo district superintendent Erin Kane responded to the shooting at Denver’s East High School in an email to district families and staff.
Kane reassured families and staff that she’d been in contact with local law enforcement throughout the day and that there had been no threats to the community or its schools.
“As a mom and a leader of schools, I know how events like today can shake us all and raise questions about how we are keeping our students safe,” said Kane. “I want to take this moment to reassure you that nothing is more important than the safety of our students and staff.”
Kane also expressed gratitude for the continued support of DougCo law enforcement, including school resource officers (SROs) who work inside the district’s middle and high schools to prevent and protect students and staff from violence.
The district has one SRO assigned to each of its nine high schools and their feeder middle schools. SROs are the only individuals allowed to carry a weapon onto school grounds.
According to the district website, “SROs are a uniformed presence in the schools, taking incident and offense reports, investigating crimes on school grounds, and gathering intelligence information about potential school threats.
“At the same time, the SROs have retained their liaison, educational, and counseling roles, resulting in a full range of interaction with students daily.”
The district’s security response protocol includes explicit instructions for communicating with families via emergency messaging.
“Our hearts go out to the impacted staff and students and the entire East High School community,” said Kane.
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