DENVER — Denver’s school board voted unanimously Thursday to allow armed police back into the city’s high schools, a decision that comes a day after two administrators were shot at East High School and nearly three years after the board decided to remove officers from buildings.
The Board of Education suspended its policy barring school resource officers through June and directed Superintendent Alex Marrero to work with Denver Mayor Michael Hancock to “externally fund” two armed police officers and as many as two mental health workers at all high schools for the rest of the academic year.
“The Board of Education will request that the Denver Police Department ensure every armed police officer is appropriately trained in the use of firearms, de-escalation techniques, policing in a school environment, knowledgeable of the school community they intend to serve and skilled in community policing,” the seven-member board wrote in the memo to the superintendent approved Thursday.
