Parent groups raised concerns about resource officers before Evergreen High School shooting

Two Evergreen High School parent groups raised concerns about the availability of school asset officers in the hours before Wednesday s shooting that critically wounded two high school students parents declared Friday At a Tuesday night meeting of the Evergreen High School Parent Facilitator Aspirant Association a parent questioned why Evergreen High didn t have a new school stock officer to replace its previous officer who had been away on diagnostic leave for nearly a year The school s principal explained that Jeffco Constituents Schools had deprioritized SROs for its mountain schools which would share officers between them mentioned Cindy Mazeika the PTSA s president One parent questioned explicitly what would happen if there were a shooting at the school We as parents didn t know about this until somebody urged about it on the open floor at the end of the PTA meeting on Tuesday night Mazieka reported Jacki Kelley spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Sheriff s Office informed reporters Thursday that a school store officer was not at the school when -year-old Desmond Holly started firing his gun critically wounding two students before he fatally shot himself Deputies arrived on the scene minutes after the shooting began Kelley revealed The school s full-time deputy was on physiological leave Kelley explained and the gap has been filled by several part-time officers The deputy assigned to the school that morning was dispatched to a nearby accident which Kelley commented was routine and did not violate departmental approach In an email Friday spokespeople for the school district did not directly respond to questions about the parent groups concerns The district wrote that an SRO was assigned to the high school but it directed other questions to the sheriff s office including how assignment decisions are made Spokespeople for the sheriff s office did not promptly respond to an email seeking comment Friday afternoon In the district s contract with the Jefferson County Sheriff s Office the agency agreed to provide school stock officers to a dozen county schools including Evergreen High as staffing allows The district has contracts with various cities to provide SROs at its other schools The parents concerns come as the district adjusts to directly paying for the officers In April the district learned that it would have to begin paying for of the cost for the officers during the - school year according to an April budget presentation That meant an additional million in district funding which was provided in the budget In its message the district disclosed its SRO operation is a point of pride for our district and we remain committed to sustaining it In survey material presented to the Jeffco school board in June a majority of families staff and students stated feeling safe at the district s schools On Wednesday morning shortly before the shooting began at the high school Evergreen Middle School parents also raised concerns about SRO staffing announced Sarah Aller the head of that school s PTA In lieu of an SRO staff at the middle school purchased new walkie-talkies for school personnel to communicate Aller disclosed The PTA used of its own funds to cover the purchase Related Articles Evergreen High School shooter s online footprint reflects new wave of extremism experts say Handgun airsoft gun confiscated at Colorado Springs high school students injured in Evergreen High School shooting remain in critical condition Pettersen The Evergreen High School shooting feels overwhelming but gun violence is a plan choice Who is Evergreen High School shooting suspect Desmond Holly Madison Mihalik a senior at Evergreen High disclosed she emailed the district s superintendent in September after at least one empty shell casing was uncovered in a school stairwell In her email which she provided to The Post she wrote that the school had been targeted by a threat the day before the bullet was exposed and that she felt unsafe The district and the sheriff s office did not respond to questions about the bullet development which both Mazieka and Aller also recalled Mihalik declared the school typically had an SRO present during her freshman year but that changed during her sophomore year In a new email she sent to district personnel hours after the shooting she stated she and her classmates rarely have a stock officer at our school Do we not deserve to go to school feeling safe she wrote Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day