DENVER — The Denver Public Schools board voted Thursday to bring back School Resource Officers (SROs), pending approval by Superintendent Alex Marrero.
After hours of discussion, the board voted 4-3 to overturn the 2020 policy that previous removed SROs from the district (EL 10.10.), and update the policy to allow for the return of SROs on district campuses.
The new policy calls for Marrero to "Establish administration policies and a Memorandum of Understanding with the Denver Police Department for when the persistent presence of SROs on school property is necessary at district-managed and charter schools."
It includes specific limitations for officers:
- SROs who do not follow board policy, administration policy, the district’s discipline matrix or best practices from the National Association of School Resource Officers are promptly removed at the discretion of the superintendent.
- Citations and arrests are monitored. Provide a quarterly report of citations and arrests through the consent agenda at Board of Education meetings through the end of the 25-26 school year. Provide annual reports to the Board of Education in the following years. Data shall include the reason for the citation and arrest and be disaggregated by age and marginalized identities as defined in Ends 1.0 (Equity) at district-managed and charter schools. Promptly take corrective action and notify the board if the district is aware of a disproportionate number of citations and arrests across marginalized identities at the district and school levels.
The policy at the center of Thursday night's vote was proposed by board member Scott Baldermann.
It was originally much longer and more detailed, with a total of 11 guidelines the superintendent would have to follow. Ultimately, the board voted to amend that proposal, striking all but two of those guidelines.
Baldermann, who was part of the board that voted unanimously to remove SRO's in 2020, made his case for the new approach:
"The significant rise in the number of real and fake guns that have shown up in schools in last two years [is] very different from pre-2020," Balermann said. "We've seen a huge rise in violence outside of schools. It's creeping more and more into our schools. The incredibly easy access to guns is very problematic, and that is outside our realm as elected board members. That's a state and federal government needs to figure that out."
"This is probably the No. 1 thing that made up my mind: The number of contacts with police officers and district has stayed steady over the years, pre- and post-2020. But the number of tickets and arrests have come way down. Schools are still calling 911, they are still calling police, but I think the awareness around the work we did in 2020 has led to decrease in citations and arrests. It's proof this is possible."
Thursday's vote was split 4-3. Baldermann was joined by Board President Xochitl Gaytan and board members Dr. Carrie Olson and Charmaine Lindsay voting in favor of returning SROs. Board Vice President Auon'tai Anderson and board members Scott Esserman and Michelle Quattlebaum voted against the proposal.
"The community at large really played a big role in the final decision making of the passing of this current version of EL 1010," Gaytan said after the vote.
"The students their parents and families, staff teachers, principals across the district made it known that they were ready and asking for a return of SROs with parameters in place. We answered that call," Gaytan said.
"I'm walking away with my head held high knowing that I gave it all to defend a policy that we've seen positive results on," said Anderson, who led the 2020 efforts to remove SROs from DPS.
"I'm disappointed in my colleagues who voted in the affirmative, and I think they are out of compliance with our Ends Policy around ending system of oppression and should consider what their future is like on the Denver School Board,” Anderson said.
On Friday, Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said in a statement that he was "pleased" with the board's vote and the "opportunity to again have officers full-time in Denver's comprehensive high schools for positive engagement with youth and to provide a safety presence."
Thomas said that he and Marrero spoke on Thursday night and that he looks forward to working with him to create a detailed plan to "guide the work of SROs and takes into consideration feedback from school communities and the Denver Public Schools board."
Before Thursday's vote, the current district policy said the superintendent will "Not staff district schools with school resource officers or the consistent presence of security armed with guns or any other law enforcement personnel."
In March, after a shooting that injured two staff members at East High School, Marrero said DPS would add an armed officer to each high school. He acknowledged the decision went against district policy.
Marrero said at the time that the plan would be in place through the remainder of the school year. The Board of Education backed the superintendent's decision.
The school board voted unanimously in the summer of 2020 to remove 18 Denver police officers from its schools and rely on the school district's own safety officers instead.
The decision came amid social justice protests and was based on data showing the majority of students ticketed and arrested were Black and Latino students between the ages of 10 and 15.
Movimiento Podor is a Latino advocacy group that worked to remove SROs from DPS back in 2020 and advocated against their return now. Several members were at the board meeting Thursday night.
"We're very disappointed that the majority of the board voted to bring back police," said Executive Director Elsa Bañuelos-Lindsay. "That means were going back on this historical win that we won three years ago. We're not addressing root causes of what happening to our kids. This is just going to make it worse, were going to criminalize more of our youth, more of our BIPOC working class students."
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