DENVER — At least one Denver Public Schools (DPS) campus is taking matters into its own hands with regard to school safety and security.
McAuliffe International Middle School Principal Kurt Dennis announced Friday that parent volunteers will monitor the school entrances, and adults with yellow vests will help supervise and secure the exterior of the building.
“I am supportive of it as far as a first step goes,” said Becky Nemec, who has one child at McAuliffe and another at Park Hill Elementary.
The parent patrols come in response to recent school violence, in particular the shooting at East High School last month, just 2.5 miles from McAuliffe.
“I don’t think there’s an easy fix to this problem,” Nemec said. “I love that Principal Dennis was a little more holistic in that he has parents there to monitor the doors and make sure it’s just the students who have a need to be there.”
“I used to be the executive director over the zone that oversees McAuliffe,” said Vernon Jones, who has two kids in Denver Public Schools. He applauds Dennis for taking action.
“Kurt can’t wait to have a safe building,” Jones said. “If he allows safety to be put on the back-burner, that’s 1,600 kids, plus staff, whose lives are vulnerable every day.”
Parents say it’s a move in the right direction, but their school, like others, has disciplinary issues that are much more systemic — such as teachers afraid to discipline students who are acting up and disrupting the learning environment.
“Exactly,” said Nemec. “I mean, I feel like the district policies, like the disciplinary matrix that they have, has essentially normalized bad behavior.”
Nemec, Jones and other McAuliffe parents told Denver7 on Monday that the entire DPS Board of Education must go.
“I think dysfunction is a nice title right now,” Jones said. “You’re just derelict of duties, from the board on down.”
“Oh, 100%,” Nemec said. “I definitely feel like we have to recall the whole board.”
Many parents also believe a school resource officer (SRO) should be part of added security in the future at McAuliffe.
“As long as it’s implemented carefully and considerately,” Nemec said. “As a parent monitor at the door, I’m not going to be doing pat downs of students. I still don’t feel comfortable with administrators doing pat downs of students.”
Under the new safety plan, students at McAuliffe are no longer allowed to wear hoodies. Security cameras and mental health services have also been added.
