As two mothers with children attending DPS schools, we were brought together by a shared concern for the safety of our kids in the wake of the recent shooting at East High School. Our children are expressing feelings of hopelessness and fear, wondering if they will be safe at school. As parents, it’s heartbreaking to see our kids becoming numb to the violence that has become all too common in their lives.

That’s why we co-founded Resign DPS, a campaign group demanding that all board members of DPS permanently step down. We believe that DPS has failed in their responsibility to keep our children safe. The decision to place a high-risk student in East High School, despite prior weapon charges, and the lack of resources to serve these students, raises serious questions about the integrity of the DPS board’s decisions.

Our kids are asking us questions like: “Mom, are you still going to send me to East? I am really scared of high school. I feel like I am being sent into a war zone with all the shootings this school year.” Or even more gut wrenching, showing signs of apathy — “I’m used to this stuff now, this is just how it goes. This is our world now.” How do you answer these questions? How do you encourage your kid to go to school each and every day when in the back of your own mind you are panicked about their safety?

Traumatized adults can’t help traumatized children. As parents we are hurting, and we know our principals and teachers are, too.

As most have read, the student who shot the two deans at East was arrested for weapon charges in 2021 prior to being expelled from a nearby school district and subsequently transferred into East High School. Daily, the deans had to pat him down for weapons. Many parents questioned the integrity of DPS’ decision to place a high-risk student into a dense, traditional high school that lacks the resources to serve these students. And many may not realize that even if there is a school resource officer, or SRO, in your school now, they won’t be doing pat-downs. They are not legally allowed to. So we continue to put our kids and educators at risk.

This week, we learned at least 151 students were considered a high threat and 20 students are on pat-down protocols in Denver high schools. We hope you read that out loud — twenty more chances for another tragic accident this school year. In June 2020, against 17 DPS high school and middle school principals’ objections, the DPS Board passed the resolution to end its contract with DPD and remove SROs from the district. With the SROs’ removal, what actions did DPS Board take to risk assess and provide alternatives?

Parents also learned that in 2019, Principal Kimberly Grayson reported dozens of warnings and requests for help that she sent to DPS during her time at MLK Early College. All were ignored. Reading her story, we could only imagine what else we don’t know about other Denver public schools principals and their ignored pleas for help.

An April 3, Denver School Leaders Association (DSLA) letter to DPS called for school safety changes. DPS has a history of overruling school leaders as at DCIS, where a school leader sought a restraining order against a student for a text sent, “About to shoot up the school and only go for the principal.” The school leader was told by DPS she would be kept from coming to school, not the student.

Despite numerous warnings, DPS Board has failed at its job by failing to consider, approve and enforce alternative approaches to keeping students safe following SRO removal.

These failures are due to a school board that is dysfunctional and ineffective. All one has to do is Google, “DPS school board infighting.” A long list of allegations of racism, misogyny, etc., will pop up among the results.

The YouTube videos of shouting matches among school board members speak volumes. We never voted to have our board participate in reality TV, but that is the show we are currently watching.

All of this while parents, students and teachers continually worry about what is going to happen at school next. How many more days of school will be missed due to a “safety issue” or “lockdown”?

What is going to be the long-term emotional and psychological impact on our children from experiencing this violence at school — assuming they aren’t the victim.

We respectfully request the DPS board to do the right thing and resign. If you agree, please sign our petition at: https://tinyurl.com/resigndps.

The status quo of allowing this board to continue its infighting is putting our kids’, teachers’, and administrators’ safety at risk. Our students’, teachers’ and administrators’ lives depend on it.

Dorian Warren and Lynne Ly are parents of Denver Public Schools students and co-founders of Resign DPS.

Dorian Warren and Lynne Ly are parents of Denver Public Schools students and co-founders of Resign DPS.