Last month’s shooting at East High School — Denver’s flagship public school in the City Park neighborhood — is not an east side problem but a Denver issue, members of the Parents-Safety Advocacy Group (P-SAG) said Monday.

“If kids at East have trauma, so do kids in the far northeast,” said Darlene Sampson, a licensed clinical social worker and education equity consultant.

Sampson added, “We find inequity even in trauma.”

Sampson previously worked for Denver Public Schools (DPS) as director of culturally responsible teaching for more than a decade until the position was eliminated in 2016.

P-SAG — which has nearly 1,100 members — formed in the wake of the East High School shooting. The group has been holding weekly press conferences near the campus every Monday to demand the district be more transparent as officials devise a long-term safety plan.

Following the shooting at East High on March 22 that injured two administrators, the DPS Board of Education tasked Superintendent Alex Marrero to provide a long-term, comprehensive safety plan.

The board first instructed Marrero to develop and maintain a safe schools plan on Oct. 21, 2021.

Marrero has said he intends to release the first version of his safety plan on May 1, with a final version on June 26.

The group was also critical of the superintendent’s recently announced advisory safety committee, which Marrero has said he wants to keep small and intimate.

“This is not just about school buildings. It’s very much about the blocks around our schools,” said Vernon Jones Jr., a father of two DPS students and executive partner of FaithBridge.

Dane Washington Sr. — a community site coordinator with Denver Metro Community Impact, which began as an initiative to address violence in Park Hill — agreed.

“Our kids are accessing weapons through social media, believe it or not,” Washington said.

Jones said community partners will be essential in the process, adding, “We must be at the table and we must be co-creators if this is going to be sustainable in our city.”

Board members, at a recent meeting, offered several suggestions for possible committee members, including P-SAG.

Steve Katsaros, a founding P-SAG member, described on Monday what would be limited involvement with district officials asking — after the initial safety plan is released — for responses to three questions.

It is unclear whether P-SAG will participate in the superintendent’s advisory committee.

DPS Board Director Scott Esserman and Vice President Auon’tai M. Anderson attended the press conference Monday, as did Denver City Councilman Chris Hinds, the first city officials to do so.

Hinds said some kids feel safe in schools, but unsafe traveling to school.

“We’re trying to get things to move faster than the system really wants,” Hinds said. “But as people said here, and rightfully so, the more we wait, the more kids are put in harm’s way.”

Last week, the city council requested a meeting with Marrero — which he skipped, instead sending a representative — that Hinds said he is hopeful the superintendent will attend in the future.