EVERGREEN, Colo. — A student shot himself and two others at Evergreen High School on Sept. 10, just hours after parent-teacher associations at both the high school and middle school raised safety concerns about the lack of a full-time school resource officer (SRO), according to meeting minutes and documents obtained by 9NEWS.
Jefferson County Public Schools had no full-time SRO at Evergreen High School for 11 months before the shooting occurred. The Jeffco Sheriff's Office said the SRO went on medical leave nearly a year ago and was replaced by part-time officers who split their time between schools. No officer was present at the school during the shooting.
The timing of safety discussions and the shooting highlighted ongoing concerns about security funding in the district. At 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 10, the Evergreen Middle School PTA met to discuss safety issues, with meeting minutes showing the principal thanked the organization for providing $12,000 to purchase new safety and security radios.
"These became more a priority with the new reality of no school resource officer," the minutes from the middle school PTA meeting read. "Jeffco did not provide our school with an SRO this year."
Less than three hours later, a shooting occurred at the high school down the street.
"Worst nightmare ever," said Cindy Mazeika, President of the Evergreen High School PTA.
The night before the shooting, the high school PTA also held a meeting where safety concerns were discussed. "Then another parent asked, what if there's a shooting?" Mazeika said.
Meeting minutes posted online show the high school principal told parents the district had deprioritized SROs for mountain schools because district officials believed the school was in a safer location.
"We still will ask to protect our students. It doesn't matter if we live up the hill or down the hill. Everybody needs to be protected. All of our kids need to be protected," Mazeika said.
Jefferson County Public Schools did not respond to direct questions posed by 9NEWS about whether the district did deprioritize mountain schools for SRO's because they were viewed as safer.
In a statement, Jeffco schools said in-part:
"Jeffco Public Schools is firmly committed to our robust School Resource Officer (SRO) program with our partner law enforcement agencies. In fact, Jeffco has increased our investment this year by covering fifty percent of the cost of the School Resource Officer (SRO) program with our partner law enforcement agencies. Jeffco’s SRO program is a point of pride for our district, and we remain committed to sustaining it."
Jefferson County Public Schools has said that its financial situation is challenging. In April, the district sent an email update to parents about financial challenges.
"Unfortunately, the district is using one time fund balance (savings account) to pay for ongoing investments, and it is unsustainable," the memo read. "Jeffco will begin funding 50% of the cost to support our School Resource Officer (SRO) Program."
Board of Education documents from April show the district's safety and security expenses were over budget.
Sheriff's office officials said deputies responded to the shooting within two minutes and found the shooter within five minutes. However, the shooter had time to reload his revolver multiple times during the incident.
Jefferson County Public Schools has not answered direct questions from 9NEWS about School Resource Officers in the three days following the shooting.
