{"id":521,"date":"2025-09-17T11:30:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T11:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sleepystork.com\/?p=521"},"modified":"2025-09-18T10:25:52","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T10:25:52","slug":"colorado-learned-long-ago-that-no-school-is-safe-from-gun-violence-a-lesson-jeffco-should-have-heeded-editorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sleepystork.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/17\/colorado-learned-long-ago-that-no-school-is-safe-from-gun-violence-a-lesson-jeffco-should-have-heeded-editorial\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado learned long ago that no school is safe from gun violence \u2014 a lesson Jeffco should have heeded (Editorial)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The tragedy at Evergreen High School reminds us that even this country\u2019s most idyllic communities \u2014 from our mountain towns to the quaint cities on the plains \u2014 must prepare for violence in their schools. School shootings have never been only an inner-city problem, and to believe otherwise is to ignore Colorado\u2019s tragic history.<\/p>\n

We were dismayed to learn that security at Evergreen High School may not have been a priority because of the school\u2019s location about an hour west of Denver in the forested foothills of Jefferson County.<\/p>\n

Mental illness and radicalization can occur anywhere, especially in a society connected seamlessly online to every type of content imaginable.<\/p>\n

Every school in this state needs a dedicated resource officer who can respond immediately to a threat on campus.<\/p>\n

Seconds matter in a shooting, and two students from Evergreen High School are in the hospital fighting for their lives. Jefferson County Sheriff\u2019s Deputies responded quickly to the shooting but even that was unable to prevent tragedy.<\/p>\n

The evening before the shooting at Evergreen High School, the school\u2019s principal told concerned parents<\/a> that a school resource officer had been \u201cdeprioritized\u201d for Jefferson County\u2019s mountain schools. The school\u2019s full-time deputy was on medical leave, and the contract with the Jefferson County Sheriff\u2019s Office has a deputy on campus \u201cas staffing allows.\u201d At the time of the shooting, the officer assigned to the campus was responding to a call off campus.<\/p>\n

Every Colorado school needs an armed officer on campus during school hours. We are glad the Jefferson County School District will increase security before students return<\/a>, and a similar plan should be put in place at every school in the state.<\/p>\n

School violence has struck a charter school in the suburban community of Highlands Ranch where a road is now named for the hero \u2014 Kendrick Castillo \u2014 who saved his classmates but died. A few miles north at Arapahoe County High School in Littleton, Claire Davis was shot and killed by one of her classmates. Two teachers were shot and injured in the middle of Denver at East High School, and another student was shot and killed in the school\u2019s parking lot a few weeks earlier.<\/p>\n

But small towns, rural communities and the mountains are not immune. In 2006, a gunman took students hostage at Platte Canyon High School in Bailey, about a half-hour drive from Evergreen on twisting mountain roads. Emily Keyes was shot and killed.<\/p>\n

We understand having law enforcement in every school in this state is a challenge financially and logistically, but in the face of yet another school shooting, we don\u2019t see another option.<\/p>\n

Americans can no longer be complacent. Our schools are not safe, and while locking down Evergreen quickly undoubtedly saved lives, we know that having a trained police officer on campus reduces the response time to seconds.<\/p>\n

The teenager who shot two classmates and then killed himself last week had been active online in what experts describe as a new nihilism \u2014 the belief that life is meaningless \u2014 combined with a twisted desire to destroy society.<\/p>\n

The teen\u2019s social media accounts contained antisemitic and white supremacist posts<\/a> and glorified other school shooters. According to the Jefferson County Sheriff\u2019s Office, the teen had been \u201cradicalized through an extremist network.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only response is to harden our schools and protect as many students as possible. Of course, statistically, it is still unlikely that a student will be harmed in an act of violence on campus. The riskiest part of a student\u2019s day is still apt to be their drive home.<\/p>\n