Chief David J. Lucero, a 20-year-veteran law enforcement officer representing the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO), spoke at the June 21, Pueblo County District 70 School Board meeting. He gave a presentation on school safety protocols and advised that D70 and PCSO work closely together to be progressive on response training. Lucero said that active shooter response or evacuation drills have been held in all 22 D70 schools pre-COVID, and will be implemented again soon.
Lucero discussed the camera systems in the schools that can allow personnel of the PCSO to see live-time at the schools when the camera system is activated. He also explained that each school has color-coded hallways and the PCSO has school plans on file so they would know where the active threat was taking place if someone gave a hall color.
Lucero could not comment on response time, stating a lot of factors are involved in the response. He reminded that Colorado State Patrol Officers and Wildlife and Game Officers are also trained to respond in the case of an active threat.
It was very obvious from the open forum portion of the meeting that parents and residents are concerned about how safety measures are handled in D70. Ten of the eleven speakers in the open forum spoke about arming Pueblo County School District 70 teachers with firearms to make district schools safer from school shootings. The majority of the speakers were not in favor of school teachers and staff being armed.
Christopher Sutton, a military veteran with law enforcement experience, was among those opposed to arming teachers.
“In my professional experience, although qualified, about half of the professionals I have trained with should not be armed, as they can barely hit a stationary paper target in ideal conditions. And again, these are trained and experienced individuals ... Are we really going to have our teachers trained to shoot their students?”
The Pueblo D70 Board of Education has not held formal discussions about arming teachers, according to board President Anne Ochs. Ginger Andenucio, D70 head of Grants and Federal Programs, advised that the district had been approved for grant funds for an interoperability system. The interoperability system is what controls communication between the district and the first responders. She advised that the district’s interoperability system was implemented in 2008, and needed to be updated because the radio systems only have a shelf life of about eight to ten years.
D70 legal counsel Brad Miller recommended approval of the Pueblo Classical Academy charter school contract. The motion passed with board members John Christenson and Chris DeLuca voting against the inclusion.
Following Stephanie Russell, Director of Personnel Services, recommendations, Victoria Padilla was named the new Vineland Elementary Principal and Kelly Jackson was named the new Principal for Liberty Point International. A motion to appoint Chris James as online administrator was defeated.
During the section of the bond project update, bond project manager Ted Ortiviz advised that D70 is staying on budget even though product costs are up. He advised that there is approximately $345 thousand remaining in bond funds.
Ortiviz mentioned that work at the Rye High School parking lot and Craver Middle School roof will begin soon. He also said an HVAC project is already underway at Craver Middle School.
Russell recommended some changes to the D70 2022-23 calendar to avoid problems if next year might have as many weather cancellations as 2021-22 had. Elementary schools dropped from six literacy testing days to three, and middle schools dropped from three literacy testing days to two. Russell also asked for approval of a memorandum of understanding between the Pueblo County Educators Association and District 70 to increase the elementary schools' schedules by five minutes in the morning and five minutes in the afternoon to keep in compliance with the number of classroom hours required. The elementary schools will be in session from 7:35 am to 3:05 pm. Rye High School's graduation day for 2023 was changed to May 25 as the previous date coincided with another school's graduation and the board members had requested that they all occur on separate days so that they might attend all graduations.
The Pueblo County District 70 School Board will be taking a break and will meet in July only if a special meeting should need to be called. The next scheduled meeting is on August 2, at 6:00 p.m. at the Education Services Center, 24951 E. Highway 50, Pueblo.