January 21, 2016
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A R A P A H O E C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
A publication of
SouthPlatteIndependent.net
ARAPAHOE HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING
Reports claim missteps before attack
Procedures were not followed, warning signs were missed, say researchers By Jennifer Smith jsmith@coloradocommunitymedia.com Three separate and independent reports have concluded there were failures in the Arapahoe High School administration’s handling of Karl Pierson in the months and even years before Dec. 13, 2013. That was the day he walked through a door, which the district acknowledges should have been locked, with a gun and fatally wounded fellow student Claire Davis moments before killing himself.
Pierson “was deemed low risk using insufficient data that was gathered.” That was just one of the conclusions reached in the 108-page report by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence. The CSPV study was commissioned by Claire Davis’ family, and is arguably harsher than the two others prepared at the request of Littleton Public Schools — one by mental-health consultant Dr. Sarah Kanan and one by security consultant Safe Havens. All three reports were released on Jan. 18 after months of arbitration and depositions came to a close. “In retrospect and with the benefit of a great deal more information than was available at the time, we now
understand that some warning signs were missed by those both inside and outside of LPS,” writes Superintendent Brian Ewert in a fourth report addressing communication during and after the incident. “We are profoundly sorry that this may have contributed to the loss of two students’ lives that day.” The first three reports all agree that procedures were not followed that could have interrupted Pierson’s plot, which he had embarked on and began journaling that September. The reports were released 15 months after the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office concluded there was no criminal wrongdoing on the part of Arapahoe High or school district officials.
CLAIRE DAVIS’ PARENTS SPEAK Michael and Desiree Davis, the parents of Arapahoe High School shooting victim Claire Davis, hope the reports released Jan. 18 will encourage a change in thinking about safety in public schools. Last year, the couple agreed not to hold the school district liable in exchange for the arbitration process and making the reports public. “(We hope) to challenge parents, administrators, teachers and legislators to embrace a caring, tolerant and compassionate culture that empowers our schools to intervene and help kids in crisis,” they said in the preface to the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence report. “Going through the arbitration process was our gift to the State of Colorado. It is now up to the parents of public school students, school administrators and our State legislators to take the recommendations in this report and implement them — to put into practice the things we have learned from this report so that all the children are safe from harm in our public schools.”
Arapahoe continues on Page 5
Developer to build at Ensor site
POOLING THEIR TALENTS
Brinkman wants to pull option of incentives amid big-box fears By Jennifer Smith jsmith@coloradocommunitymedia.com
Heritage’s Kylie Andrews, left, who won the 100-yard backstroke at the Smoky Hill Invitational, hugs teammate Marissa Kiefer, who finished third in the race. Andrews set pool records in the 100-yard butterfly and 100 backstroke, and helped her team win the Jan. 16 meet. For more coverage, turn to Page 21. Photo by Jim Benton
The Ensor site on the southwest corner of Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue, the subject of much controversy of late, is under contract to a Texas-based development company, City Manager Michael Penny confirmed to Littleton City Council on Jan. 12. Just five days earlier, Penny told those who attended a community meeting that he had not heard from the company, Endeavor Real Estate Group, in more than a year. But he later reached out to Jim Rees, the executive director of the city’s urbanrenewal authority, who confirmed that the Ensor continues on Page 5
Switch from ACT to SAT pushed to 2017 The Colorado Department of Education made the SAT the new test for high school juniors By Mike DiFerdinando mdiferdinando@coloradocommunitymedia.com State officials avoided possible student panic and further controversy by delaying the switch from the ACT to the SAT for high school juniors until 2017.
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The move to the SAT had been scheduled to begin this spring but was pushed back until the next school year after an outcry from concerned parents, students, teachers and administrators. State superintendents wrote a letter to the Colorado Department of Education urging them not to rush the transition. The CDE announced the Ewert decision to postpone the
switch on Jan. 11. The move to the SAT was a surprise and would have been difficult to implement this spring, Littleton Public Schools Superintendent Brian Ewert said. “LPS high school students have prepared well for the ACT, and I applaud the Colorado Department of Education in taking quick action by allowing the ACT to be administered this spring to Testing continues on Page 5
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A HEALING TOUCH
Craig Hospital gives patients and their families a range of support. PAGE 12
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