Herald Highlands Ranch 6-6-13
Highlands Ranch
Douglas County, Colorado • Volume 26, Issue 29
June 6, 2013
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourhighlandsranchnews.com
Armed marshals will patrol schools Program will be similar to approach used on planes By Jane Reuter
jreuter@ourcoloradonews.com Beginning with the 2013-14 school year, armed officers will circulate through all Douglas County School District elementary and middle schools and early childhood centers. Armed officers are already present in the district’s high schools. Flanked by Douglas County law enforcement officers, with about 20 Soaring Hawk Elementary fifth-graders seated in front of her, Superintendent Elizabeth Fagen announced the new security program during a May 30 press conference at the Castle Rock school. The partnership among DCSD, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, and the Parker, Castle Rock and Lone Tree police departments was created in response to Decem-
ber’s mass shooting in a Newtown, Conn., elementary school. “Our whole school district was brokenhearted over that event,” Fagen said. “We were committed to taking that brokenheartedness and turning it into something better.” Modeled after the airline marshal program, Douglas County deputies and police officers in plain clothes will circulate among schools in close geographic proximity to ensure daily visits to all DCSD schools. It “will create safety and security like we’ve never had before,” Fagen said. “We’re not aware of any other program like this in the country.” Each of Douglas County’s nine high schools already has an armed, uniformed school resource officer. The marshal program expands on that idea, encompassing all schools. DCSD confirmed that its investment is more than $500,000, with the partner law Marshals continues on Page 31
Douglas County Schools Superintendent Elizabeth Fagen, surrounded by local law-enforcement officers and Soaring Hawk Elementary fifth-graders, talks to reporters about the Douglas County School District’s new armed marshal program. Photo by Jane Reuter
Driver gets probation in deaths
Pursuing excellence
Man exiting C-470 lost control of SUV By Ryan Boldrey
rboldrey@ourcoloradonews.com
Valor Christian High School Head of School Kurt Unruh congratulates Stanley Gilbert Jr. May 31 at the school’s commencement ceremony at Cherry Hills Community Church. The commencement, which included the school’s largest class yet of 176 students, celebrated a number of its students for excellence in leadership, spiritual character, athletic distinction and artistic commitment, as well as for their individual commitments to God and those less fortunate. Photo by Ryan Boldrey
Teacher evaluations trigger new protest Parents, students rally outside meeting at Saddle Ranch By Jane Reuter
jreuter@ourcoloradonews.com
Douglas County School District’s Director of Schools Patricia Hanrahan tells a crowd of Saddle Ranch Elementary School parents and students they can’t attend a meeting with the superintednent and school staff, and asks the group to leave the building. Photo by Jane Reuter
For the second time in a week, parents and students protested district action May 30 outside a Douglas County school. As a dispute rages over a new evaluation system, Saddle Ranch Elementary School is losing eight teachers — five to other districts and three to retirement. That loss amounts to more than a quarter of the school’s teachers. Saddle Ranch parents and students cheered, chanted and waved signs criticizing the school board and superintendent and praising teachers as Douglas County School District administrators met inside the school with the principal and staff. Protest continues on Page 13
A driver who accidentally struck and killed two construction workers at the Broadway/C-470 intersection two days before Thanksgiving has pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor careless driving causing death. Thomas Garrity, 74, of Bellevue, Neb., was driving a Subaru Tribeca, exiting C-470 westbound onto Broadway, when he lost control of the vehicle on the exit ramp, which then rolled onto an embankment and went airborne, striking two workers employed by Concrete Works of Colorado and killing both instantly. Garrity pleaded guilty June 3, admitting liability in the deaths of Joseph Schwartz, 47, of Morrison, and Jesus Villalobos, 27, of Brighton. He received a deferred sentence and is being placed on two years of probation, in which he will be required to serve 100 hours of community service, take a driving course, pay an undetermined amount in restitution and write apology letters to the families of both victims. Families, friends and former co-workers of both victims packed District Court Judge Larry Bowling’s courtroom for the disposition hearing. Some were wearing T-shirts memorializing the deceased and 15 statements asking for justice were heard. Linda Marie James, the mother of Schwartz, was the first to come to the podium. “When the tragedy occurred, I only felt horror at the event and sympathy for Mr. Garrity,” she said. “This had never been about revenge or money. We only wanted an admission of guilt and for him to realize he could never drive again. Probation continues on Page 13
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