Ten-year-old Felix Jones rode to school Monday on a bike, winding through downtown with his parents and younger brother.

The 2.1-mile trek to Downtown Denver Expeditionary School – his alma mater – felt more like 10 miles to Jones, who still had to ride another 2 miles to his school, McAuliffe Manuel Middle School.

On the first day of school in Denver Monday, parents dropped off their kids and school supplies outside of the school shared with Denver Public Schools’ administration at 1860 Lincoln St. They also mugged for photos in front of a painting of Denver’s “Big Blue Bear,” which is also the school’s mascot.

DPS welcomed 88,000 students back to school on Monday at more than 200 campuses across the city, including Denver Expeditionary.

For months, school security has been in the forefront of parents’ worries in the aftermath of multiple shootings at or near the district’s flagship campus, East High School.

The March 22 shooting at East that wounded two administrators prompted the return of armed police officers called “school resource officers,” or SROs, to 13 high schools. In 2020, over policing concerns led the board of education to cut ties with the Denver Police Department and ban SROs.

After defending and then promising to continue using unarmed school administrators for weapon searches, the district now appears to have pivoted.

Only armed DPS patrol officers will conduct weapon searches, said Scott Pribble, a district spokesperson.

“I don’t know the direction of how they got to this point. I just know this is where they landed,” Pribble said.

Campus Safety Officers, or CSOs, will patrol middle and high schools that do not have an SRO, Pribble said Monday. DPS officials will rely on Denver police officers to respond to threats at the district’s elementary schools.

“Typically, we don’t have a need for safety officers there all the time,” Pribble said.

DPS, Pribble said, has 78 CSOs and 27 patrol officers.

On Monday, Brent Westrop, Denver Expeditionary executive director, welcomed 250-plus students with high fives.

The campus culture at Denver Expeditionary sets it apart from other schools. For example, students sit in classes largely illuminated with natural light or lamps and white Christmas lights and they greet Westrop by first name rather than “Mr. Westrop.”

Westrop admits it took a little getting used to, but using teachers’ first names is a way to break down barriers.

“It’s about building crew,” Westrop said. “We are all crew, not passengers.”

Opened in 2013, Denver Expeditionary is a public charter school for kindergarten through fifth grade to create a “high performing EL Education” downtown, according to the school’s website.

A school choice campus, Denver Expeditionary attracts students from more than 40 different ZIP codes, Westrop said.

In addition to traditional academic work, the “EL model” of education provides students with learning expeditions, service-learning projects and fieldwork, among others.

“It’s progressive in a way that’s not preachy,” said David Lawson, who rode an electric bike to school with his 6-year-old daughter, Phoenix Lawson.

School leaders pride themselves on a campus culture that, among other traits, encourages compassion, self-discipline and courage.

Catrice Smedley teaches fifth grade math at Downtown Denver Expeditionary. Now in her third year, the Dallas transplant called it “the utopia of schools.”

“Texas is great, but it’s more geared to the test,” Smedley said, referring to the state’s achievement test. “At this school, it’s more about who you’re going to be when you grow up.”