More than 350 students so far this school year have had a threat assessment, at least 42 of whom across Denver Public Schools (DPS) required a pat down the week an East High School student shot two administrators five weeks ago.

There are approximately 89,200 students in the district. 

A threat assessment is in response to a behavior and can lead to a student being placed on a safety plan, similar to one 17-year-old Austin Lyle was under. Police accuse Lyle of shooting two East High School administrators who patted him down for weapons on March 22.

Lyle’s safety plan included a daily pat down for weapons.

After fleeing, Lyle committed suicide.

Information on the number of students who – like Lyle – were on a safety plan and those who require a pat down has been difficult to obtain.

For example, despite being commonly referred to as “safety plans” by school officials -including DPS Superintendent Alex Marrero – the district’s records custodian denied a March 27 public information request by the Denver Gazette, saying DPS does not have any responsive documents.

“The district does not have documents that are ‘safety plans.'” Stacy Wheeler, the district’s Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) officer, wrote on April 4.

After discovering a Colorado Court decision involving DPS and its safety plans in 2018, the Denver Gazette retooled its request under the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) using the district’s official language.

On April 6, the Denver Gazette asked for the “Action and Intervention Plan” – with personal, identifying information redacted – for every East High School student for which it applied on the day of the shooting.

Wheeler denied this request, too, citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

FERPA, however, permits school districts to redact personally identifiable information.

The Denver Gazette then held a meeting with DPS attorneys Elise Logemann and Lauren Parsons to discuss the denial.

During that April 20 meeting, Logemann added a second reason for the denial, the responsive documents, she said, were mental health records.

“We’re not trying to make you go on a fishing expedition,” Logemann said.

DPS officials then provided – using data pulled from other CORA requests – a tally of threat assessments as of March 28. They also provided the number of students, at various schools, who required a pat down.

Among the schools DPS provided with the number of students who were being patted down, North High School had the greatest number with 12, followed by Kennedy and Lincoln high schools with six each.

The week of the March 22 shooting, East High School had three students who were undergoing pat down procedures.

Nearly one in four students with a threat assessment were rated “high.”

A high level of concern – according to DPS protocol training – includes a specific and plausible threat, an identified target and a capacity to act on the threat, among others.

The threat assessment is designed to identify and manage potentially dangerous or violent situations.

Of the roughly 89,000 students who attend a Denver public school, 1,023 have received a threat assessment, which represents about 1% of those enrolled.

For weeks, members of the Parents-Safety Advocacy Group (P-SAG), have called on the district for greater transparency.

Astrid Ruiz, a P-SAG member with a son who attends East High School, said it was very disturbing that the district hasn’t been more forthcoming and disclosed the number of students districtwide who require a pat down before entering campus.

“We need to know if it’s one, two or three,” Ruiz said.