Sheriff's gun storage request at NHS moves to school board agenda

On the same day the Courier’s coverage of the Boulder County Sheriff’s Department request to store long rifles at Niwot and Lyons High Schools came off the press, the St. Vrain Valley School Board held a study session that included further discussion of the issue.

On Oct. 19, the board’s study session included a renewed request by the Boulder County Sheriff to store long guns at the two schools due to the time it would take to respond to an incident at the district’s two most rural high schools. The matter was first presented several years ago, but the board declined to approve it at the time. The renewed request was discussed at a board study session on Aug. 17.

Dr. Don Haddad led the discussion, and described the Sheriff’s request.

Board president Karen Ragland said, “I did and I assume other board members did, receive a few emails, just a handful expressing natural concerns about the program, and also support for the program.”

She added, “Dr. Haddad also held a series of community meetings to hear from the public about any concerns they might have, and the Sheriff’s proposal was not brought up at any of the five meetings that were held.”

Haddad described the request from the Sheriff’s office. “Among their concerns were the geographic location of these two schools. If in the event there were to be a significant incident, it would take a considerable amount of time in terms of response time, and they did not feel comfortable that that response time, when you talk about something like this, they’re talking about seconds and minutes, and they’re talking about getting to Lyons and out to Niwot, would be a significant delay.”

Haddad said the second issue was accessibility and accuracy to mitigate the situation, and that without what the Sheriff’s office called this “tool in the tool box,” they would be at a significant disadvantage in protecting the lives of children, faculty and staff.

Haddad also spoke of all of the resources the schools provide, including counselors, psychologists, interventionists and school resource officers, to prevent an issue from ever occurring. “We take school safety very, very seriously,” he said.

He went on to speak about what keeps him up at night, and said it comes down to, “Are we doing everything we can beforehand to foresee a scenario, and put another tool in the tool box of our law enforcement partners, to prevent a catastrophic event?”

Haddad indicated to the board that he would be happy to provide a recommendation after board members have had all of their questions answered, but that for him personally, he would rely on law enforcement’s expertise in supporting their request.

Sgt. Bill Crist, SRO supervisor from the Boulder County Sheriff’s office and a Niwot High School alum, spoke of resources available to officers in response to a question from a board member about psychological evaluations of officers. He also described the extensive training that officers have in responding to a school situation.

Crist noted that a rifle is currently available to the officer in the car. He said, “This location would be more secure. A long gun or a rifle is flat out more accurate [than a handgun].”

After a long discussion, board member Joie Siegrist indicated her support for the proposal, and other board members agreed that the matter should move forward. Ragland indicated that the matter would be on the agenda for a vote on Oct. 26 at the regular board meeting.