SVVSD approves Sheriff's request for rifle storage at NHS

A request from the Boulder County Sheriff to store long rifles inside Niwot High School and Lyons Middle-Senior High School was approved by the St. Vrain Valley School District School Board at its Oct. 26 meeting.

The request was first presented in 2018 out of belief that longer response times to Niwot High School and Lyons High School by law enforcement in the event of an active shooter incident would be mitigated if school resource officers had access to rifles securely stored in the school building. The request was not approved at that time.

Boulder County Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Crist, a Niwot High graduate, presented the renewed request at a study session of the school board on Aug. 17. No action was taken or scheduled at the end of the session.

Repeated inquiries to the school district office following the meeting were met with consistent responses that there was no further information available and the matter had not been added to the board’s regular meeting agenda.

Dr. Don Haddad, superintendent of the St. Vrain Valley School District, later told the Courier in a phone interview that a series of community meetings were held, and that no concerns were raised at the meetings concerning the Sheriff’s request.

On Oct. 19, the school board discussed the matter again at length at a study session, where Deputy Crist again appeared and answered questions. Haddad, who was formerly the principal at Niwot High School, reported the results of the community meetings, and board members reported that they had received only a few emails concerning the request.

Haddad told board members at that meeting that the only thing that keeps him up at night is concern whether the district has done everything possible to protect students, staff and faculty in the event of an incident. Crist noted that the rifles are presently stored in the school resource officers’ vehicles, and that storage inside the building would actually be more secure than the present practice.

The storage request was added to the agenda of the regular meeting of the school board scheduled for Oct. 26. Board president Karen Ragland introduced the proposal, noting that five community meetings had been held by the district since the proposal was first presented in August. Board member Richard Martyr said, “We’re now at a stage that’s much different than when we last as a community looked at this issue.”

Tim O’Neill, general counsel to the school district, presented the proposal and responded to questions from the board, assuring members that storage of long rifles at the schools would not increase the legal liability of the district.

Martyr and board member Meosha Brooks both asked if the board would be apprised of the details of the secure storage and were assured that the information would be presented to the board in executive session or in some manner that would not compromise the security of the storage.

Brooks asked if the matter would be brought back to the board for another vote after the details were worked out with the Boulder County Sheriff.

Haddad responded, “My recommendation is to not continue to have another vote. My recommendation is that you vote tonight on whether or not this concept is acceptable to you, and then trust me in knowing that we will not move forward until all of the acceptable safety measures are in place. I do not want to go down a road of continuing to explore conceptually. Either you want to support this or you don’t. If you do, I will move forward and ensure that all of the safety precautions are in place for storage, and you will be, as you always are, kept abreast of every detail. But if you’re still uncertain, I do not want to get engaged in multiple votes.”

The board approved the request unanimously.