The Lake - Jan. 2015 by The Lake - Standley Lake's News Magazine

the lake

An in-depth investigation into school safety at SLHS

the people Editors-in-Chief | Chaye Gutierrez Sabrina Pacha

the lake the formalities Opinions or expressions made by students in this publication are not expressions of board policy. The district and its employees are immune from any civil action based on any expression made for or published by students. The Lake is an open forum for and by the students, faculty, and community of Standley Lake High School. The Lake is willing to accept and print any appropriate articles submitted by the students of SLHS and reserves the right to edit any of these articles. We will not print letters sent to us without a name and signature. Submit letters to standleylakenewspaper@gmail.com.

2 January 2015 | Issue 3

Team Editors | Esteban Arellano Jamey Burky Nicole Heetland Olivia Koontz Brittany Marks Tina Muscarelli Shylah Ogle Alie Settje Staff Writers | Mezhgan Aslamy Sarah Bennett Hannah Jensen Emily Leo Emma Marlow Natasha McCone Meg Metzger-Seymour Ty Milliken Alyssa Murphy Laurel Nordquist-Zukin Ripley Ricketts Morgan Rubendall Christina Rudolph Max Uhrich Morgan Whitley Taylor Zangari Cartoonist | Aina Azlan Adviser | Ben Reed

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hello, friend. Think of the magazine you’re holding in your hands as a symbol—a symbol for the power of the students. The journalists here at The Lake are overobservant by nature. After all, our jobs are to observe and record. That’s it. We started noticing Standley Lake’s habits regarding school safety (tucking rocks in door frames, coming in through prohibited entrances), and it sparked a discussion—a discussion about school safety. As it turns out, the issue is wider than we thought. By visiting other schools around the area, we tried to see just how well they protected their students in comparison to Standley Lake. We talked to all the right people—all the way from campus supervisors to social media experts to students at Arapahoe High School to Columbine’s former principal. The action that arises out of our findings will be up to you. Our goal with this issue is to inform you, our favorite reader. Do what you will with this information, this symbol for the power of students.

xoxo, chabrina aka: the editors-in-chief of the lake p.s. we’re not pictured in the photo. who are we really? that’s one secret we’ll never tell.

A boy and a wish school fundraises to make dream come true

5 things to know about the Michael brown Case

Michael Brown was an unarmed 18-year-old killed by Officer Darren Wilson in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri.

There are contradicting reports as to whether or not Brown was threatening Wilson or surrendering and whether Wilson fired from inside or outside his car.

The case against Wilson was brought to the Grand Jury where evidence was presented for three months before it was dismissed in three days because of the lack of evidence distinguishing fact from fiction. The jury did not indict Wilson in the case because he told them he felt his life was in peril; they did not investigate further.

For the last month, unbeknownst to the rest of the school, two groups of students have been tirelessly planning for one week that has the potential to give a child the experience of a lifetime. From January 26-30, Standley Lake will participate in “Wish Week,” an initiative run by Student Council and PeaceJam to raise money for a child with a life-threatening medical condition. “We’re having an assembly to meet the boy,” PeaceJam member Courtney Kauffman ‘16 said. “All through the week, there will be fundraisers and activities in the day and during the evening to raise money to give to him. At the end of the week, we’ll have another assembly to present him with his wish.” Proceeds from the fundraisers will go to Jaden, a seven-year-old boy who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a hereditary disease that affects the lungs and pancreas. “Jaden likes Walmart, Batman, the color red, and Peyton Manning,” Student Council member Kendall Brill ‘17 said.

Wish Weeks are organized by the MakeA-Wish Foundation, which has granted thousands of wishes for sick children since its creation in 1980.

“It’s also important for this kid to just have fun, and we can make that happen.”

“It’s important that as a school, we help with this project as a whole. I think it’s also important for this kid to just have fun, and we can make that happen,” Kauffman said.

While PeaceJam and Student Council are busy organizing every aspect of Wish Week, they make sure to remember the importance of such a unique opportunity. “We can give someone a great experience and it’s such a cool thing to be able to give them what they can’t really give themselves,” Brill said. To fulfill Jaden’s wish, Student Council and PeaceJam have set a goal to raise $7,500 throughout the course of Wish Week. | Christina Rudolph

The autopsy report stated that Brown’s death was a homicide.

There have been riots and protests in Missouri and across the country, including walkouts at Denver East and Denver South High School. | Ripley Ricketts

6 January 2015 | Issue 3

Pitch Perfect Emery Hines ‘16 and Logan Michalicek ‘15 were selected to sing in the Colorado All State Choir, along with 450 other high school singers, out of 1,900 who auditioned. They will perform in a final concert on Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. at the BellCo Theater in the Colorado Convention Center.

| Nicole Heetland

Burning poetry english teacher publishes poetry book about cancer experience She found the lump on a Tuesday.

moments that were important to me because they were my moments,” Ms. Burns said. “I would decide, ‘Okay what moment do I want to capture today?’ And then that became a poem.”

I would have liked to have read myself, the mission started becoming more clear,” Ms. Burns said. “This is what I needed. I wanted something short. I wanted somebody’s personal experience.”

English teacher Ms. Amy Burns was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma, a form of breast cancer, on March 7, 2012. After surgery, radiation, and over one year in remission, Ms. Burns takes on interconnectedness, days of fear and responding to life in her self-published book of poetry, Breast Cancer at 35: A Memoir (available in January on Amazon).

The following day’s naptime would be spent editing the poem. And the day after that, she’d start a new one.

Her personal experience blossomed into 26 poems spread out over 74 pages with a dedication “to the 1 in 7.”

In August 2014, she decided to self-publish.

The “snowball effect” of tests and procedures that followed her diagnosis all happened in a relatively short span of about three weeks. And it began a series of decisions that put Ms. Burns in control of her own body during a time when cancer tried to control it.

The mission was to create a piece that she wished existed during her own experience with cancer.

“I think I’m a different person now,” Burns said. “I feel like I live life differently now. I don’t need to go out, I just want to do what I want to do and what’s meaningful to me right now. Who should I spend time with? Who can I love right now? How can we build a relationship with somebody?”

By Wednesday, she had gone in for a mammogram and ultrasound. One week later, she got the call. Cancer.

Only two days after the call began the marathon of appointments--meetings with nurses, oncologists, and surgeons, x-rays, MRIs, and the like. March 23, just over two weeks after her diagnosis, Ms. Burns underwent a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy--surgeries that would remove the cancerous lump, as well as two of her lymph nodes to check if the cancer had spread. No cancer was found in the nodes, indicating that it was isolated to the removed lump. The next step? Deciding between radiation and chemotherapy for treatment. “I didn’t realize that there was so much choice in the medical profession,” Ms. Burns said. “And so I chose—truly, chose—to go the radiation route. It was a route that involved an appointment every day for twenty days at 4:00 p.m. “It was the last full month of school from May to June,” Ms. Burns said. “I headed straight from school and drove all the way downtown to the hospital. Near the end of it, I couldn’t really function.” The painful month of radiation treatment was followed by a healing summer of writing—writing a lot. As her toddler, Liam, napped from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., Ms. Burns grabbed whatever scrap paper was lying around, sat on her back porch, and spent those two hours on one poem. “I just decided that I wanted to capture these

“I don’t want to be a best-selling author,” Ms. Burns said. “I’m not Stephen King. I have a mission.”

“Once I realized that I created something that

the march sun of angled afternoons has turned sideways in its anxiety, and through our dining room window, rapes the shadows. an incoming call, its vibrating pulse beating the kitchen counter. i answer. suddenly-our lives exposed. invasive ductal carcinoma. er positive pr positive her 2 negative. i’m still listening.

| Chaye Gutierrez

Winter sports

by the numbers

Want to know what’s going on this winter sports season? Check out these fun facts

Stand out basketball player

Connor Durant ‘15 % has made 84% of his free throws

years since wrestlers represented at state. this year, many are expected to qualify.

things to watch this swimming and diving season

The new star swimmer Annie Silva ‘15, who transferred from Holy Family this year and competes for Jeffco at the national level, is making waves. Her record for the 100 Butterfly is 1:03:00. duo divers Caitlin Torgerson ‘15 and Courtney Kauffman ‘16 make up the dive team this year. In the meet against Ralston Valley and Evergreen, Torgerson scored a 222:10. the Power Relay Allison Parker ‘16, Rebecca Moyer ‘16, Emma Staton ‘15, and Jenna Alves ‘15 make up the 400 meter Medley relay team. they hope to break the current school record.

January 2015 | Issue 3

not so easy breathing Students need to join anti-hate crime movement A sports column

Jamey Burky

They exited the tunnels. They donned their navy blue and gold uniforms, just as they do every home game.

players that attend Standley Lake that are on the hockey team, including mel perea ‘15, who is pictured above.

average number of points scored per game by the girls basketball team.

And then, on Nov. 30 St. Louis Rams players Tavon Austin, Jared Cook, Kenny Britt, Stedman Bailey, and Chris Givens exited the tunnel at the Edward Jones Dome before their game against the Oakland Raiders wearing more than just their uniforms- they wore the ‘Hands Up/Don’t Shoot’ gesture. The St. Louis Police Department immediately condemned their actions by saying that the players were in “complete disregard of evidence” against the Mike Brown grand jury decision. Cook later went on to say that he was “shocked” by the hate people sent towards them. “Why would I disrespect a group of men that we have so much respect for?” Jared Cook said in an interview with the St. Louis Post Dispatch. The Rams players were just the beginning of something larger than themselves. They showed that athletes are more than athletes, that an athlete’s impact goes beyond the field. Many players followed in their footsteps. Lebron James is just one of many athletes who have worn shirts during pre-game warmups that said “I Can’t Breathe” to speak out against the controversial ruling in the Eric Garner grand jury decision. It doesn’t stop there. It only continued when Cleveland Browns player Andrew Hawkins wore a shirt that said “Justice for Tamir Rice and John Crawford.” Tamir Rice was a 12-year-old boy shot dead by Cleveland Police for waving an airsoft gun. John Crawford was holding an airsoft rifle when he was shot dead in a Cleveland area Wal-Mart. It’s important to note that airsoft guns are about as lethal as toy Nerf guns and both victims made it clear they were holding non-lethal weapons. These actions highlight America’s hidden racism. We live in Colorado, not St. Louis. The African-American community is still treated very poorly in St. Louis- it’s the epitome of white privilege. The aggression in Ferguson doesn’t pop out of thin air. This is years of pain and discrimination coming to light. We cannot say we understand what these athletes are going through because we simply don’t. Standley Lake has shown in the past that we can stand behind a cause worth fighting for. I urge you, the Standley Lake student body and community, to stand behind these men. So, why can’t we fight for equality?

10 January 2015 | Issue 3

so there’s this door exposing standley lake’s safety So there’s this door. It’s kind of far from the main entrance, but it’s so much more convenient. Students use it to get back into the school after lunch or off hours because it’s a shorter walk to class. It’s always locked, though, so if you’re walking by and you see someone waiting outside, it’s polite to let them in. To keep it from locking, students tuck a couple of rocks into the corner of the door frame, or you can usually find a trash can wedged in that space to prop it open towards the end of the day. On December 13, 2013, Karl Pierson walked in through this door at Arapahoe High School and shot junior Claire Davis. She died one week later.

“people usually avoid the other doors after i go on a tangent. after that, the doors are closed for a week or so.” -campus supervisor Ms. Christine Broetzman

keep them closed

it and say, ‘Leave the door closed; we’re not letting crazy people in here!’”

There are 17 exterior doors at Standley Lake High School.

However, the doors themselves are an issue.

Entering Standley Lake, a visitor can always get in through the unlocked front doors to check in with security inside. Or sometimes they can enter through the middle doors if they aren’t fully closed that day. Or through the athletic doors if students have left rocks in the door frame, or if a passerby politely opens it for them. “I would like to see everyone enter through the front doors only,” campus supervisor Ms. Christine Broetzman (Ms. B) said. The great door debacle has been a hot topic in the school safety realm long before the white paper signs reading, “NOT AN ENTRANCE. ENTER THROUGH MAIN ENTRY ONLY” were taped to the doors’ glass panes last winter. It was only after the Arapahoe shooter entered through a propped open side door that the discussion became more lively at SLHS. “I have been kicking [the rocks] out for years,” English teacher Ms. Karen Roughton said. “Every time I would come in, I would just take one. That’s me doing my part to fight against

12 January 2015 | Issue 3

“We have a pressure zone right in the middle of the building where certain doors are open,” Principal Mr. Jeff Pierson said. “It creates pressure within this corridor, and those two doors often won’t shut. Kids will think they’re unlocked, but they automatically lock. The pressure won’t let them completely latch.” The structure of the building itself makes it impossible for the school and its administration to enforce its own rules regarding entrances. This concerns many students.“Why don’t we just put a supervisor by the locked doors?” Cody Schuetz ‘15 said. Ms. B and the other campus supervisors are sure that they do their job efficiently. “We all spend different times outside,” she said. “Most passing periods, I sit out there on the golf cart and redirect people. It tends to be when I go on a tangent like that, the doors will be locked for at least a couple days, or a week.” With the large disparity between supervisors and entryways, the opportunity for some students to prop doors open is easier, while others are up in arms. Since campus supervisors can’t be everywhere at once, some believe the students should share the responsibility for

keeping the school safe, as well. “Even though we have security and even though we have great staff, we, as students, don’t cooperate,” Alexander Hay ‘15 said. “We leave the doors open. Intruders could come in easily. If a shooter were to come in through the front door, there’s the security guard at the computer at the front desk, right? If a shooter were to come in, and shoot that security guard, then what? The students in the commons are going to need help, but the shooter’s already inside. I don’t think it’s that safe.” With only three campus supervisors and 17 doors, it’s seemingly impossible to stage security at every possible entrance at every possible second. “We have asked staff in between classes to go out if they’re near an exterior door and tug on it and make sure it’s shut,” Mr. Pierson said While Mr. Pierson feels that the staff should do more to ensure that the students are safe, a problem that arises is how focused the staff can afford to be on securing doors throughout the day, and not all of them agree that a tug every once in a while is enough. “It’s not 100 percent my job to watch the door,” English teacher Ms. Jill Esposito said. “[But] it’s 100 percent my job to keep my kids safe and keep our school safe, and [watching

the doors] might be part of that, but we need some backup; we need some help.” According to Jefferson County Schools Chief Operations Officer Mr. Steve Bell, the leaders of the district do everything in their power to keep students protected in schools.

“Unfortunately, when the adults do it, it’s in their control to make the environment as safe as possible,” he said. “It’s the bottom line. When you’ve got a school full of kids, it’s our job to make sure the building is as secure as possible.”

“We take measures to make it more difficult to access our schools,” Mr. Bell said. “With secured entryways and automated locking systems, an intruder coming from outside would have a difficult time gaining access to the school.”

But guarding 17 doors is no easy task for three campus supervisors to secure alone. This brings up the issue as to where the line is drawn between too much security and too little.

However, Standley Lake has neither secured entryways due to the impossibility of placing a campus supervisor at each door, nor automated locking systems that work because of the pressure issue. That leaves students’ safety at the mercy of the security personnel in the school. “Their job is to be the eyes, ears, and security for our building as best they can,” Mr. Pierson said. “This is a big building and there are three of them. They can’t cover everything.” The school is most vulnerable after school hours when security isn’t present. The off-tothe-side athletic door may be kept closed as much as possible when school is in session, but, after school, a trash can rests neatly between the two doors simply for convenience. “I leave the trash can in the door on game days because we’re getting ready for the game, so we can easily get in-and-out quickly,” head football coach Don Morse said. Building Engineer Mr. Shawn Swainson has concerns with teachers propping doors open.

security cameras While Standley Lake’s campus supervisors can’t cover everything, their job is made a little more efficient with the help of security cameras around the building. The campus has 22 cameras that are always recording: one outside that scans side-to-side and several around the school. There are no cameras in the halls with exterior doors, such as the math and art halls. “I am working with our security to add an additional ten to fifteen cameras in areas that I think we need to have them in,” Mr. Pierson said. “There are a few areas in our school that don’t have any cameras. There are three or four areas that I know absolutely need to have them.” While the cameras are constantly recording, campus supervisors are not constantly watching them. The tapes last for 7-10 days, so security can recall footage within that time. This could be a problem when talking about

“This is a big building, and there are three of them. They can’t cover everything.” -Principal Mr. Jeff Pierson

What you didn’t know about slhs Security

Mr. Chris Collins, Mr. Jake Duran, and Ms. Christine Broetzman aren’t security guards. they’re Campus Supervisors. The difference? Campus supervisors are always unarmed.

if there is an intruder in the building, the campus supervisors aren’t supposed to make contact with the threat. They are expected to get themselves to safety, just like the teachers and students.

Their job is to survey the school, enforce dress code and conduct of the school, and report threats to an officer or administrator.

they so happen to find any suspicious items, hear any 4 Ifsketchy conversations, or encounter a physical threat, it’s their duty to report it to School Resource Officer Sean Chandler.

possibly life-threatening issues, like the one at Arapahoe last December. To help schools prepare for these possibilities, Jefferson County has enacted guidelines about yearly drills for lockdowns, lockouts, bomb threats, and the like.

HOW ARE WE BEING PROTECTED? “We conduct our drills in all of our schools multiple times per year,” Mr. Bell said. “We do mock intruder situations, mock lockdowns, and we practice. Practicing, especially at the elementary level, is very good because that trains our kids, students, and staff what happens.” In a situation where an intruder gains access into the building, the school goes into lockdown mode, where all access into the building, as well as all internal spaces, are locked. Any intruder inside would find it difficult to reach spaces where students and faculty are held. Teachers are required to follow the “Locks, Lights, Out of Sight” model by locking the door to the classroom, shutting off the lights, and corralling students into a corner of the room where they cannot be seen from the window pane next to the door. “We try to make people out of sight as much as possible,” Mr. Bell said. “The psychology of an intruder is that they’re hesitant to proceed with anything that will cause them delay, like a locked door. They’re hesitant to try and jimmy, break—or even shoot—through a lock, or bust a window open. The psychology of an intruder is one that wants easy access to targets. If we can get people out of sight, we have created a time barrier to the intruder.”

14 January 2015 | Issue 3

In Jeffco, law enforcement officials will arrive at a school within 3-5 minutes of a transmitted alarm (with the exceptions of the mountain schools because of geography).

entering schools, and Standley Lake is making attempts to improve safety within the school, the need for added security continues to grow each year.

“My goal is not to have anyone confront an intruder, to dissuade or talk or interact with them,” Mr. Bell said. “My goal is to keep people out of harm’s way before law enforcement gets there, which is 3-5 minutes.”

“The number of incidents we deal with on an annual basis has not gone down,” Mr. Bell said. The desire for added security comes down to an issue of resources and economics. According to Mr. Bell, Jefferson County has one of the lowest budgets out of the Metropolitan Area schools, yet it’s the largest district with the highest number of students.

Instructor at TAC*ONE Consulting and Standley Lake alumnus Joe Deedon argues that lockdowns may not be the right answer when it comes to student safety—especially not in an era where at least 94 school shootings have occurred since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. according to everytown.org. “At Standley Lake, if a shooting started in the front office, why are we keeping the people down in the athletic hall in the building when they could run out to Wadsworth?” Deedon said. “Let’s get them out of the danger zone so they’re not stuck in there.” (See page 21) According to Deedon, it’s easier for Jefferson County to accept the traditional safety regulations than to adapt new ones, which would require extra funding and new initiative. “We’ve adapted our law enforcement tactics over the last 15 years, but the plan we still have here in Colorado—and what 95% of the school districts [follow]—is 15 years old now,” Deedon said. “It was developed in 1999 after Columbine. We need to continually adapt.”

THE TRAINED PERSONNEL While Jefferson County has other security measures in place to prevent intruders from

Standley Lake isn’t the only school facing possible security issues. It’s a problem spread across the district. However, the issues within this school are the responsibility of the people inside. “The key word is awareness,” Mr. Bell said. “Everyone in the school should be aware of their environment. That’s the most critical thing.” In order to create a safe environment, it is imperative to be informed in how to do so. “Yeah, it’s inconvenient to have to walk to the front door, but I think walking 50 more steps for our safety is kind of nothing, and we all need the exercise anyways,” Ms. Roughton said. It’s a story that began with rocks jammed into a door frame and doors that just won’t stay shut. For Arapahoe High School, it was a story that ended with Claire Davis’ death. For Standley Lake, the end of the school safety story is unknown. l | Jamey Burky | Chaye Gutierrez | Emily Leo | Natasha McCone | Tina Muscarelli | Ripley Ricketts | Alie Settje | Max Uhrich

“Even though we have security and even though we have a great staff, we as students don’t cooperate. We leave the doors open and intruders could come in easily. I don’t think it’s that safe.” -Alex Hay ‘15

The Silent Hero English teacher ms. Karen Roughton collects rocks from athletic doors, preventing possible intruders 93 rocks. 93 possible intruders. 93 is the number of rocks English teacher Ms. Karen Roughton has collected from the athletic doors. She sees the doors propped open, takes the rocks out and could have saved the school from someone coming in 93 times. She is the school’s silent hero. “I’m doing my part to fight against [letting people in],” Ms. Roughton said. “Everyone knows about my rock collection and they think its hilarious but I also think it pretty poignant.” Students understand the safety issue, too.

doors because it’s easier to get to my classes, but I do understand the safety issue,” Tori Baca ‘15 said. “There might be a better way to let students in through those doors rather than blocking it off.” But, for the safety of our school, the extra steps may be necessary. “We leave the doors open, intruders could come in easily,” Alex Hay ‘15 said. In Roughton’s act against the intruders, she silently pulls the propped doors closed. “Just leave the door closed,” Ms. Roughton said. “We’re not letting crazy people in here.” l | Alie Settje

“I would rather use the middle

breaking down safety at slhs 3 campus supervisors 1 police officer 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1,291 students

call talk

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

call talk

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

call talk

17 entrances

22 cameras

Uncharted Territory It’s 9:00 a.m. a group of The Lake staff members leave room B135 in Standley Lake and visit other local high schools to find out just how safe high schools are Pomona We stood outside of Pomona High School and walked towards the front doors, a few other Pomona students entering behind us. Following the students, we walked past the campus supervisor and Jeffco security, right into the heart of Pomona. But here’s the issue—we weren’t Pomona students. We were intruders. Intruders who did not sign in and who did not get stopped. “I didn’t even notice you guys walk in here. It’s difficult, there are so many new faces,” Pomona’s community greeter, Joe Vialpando said. With a security system almost identical to Standley Lake, we were terrified to see that three people could enter a high school so easily without being noticed. Pomona, like Standley Lake, has only three campus supervisors. One is always stationed at the front entrance to monitor who is going in and out of the front doors.

monitor the rest of the school.

Broomfield

After Pomona, we made our way down Wadsworth to Broomfield High School. We drove around, attempting to find any entrance we could. The athletic doors that lead right to the student parking lot were our first point of entry. Except unlike Standley, Broomfield’s athletic doors were fully closed. “Usually they are always closed, never opened,” Broomfield student Eric Fraire said. After finding our way to the front entrance, we walked in effortlessly. No campus supervisor, just an enclosed front desk office with a sign that read, “ALL VISITORS MUST CHECK IN.” While trying to look confused and without purpose, we passed numerous administrators, none of whom stopped us.

Jefferson Academy

That leaves only two campus supervisors to

We couldn’t get in.

16 January 2015| Issue 3

This charter school required us to put in a code to enter the school. Otherwise, the only door

open was the one leading to the office. Because of this entry system, the front desk secretary noticed us immediately, inquiring as to why were at the school. This was the only school where we were noticed and forced to check in with a school official.

Ralston Valley

It was our fourth attempt at intrusion of another school and our third successful one. No one even second guessed that we weren’t students that walk around this school on a daily basis. We walked right past three students playing hacky sack. They didn’t even notice that we were very unfamiliar faces. We walked in the front entrance of the school, made our way through the front lobby, up the stairs and through the halls. Nothing. No teachers, security guards, students, no one stopped us and asked if we went to Ralston Valley. After we had walked around for about fifteen minutes with no form of consequences or even awareness of our presence, we sat down and talked with the Ralston Valley Principal, Mr.

Gavan Goodrich. “We have our SRO [School Resource Officer]. We rely on our security people to do their rounds and keep their eyes and ears open as well as counting on the students. It’s a collaborative effort to maintain safety on any campus,” Mr. Goodrich said. According to Ralston Valley’s principal Mr. Goodrich, their security system includes locking all the doors by hand and leaving only two open; the main entrance and a side door that is on the west side of the building. But when walking down the unfamiliar halls of Ralston Valley, no one seemed to suspect anything out of the ordinary after three intruders entered their school unwarranted.

Legacy

Same result, different school. We used the same procedure as the previous schools. Walked right along with a mass of students at Legacy High schools that were crowding through the east entrance of the school.

just the facts: security at other high schools pomona

ralston valley

WE were NOTICED AFTER: NEVER ENTERED THROUGH: mAIN ENTRANCE wALKED aROUND FOR: 10 MINUTES cAMPUS sECURITY gUARDS: 3 sECURITY rESOURCE oFFICERS:1

WE were NOTICED AFTER: nEVER ENTERED THROUGH: mAIN eNTRANCE, THEN THROUGH THE SIDE DOORS wALKED aROUND FOR: 7 MINUTES cAMPUS sECURITY gUARDS: 3 sECURITY rESOURCE oFFICERS: 1

legacy

broomfield

WE were NOTICED AFTER: nEVER ENTERED THROUGH: wEST dOOR wALKED aROUND FOR: 10 MINUTES cAMPUS sECURITY gUARDS: 3 sECURITY rESOURCE oFFICERS: 1

WE were NOTICED AFTER: nEVER ENTERED THROUGH: mAIN eNTRANCE wALKED aROUND FOR: 10 MINUTES cAMPUS sECURITY gUARDS: 2 sECURITY rESOURCE oFFICERS: 2

We wandered around for five minutes before exiting through the back door. They never noticed us. “I think our district has a couple of unique things that could identify if someone doesn’t belong here,” Legacy High School Principal Mr. Lee Peters said. Similar to Jeffco, Adams 12 School District has banned hats in their school as well as professional sports jerseys, making those who wear them easily detectable as intruders. We entered through an open side door, and no one questioned us. That’s where the real fear is. Teenagers blend in with other teenagers. “I think our campus has three main doors which is west, east, and south; that’s the main entrance,” Mr. Peters said. “We have some north side backdoors that are locked at all times.” We pulled on about five different doors in the back of the school to see if they were unlocked, and all but two were locked. “I think Legacy’s history makes this a safe place to go,” Mr. Peters said. “But I have also learned through the course of the years that there is no such thing as a perfect school.” And he’s right. Any school that was safe in the past can potentially be dangerous in the future. Any person can become unstable in a matter of days. Any type of security can be breached. And every little detail is urgent. Anything can happen. l | Brittany Marks | Hannah Jensen | Morgan Rubendall | Sabrina Pacha | Shylah Ogle | Taylor Zangari

Tragedy at arapahoe leads to security changes

fight for safety

18 January 2015 | Issue 3

Allison Bruhn and Taylor Seyfer, seniors at Arapahoe High School, stand in front of The Bubble at their school. Arapahoe is still recovering from the recent tradegy.

It’s been over one year since a gunman walked around inside of her high school, but Arapahoe senior Allison Bruhn still doesn’t feel safe. “I’m still very cautious with where I go,” Bruhn said. “And when I go somewhere, I check to make sure there is an exit door right by me or I can see through the window. It kinda shakes you up a bit.” Taylor Seyfer, another Arapahoe senior who experienced the shooting too closely, is still shaken up from the events of December 13, 2013. She can remember the details of her experience. “About 12 minutes into my fifth period class I got up and walked to the front of the class to ask my teacher if I could go to the restroom,” Seyfer said. “Mid-sentence we heard a really big bang, and my teacher looked out of the classroom and pushed me to the back of the room and told me to get everyone down.” Karl Pierson entered in the unlocked, north entrance of Arapahoe High School carrying a machete, homemade bombs, a shotgun, and 125 rounds of ammunition. Prior to the shooting, all of the entrances were left unlocked and unattended during the school day, including the main entrance, which students call “The Bubble”, the north doors, and the west doors. “The event entrance doors and the study center doors were locked, but the rest were open,” Bruhn said.

Seyfer said even the unlocked doors did not have security guards at them. However, the school has been transformed since the shooting to help the students feel safe. “All you are allowed to walk into is the north entrance doors, which Karl walked into, and The Bubble,” Bruhn said. New security systems have also been installed to protect the students. “We have kiosks with security guards at both of the entrances,” said Bruhn. “ If you were to hold the other doors open for 5-10 seconds the security guards run to the door because they get signals, just in case someone is propping the door open.” The school received numerous threats on the one year anniversary of the shooting, causing them to double up on security. Unfortunately, this addition of security caused a backlash reaction. “The more policemen that came, made me feel less safe here. That didn’t help me feel at ease with it. And it didn’t help me think that everything is okay,” Bruhn said. The shooting has made a lasting affect on all of the Arapahoe students. “I’m not thankful for what we all went through and I’m not thankful that we had to go through it. I’m thankful for the way our community handled it, how high our heads were held after it all happened, and the way we’ve all been here for each other.” Seyfer said. l | Brittany Marks

3changes after the shooting at arapahoe

People are only allowed to enter through the north entrance or the bubble. All other doors are locked.

2 3

The front entrance security kiosk is occupied at all times by a campus security officer. If other doors are left open for too long, campus security gets a notification to go and investigate.

expert testimony retired Columbine Principal mr. frank deangelis reflects on 1999 shooting

the lake DeAngelis

How did you handle the situation? What were you going through at the time of the shooting?

the lake DeAngelis

How did you want to help Columbine recover after the shooting?

the lake Deangelis

Has this affected your life in the long run?

the lake

How did the building itself change, security wise, and why would you want the security to change?

deangelis

Well, I know after the Columbine shooting, everybody had ideas about what needed to be done. It was all similar to what happened at Virginia Tech, Arapahoe High School, Sandy Hook and they looked for ways to make schools safer. One of the things that took place at Columbine was they put in more surveillance cameras, we had a second SRO and three campus supervisors but the most important thing to me, more so than the cameras, was the fact that we gave students a power to look after each other. I opened an anonymous tip box which students could put their concerns in. Concerns that they had about things that were happening at the school. I think that students taking care of each other is so important.

For me, to be honest, I’m lucky to be alive. My secretary informed me that there were reports of gunfire in the cafeteria, bombs exploding. The first thing I thought was, ‘This does not happen at Columbine. This could not be happening.’ Once I ran out of my office my worst nightmare became a reality and I ran into the gunfire. Fortunately, I was not killed that day but I remember being fired at and all I could think about was what it would be like to be shot and possibly die.

The biggest thing we needed to do was keep everybody together. It was pretty easy for people to go their separate ways so I stressed the importance of the Columbine family. Right after the shooting, we had about a month left in school and there were people that wanted to go to different schools. Some students wanted to go to one school and other students wanted to go to another school to finish out the school year. Fortunately, Chatfield really stepped forward and they opened their hearts and they opened their doors to us and they allowed us to go back to school for the last five weeks.

It did. There are a few things that helped make it through the tragedy and I’ve made a promise to the class of 2002, they were freshmen at the time of the tragedy. I also realized that I wanted to rebuild the community. So I made a promise to be there for every kid who was in an elementary school in the Columbine area.

| Hannah Jensen | Morgan Rubendall | Taylor Zangari

one intruder enters. With one Gun.

The Lake dives into lockdowns minute by minute, from students huddled in the corner to organizations fighting for safety protocols

Nothing has started (yet) . It’s just an ordinary day. Soon, that nothing will turn into a major something.

“You can never really simulate that, and rightfully so—we shouldn’t put people through that. I almost think the practice is not pointless, but close to that, because you can never really replicate that but we do it anyway.” -Mr. James McAvoy

“I guess I should it’s just I know its not real...I’d trust [my teachers] enough to make sure I’m safe. I’d do whatever it takes to make sure I’m safe.”-Gabby Chavez ‘17

“Yeah, definitely because if you don’t, then bad things can happen if it really did happen, you’d know the severity of the situation. You just need to be calm and trust the people outside”.-Hannah rose ‘16

Security detects the intruder. The intercom is immediately sounded. “This is not a drill.” Students and teachers take on lockdown drills with different mindsets.

“I think especially with the shooting the past couple of years, it’s important to know how to act in those kind of situations because it is a real issue that happens more frequently than it should”-Daegan stiefvater ‘15

“I think students take it seriously because of what we’ve been through. They understand the complexities that we deal with for their safety.” - Ms. Danielle McCracken

the spectrum of seriousness

20 January 2015 | Issue 3

very much

Minute

Not-so-much

| Emma Marlow

Three instructions are given: Locks, Lights, Out of Sight. Three numbers are dialed: 9-1-1. Q:

Q: Why did the I Love You Guys Foundation begin the process of creating the SRP?

The making of a plan

One text, “I love you guys”, sent by Emily Keyes to her parents minutes before her tragic death in the Platte Canyon High School shooting in 2006 started it all. Now the name of a foundation created in her honor, the I Love You Guys Foundation created the Standard Response Protocol (SRP). Emily’s father, John-Michael Keyes, told us a little more about the process and the making of a standard.

We developed it because we saw that there was no common language between students, staff, and first responders. Actually, Jefferson County, here in Colorado, was the first district in the country to utilize it. Since then, we’ve got school districts in over thirty states now, and about 7,500 schools that we know of that are all using the protocol.

Q:What is the most

important component regarding lockdowns specifically?

That locked classroom door turns into a very significant time barrier, and we absolutely want to create time barriers because in the case of an active shooter, law enforcement’s coming, and they’re coming really quick.

Doors are rattled, Teachers mentally prepare for an attack

fter every incident involving violence in schools, communities are left bewildered and desperate for a solution that prevents the loss of more lives.

Answers range from increased focus on mental health to stricter gun control laws, but one of the most commonly proposed solutions is evaluating and altering training procedures. In response to incidents of school-violence, some organizations advocate for a more handson response to active-shooter situations. Joe Deedon, who graduated from Standley Lake in 1999, is the owner of TAC*ONE Consulting, a company that specializes in active-shooter training. TAC*ONE’s program, which takes place in four blocks, sets guidelines for responding to shootings. “The first block is a history of why we need to learn this and a little bit of basic firearm knowledge,” Deedon said. “The second block is how to evacuate correctly and how to determine if they can evacuate. The third part is how to barricade and how to fortify your room. And the fourth step is fighting back.” For TAC*ONE, fighting back can mean utilizing common classroom objects as weapons. This fourth step has drawn criticism from those who believe active responses should be kept to professionals. One of these critics,

With the many school shootings that have happened within the past few years, how do you stay hopeful?

When these events happen, I battle to spare, and there’s a fire in my belly to keep going. And we are, we’re getting ahead of it. The whole threat assessment process is evolving: can we find these kids and really intervene successfully prior to them going off? And there are cases where we have. You don’t make the news though.

President of National School Safety and Security Services, Ken Trump, highlighted the difference between police and students.

“Law enforcement mentality is to fight, fight, and fight,” Trump said. “But they don’t go to a gunfight throwing pencils, iPods and book bags at a gunman. While advocates for these programs may be well-intended, the trainers and people pushing the programs come largely from outside long-term, K-12 school settings.” Deedon and Trump show the differing, but resolute opinions regarding school safety. “We need to teach people to not just be sitting ducks,” Deedon said. But to Trump, newly proposed solutions seem to do more harm than good. “There is a difference between empowerment and creating a false sense of security that will get someone killed,” Trump said. Despite the seemingly endless supply of advisories on the debate surrounding training procedures, the answer to the imperative question of how to keep schools safe remains indecisive. | Meg Metzger-Seymour | Christina Rudolph

Right: Students throw bakckpacks at an intruder when following TAC-ONE protocol.

“While it’s still firing, I just run to the sounds of the shots essentially. I do everything I can to stop the threat because as far as I know,

every shot I hear is someone dying. that’s how I have to take it.”- school Resource Officer Sean Chandler

the stats speak

Statistics from Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2013 Study and http://www.stoptheshootings.org

SINce 1999...

every

2.7

years on average

Colorado has had a school shooting 22 January 2015 | Issue 3

colorado

is not but...

in the top

for school shootings or fatalties

For today , there is no intruder. He’s only an idea, a fear, a nightmare. For now, it’s a drill. Classes go back to normal. But if it had been the opposite,

how would the minutes have played out?

The alarm is ringing. In each classroom the lights are off. The doors are locked. Each classroom has students huddled together in a corner. Some classrooms have teachers planning the next move. Some classrooms have teachers in shock. Some classrooms have confused substitutes.

protocol for lockdowns. “I think [lockdowns] are pretty adequate because you can’t plan for everything,” science teacher Mr. Steve Reeves said. “I mean there’s a million scenarios that could possibly happen and we can only plan for general instances and then we have to adapt to whatever happens, what is actually happening.”

Silence.

Ken Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services, challenges the ability for individuals in the building to adapt to lockdowns. “They should block exits unannounced for fire drills to see how students and teachers respond,” he said. “They should practice lockdowns during lunch period, upon student arrival, between class change, etc. instead of only in the morning before lunch periods because doing it during other times is inconvenient for adults.”

The alarm stops but the sound doesn’t. Their hearts beat loud. Teacher, substitute, student, community member, principal. Each sits frozen, certain, but uncertain at the same time. Ms. Patty Cornejo, Jeffco substitute, expressed that she would definitely not feel prepared for what to do in the case of a lockdown emergency. “I would hope that there would be somebody outside, another teacher that would come in and help me,” she said. Some teachers could indeed help Cornejo, in their stronger sense of confidence in the set

way, School Resource Officer Sean Chandler explained how having something in place can help, even if no one’s actually capable of thinking. “A lot of it’s muscle memory, you know,” he said. “If you practice something in a drill, you’ll do it more correctly than you would if you had never done it. Is it always perfect? Nope.” But it’s still something. The anticipation lies as all attention is towards the door. Two possibilities: intruder or help. l | Mezhgan Aslamy | Olivia Koontz

Sitting at a lunch table, laughing and enjoying a friendly conversation, the alarm goes off. Some might go into focus-mode, while others could have a mental breakdown. Either

yet...schools are the safest place for students to be. Despite the rising occurrence of such tragedies, schools statistically are still the safest place for anyone under 18 years old to be at any time, including homes, according to John-Michael Keyes. He is the founder of the I Love You Guys Foundation and helped develop of the Standard Response Protocol in collaboration with many other leaders in the world of school safety.

On his eighteenth birthday, Tyler Davis ‘15 bought a gun. He drove down to his aunt and uncle’s gun store in Monument. For $10, he put his name, social security, and some other personal information into a state-mandated background check. Thirty minutes later, he drove off with his AR-15, a lightweight rifle. “I have already taken it out for a test drive for target practice,” Davis said. Buying it was quick, and it was easy. However, many wonder if it should be that easy.

a state split

In attempt to stop school violence, recent gun legislation divides Colorado 24 January 2015 | Issue 3

After a slew of violent mass school shootings, including Columbine High School in 1999, Virginia Tech in 2007, and Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, American politicians immediately sought reform. Nearly a month after the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Conn., where 26 children were fatally shot, President Barack Obama released a report entitled “Now is the Time.” In it, he called for “closing of background check loopholes” and “banning of military-style assault weapons and high capacity magazines.” In 2013, Gov. John Hickenlooper signed three controversial bills into Colorado law. The laws require universal background checks for every gun purchase to be paid by the buyer and limit ammunition magazines to 15 rounds. This signing made Colorado one of the quickest states in the nation to respond to recent violence. Eileen McCarron, president of Colorado Ceasefire, a non-partisan gun control political committee that was “integral” to the 2013 vote, said, “The awful tragedies caused by too readily available firearms to people who should not have them, had to stop.” However, these new laws were quickly opposed by gun owners. The bills passed with no Republican votes in the Colorado legislature and quickly aroused gun owners who feared the infringement of their second amendment rights.

“The rights to keep and bear arms are rights that you cannot just take away from somebody arbitrarily,” Steve Schreiner, President of The Colorado Firearms Coalition, said.

governor’s office. That is not necessarily easily achieved as you can see from the last elections.”

This fear of infringement was epitomized in Sept. 2013, when Schreiner’s organization helped gather over 16,000 signatures petitioning for the recall of state senators Angela Giron and John Morse. The senators, from Districts 3 and 11 respectively, were crucial in passing of the new gun control laws passed in 2013.

In the meantime, politicians and gun rights groups across the nation have now turned to different means of keeping schools safe. In Utah, legislation has allowed teachers to carry their concealed weapons without having to inform administration.

The two senators were repealed two months after the gun control laws were passed and replaced by Republicans.

Jul. 1 2013 Colorado passed laws that: Limit ammunition magazine rounds to 15 bullets Require universal background checks for all firearm sales at the buyer’s expense.

“In 2013, the legislators were definitely not listening,” Schreiner said. “They had their own agenda and they followed it, and they passed laws that are against our right to keep and bear arms.” The matter was taken to court where gun shop owners, police chiefs, and various other gun rights groups sued Gov. John Hickenlooper over the bills that they believed to limit their second amendment rights. But earlier this year, a federal judge upheld the gun control laws, after believing the plaintiffs lacked standing in their case. McCarron agrees with the court’s decision. “There is nothing that takes the gun away, there is nothing that intrudes on their second amendment rights,” she said. “It’s common sense.” Despite the disputed constitutionality of the laws, Schreiner fears that these new laws will not even be effective.

“The magazine bill, which is the most traumative [sic] of the four, is null and void on its face,” he said. “There are people who have magazine outlets where you can order the magazine on Tuesday, and on Saturday you go across the state line to pick it up. The public does not like the laws.” Schreiner is right. According to a poll released by Quinnipiac University, the percent of Americans who support the controversial new bills dropped 4% last April. At the same time, opposition of the bills rose to 56%. What’s more, many accuse the law of being vague. The law allows large-capacity magazines lawfully obtained before Jul. 1, 2013 to be kept without restrictions. Many sheriffs are now refusing to enforce the law. “The first chance that we get, we will repeal [the laws],” Schreiner said. “But, to do that, we need a pro-gun House, Senate, and the

While it’s still illegal for teachers to carry weapons on campuses in Colorado, the idea is gaining momentum amongst politicians and teachers alike.

“The awful tragedies caused by too readily available firearms had to stop.” -Eileen Mccarron, Colorado Ceasefire President

In early November, over 500 teachers, a majority of them women, attended a free concealed carry class organized by the Centennial Gun Club. It is expected that in the upcoming legislative session, a bill could be introduced to that could allow teachers in Colorado to carry guns. “Gun-free school zones are attractive to criminals, and they will take advantage of that,” Schreiner said. “If you have armed administrators and teachers who are properly trained, then we will have a very safe school environment.” In an interview with CBS4, Gov. Hickenlooper said, “I’m certainly open to that discussion.” But this sentiment is not shared by advocates of gun control, Democrats, and some teachers.

70 gun sales have been denied since the laws went into effect

“The day that teachers start carrying guns would be my last day,” Spanish teacher, Mr. Marcos Gonzalez said. “The idea of me carrying my gun in front of my students breaks my heart.” McCarron agrees. “The problem is teachers would never have the level of training of a policeman or a security guard,” she said. “Colorado could beef up its safety by having a greater security presence at schools.” As both gun rights and gun control advocates push for their own agenda, they both work to stop gun violence in schools. “We would love to completely end gun violence,” McCarron said. “But we are coming to learn that it is not very feasible.” l | Esteban Arellano

The deadlytruth School shootings have become a common occurrence in america. here are the facts.

16.6%

At Least

of high school students reported carrying a weapon to school during the month preceding a 2011 survey

school shootings in the us since Sandy hook

39%

only of schools gave serious discipline to a student for special offenses in the 20092010 school year

Victims of school shootings indiscriminate victims suicide gang-related accident

Shooting Duration

3 56 minutes

26 January 2015 | Issue 3

21% 12%

each year an estimated $16 billion is spent on medical and work loss due to youth homicides

hours

Targeted victims 50%

12% 5%

1 29 minutes hour

virginia tech Columbine

5 minutes

80 seconds

sandy hook

arapahoe

school shooting distribution worldwide

“

71.88%

aus

tra li a in A fric a me a 1.25 ric % a 1 .25% asi no 1.25 rth eur a % Am ope eri ca lat

If we look at ourselves aS people, we just want to fit in, and i think kids in a school setting often times don’t, and if you do, if you are off balance mentally, you have some of that that you’re dealing with, i think you do stick out.” -Kurt Braginetz, PRINCIPAL OF DEVEREUZ CLEO-WALLACE CENTER

1% .38% 14

10.0

out of 34 adolescent mass murderers,

61.5% 70% 43.5% were described as a loner

had been bullied

had experienced problems with substance abuse

only

23%

had a recorded psychiatric history

| Nicole Heetland info from publicintelligence.net, planet-risk.org, dosomething.org, everytown.org, cdc. gov, and psmag.com

BrainWise brings MENTAL HEALTH to Freshman

brain security 28

With the recent tragedies at Standley Lake, mental health, anxiety, stress, and depression have become the new norm in schools. With the new program, BrainWise, people can learn how to understand their brain and how to deal with different situations in constructive ways.

it kind of made me feel better about situations or understand them more.”

Two years ago, former SLHS social worker Ms. Melissa Hoza applied for a grant from the Colorado Legacy Foundation to get additional support for students with emotional needs. The grant supports new curriculum for programs such as Link, BrainWise, and our part time Jefferson County Mental Health therapist, Carolyn Hull. “Students, school

“We mostly know all the stuff she teaches us,” Maria Lozano ‘18 said. “It’s not something people look forward to. People come to class, and they are like, ‘Oh, we have Brainwise today.’ They don’t look forward to it.” l

staff, and parents report that students who participate in the BrainWise program use the skills taught in their everyday lives.” -Sara Hayes, BrainWise teacher. emotion on the spectrum.

Students who don’t like BrainWise say they don’t pay attention and don’t learn about their brain.

| Ty Milliken

“There is a concept called executive functioning, specifically how people cope and understand brain response,” SLHS social worker Ms. Diane Rarich said. “BrainWise is an evidence based practice, it has been proven to increase people’s awareness and capacity in dealing with stress, anxiety, and depression.” BrainWise has shown both positive and negative effects including students recognizing situations where their emotions escalate off the charts, to students not showing enough

“Students, school staff, and parents report that students who participate in the BrainWise program use the skills taught in their everyday lives,” BrainWise teacher Ms. Sara Hayes said. “Students often report how they use the BrainWise skills learned to not react but instead solve conflicts, respectfully, with siblings, peers and parents.” Programs like decision making, the brain’s functions 101, and how to handle situations you don’t want to be apart of are taught in the BrainWise curriculum. Using scientifically-based facts, BrainWise has taught students to use techniques like their “lizard brain reflex” to help make important decisions. “BrainWise is a proven, evidence-based program for building critical thinking and decision making skills in children and youth,” Ms. Hayes said. “Research shows that the human brain is hard-wired at birth to react emotionally and immediately to the world around us. This limbic reflex, referred to as the lizard brain reflex, and which stays with us all our life, is important to our survival.” However, there are negative effects including students not enjoying their study hall and loss of homework time.

“I found some of it helpful,” Alexis Beilman ‘18 said. “I thought that what we did learn was helpful. Some people did [think it was a waste of time] but I thought January 2015 | Issue 3 it was kind of helpful to know the different minds, and

Ms. Sara Hayes teaches BrainWise to freshman study hall. The program dicusses mental health in teens.

like. type. hate.

Life online can affect entire school’s safety

The @ symbol has taken a turn for the worst; by means of social media, students are more vulnerable to bullying from behind that bright, handheld screen.

Any form of a social media attack can grow into a physical fight, which can result in the threat of the safety of multiple students. But it can also affect a student’s mental stability.

Jennifer Marshall, young adult life coach and owner of SPHERE Education, has seen firsthand the impact social media has had on the students she works with.

“It’s easier to say what you want over twitter than it is to say in person,” Turner said, explaining why he believes fights on social media are more explicit, creating an easy home for cyberbullying.

“I think it makes people less empathic, less sensitive,” Marshall said. “I can say whatever I want and I don’t have to look you in the face, I don’t have to see your reaction.” Through the anonymity comes the pressure of being a certain person on the internet. Having the ability to construct yourself online can create a distance between your true persona and the one you choose to put out into the world. “On social media, sometimes we put our best, and sometimes we put out our very worst but you can’t ever take it back,” Marshall said. “You can put out this really great persona, but people who get to really know you know that’s not who you really are but thats who the world gets to see.”

The use of social media can influence fist fights, but can also escalate to something bigger. According to Westword magazine, before Karl Pierson walked into Arapahoe High School on Friday, December 13, 2013, he had posted suspicious pictures and statuses on Facebook. Suzanne Yergensen from The Jed Foundation has partnered with The Clinton Foundation, Facebook, and Instagram to help educate all

social media users on how to see and act upon those “red flags” on their newsfeed. Red flags can range from sad quotes on Facebook to pictures of weapons or reckless actions on Instagram. Reporting the more severe posts to local authorities or to the National Suicide Prevention Foundation helpline could save their life, others, or even your life. Yergensen suggests contacting the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline if you or a friend is struggling with mental illness and could be thinking irrationally; the number is 1(800)-2738255. l | Alyssa Murphy | Mezhgan Aslamy | Morgan Whitley | Nicole Heetland

The pressure of having millions across the world that see your comments and your opinions can tempt someone into converting their views to be the same as yours. If not, you better watch your back because cyberbullying doesn’t always stay online. Twitter has become home to the universally known “twitter beef”. Zach Turner ‘16 has been one of the most recent users of the new means of fighting through social media. Except in his case, this minute “twitter beef” escalated to a confrontation in the school’s lower commons. “I got out of there as soon as stuff happened,” Turner said, describing how easy it was for him to leave after the fight. “I don’t even really know what happened. I was just in and out.” Many follow “twitter beef” as if it was some kind of suspense movie. Grab some popcorn, your favorite blanket, and snuggle up to read as the passive aggressive fighting unfolds.

Zach Turner ‘16 scrolls down his Twitter feed.

opinions

teachers take bullets bond between teachers, students makes difference So, you know that one teacher you really dread seeing? Yeah, the one who gives a spit storm along with their lecture? The truth is, they’re probably more concerned with your success than you think. But wait, they just assigned another in-class essay... so that obviously means they are out to destroy your whole GPA, right?

What does that tell you? It tells me that we should stop overanalyzing our teachers for their common mistakes. Because you know what, they are jumping just as many hurdles as we are.

Wrong.

So congratulations, hopefully at this point you’ve realized that your teachers are not programmed completely by the will of curriculum guidelines or district policy.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I hear teachers getting roasted on the daily. And honestly, it’s getting old. They aren’t the bad guys. I support the fact that everyone has a bad day from time to time, and we need someone to burn, but we’ve crossed a line. We judge our teachers less on their teaching habits and more on their humility.

Believe it or not, many of the staff members inhabiting our school would protect you, yes you, under any and every circumstance. You can bet that if they have children of their own, who are also in school, that means they are trusting other teachers with the safety of their kids. Sound familiar? Mhm, our parents do the same exact thing.

Maybe your English teacher enters an entirely wrong grade. There’s no sense in getting all worked up because it is more than likely they have many other things on their plate. Chances are, aside from juggling hundreds of students a day, they have kids of their own, a spouse, and maybe even other jobs.

We should work with them and try to understand why they assigned those extra assignments, just like they understand that you just weren’t in the right state of mind to finish that bonus math problem. In fact, they’d probably appreciate it once in awhile to see that their students aren’t just mean green homework machines...they get it. They were in high school once.

Dave Sanders was the only one among many teachers and staff members who was willing to risk his life for students during the Columbine massacre. He died while taking a bullet that was headed straight for one of his students.

30 January 2015 | Issue 3

Take the step to build that relationship. I’m not suggesting coffee meets and lunch dates, but just have a little interest. Be concerned, tell

them to “have a good weekend”. Say thank you if that poem in English really moved you. It is okay to get to know your teachers. You may be only one student out of a little over a thousand students in the school, but that doesn’t mean you are just a statistic. All of them have a goal for us in completing their classes, whether it be the key to life or just being able to speak in front of a large group. The purpose of their teachings are not just how influential they can be, but rather what that influence is. I suppose the most important thing to take away is that we have to make that effort. Teacher-student relationships are not done justice by the brief interest and personality games at the beginning of the year. Because c’mon, no one can really express who they are by bubbling in A, B, or C on a half sheet of paper. By establishing real interaction with our teachers, we can discard the worksheets and the cold subtractions of grade point average. We can learn to trust that aside from the math formulas and thesis statements, teachers hold our best interests in mind.

| Emily Leo

Really? Not our problem School safety should not be students’ responsibility

We are furious to be writing this issue. We are furious to have to take on an investigation of school safety. We are livid, fuming, devastated that we, as students, who go to school with the sole responsibility to learn, are being plagued with the responsibility to keep each other safe. The student body is just that—students. Teenagers. School safety should be the last thing on our students’ minds, and yet for many, it is the first. Despite the numerous tragic events that have violated students’ sense of safety inside schools, we are not seeing drastic changes to improve security so that, just maybe, our students won’t feel like Standley Lake could be the next Arapahoe. Of course, schools can never be one hundred percent safe. We get it. But schools can absolutely ensure maximum security by taking safety initiatives. Like the side doors. Which are still not being monitored, shut, or permanently closed. Yes, students are absolutely responsible for a majority of this issue. But students shouldn’t be concerned with making the choice of propping a door open or not. Propping doors open shouldn’t be an option. They should be locked and monitored. Arapahoe installed a new system for the campus supervisors to wear bracelets that alarm them when any door is open for more than thirty seconds. Why can’t Standley Lake take this initiative?

a staff opinion

According to the Jefferson County Chief Operations Officer, Jeffco has one of the smallest budgets for metropolitan area schools, yet we’re the largest county in the state with the greatest number of students. That means that the miniscule amount of safety our district provides us with isn’t enough—and, in turn, our own protection relies on “awareness.” The burden of protecting our school cannot fall solely onto staff and students. While some responsibility has to be placed upon students to keep a safe school, it is not and should not ever be a concern for them. Yes, students should keep their eyes open for suspicious activity or somebody who might not belong, but that should not be their focus. It is not right that our students can’t focus on their work in the library because of the fear when they see a teacher they do not recognize, thinking they’re an intruder. It is not right that our students aren’t thinking about the teacher’s lecture, and instead their minds are consumed with fear of what that loud noise could have possibly been. It is not right that our students are being held responsible for who is coming through the doors, when really they should be the only ones coming through the doors. Whether it’s a matter of budget or unawareness, the students are asking to make our schools safer. We shouldn’t even have to ask.

It may come down to an issue of budget, but as far as we’re concerned, fighting for a budget for the security of the school should be the main priority.