A second Arapahoe High School security guard is alleging that safety remains an issue nine months after a deadly shooting at the campus, adding that administrators punished and ignored employees who raised concerns.
Christina Erbacher-Kolk, who said she has been placed on leave, posted an open letter on Facebook claiming administrators did nothing when employees reported that Karl Pierson was looking up guns on his computer after threatening to kill his speech and debate coach. She suggested they also did not do enough when staffers said cameras were not properly working at the school, requested further safety training and pointed to doors that didn’t lock or repeatedly were propped open.
As the one-year anniversary of the shooting draws closer, Erbacher-Kolk said administrators have punished at least two employees who have spoken out about safety problems but have done little to fix persistent concerns over doors that do not latch properly, malfunctioning cameras and improper documentation of threats posed by student behavior.
“Some may criticize the way that I’m going about this, but I have tried the proper channels,” Erbacher-Kolk wrote. “The administration has restricted necessary documentation and training, and has retaliated against myself and at least one other for bringing problems like these into view.”
Neither Erbacher-Kolk nor Littleton Public Schools Superintendent Scott Murphy could be reached for comment. The Arapahoe County sheriff’s office began an investigation into the shooting in December but has not released its findings.
Arapahoe High student Jordan Macomber said Erbacher-Kolk’s letter rang true.
“I knew about all of that,” Macomber said. “I’m glad it’s finally out there for everyone to see. It makes me feel unsafe knowing that that is going on.”
Macomber is one of several students and parents who have sided with Erbacher-Kolk and Cameron Rust, another security guard who criticized the school district after the shooting.
They have called on school officials to acknowledge any failures in how administrators dealt with a September threat from Pierson against his speech and debate coach, Tracy Murphy, and to outline changes that are being made to keep children at the school safe.
“There is so much that is happening behind the scenes and being left out of the public’s eye for a reason that is unclear to us as a community,” Erbacher-Kolk wrote in her post on Tuesday.
The Arapahoe High security guard of seven years said she was asked several times by district administrators to refute statements made by Rust.
Erbacher-Kolk said that since the shooting she has been subjected to an “offensive, intimidating work environment” and was asked to sit in the same spot where student Claire Davis was shot on Dec. 13 when Pierson charged into the campus with a shotgun. Pierson later killed himself.
Erbacher-Kolk said she recently was placed on leave for “breaking a protocol.”
“Yet they can’t tell me what protocol I violated,” she wrote. “The treatment seems similar to a colleague of mine,” referring to Rust, who was put on leave in January. He could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Rust and Erbacher-Kolk said administrators were told that Pierson had been looking up guns on the Internet after he made threats against Murphy.
“We were told that there was nothing they could do but to watch this individual,” Erbacher-Kolk wrote. “Administration stated ‘We all know that this student will go off the deep end. It just will not happen at Arapahoe.”
Erbacher-Kolk said she decided to speak out after a colleague asked her recently whether she could “live with the way things were handled.”
The security guard also said that before the December deaths, she and others had requested more training regarding shootings and had questioned why a student who was caught selling knives was allowed to return to school. Erbacher-Kolk did not name the student.
Vicki Hoffmann, whose daughter was a senior at the time of the shooting, said she threw her hands up in the air out of frustration after reading the letter.
“It brought everything back to December again,” Hoffmann said. “We’re not getting any answers, and the biggest thing is the safety. Some parents feel like this could potentially leave the kids at the school open for something else to occur again. I don’t feel like Littleton Public Schools or the school has addressed anything. Their silence is brutally cold for people.”
Zahira Torres: 303-954-1244, ztorres@denverpost.com or twitter.com/zahiratorres
Facebook post
I am a security guard at Arapahoe High School, and was working there when a student went on a deadly shooting spree on December 13, 2013. I’m not known for speaking in the public or being the center of attention. I am well known by the staff and student body and for the most part liked by many of them. As far as the parents go a lot of you know me as the friendly face that greets you in the morning as you drop off your kids. I have worked at Arapahoe High School for the Last 7 years. I have had zero complaints on how I do my job in fact I have had nothing but excellent reviews. I wanted everyone to know that I truly love all the Students and Staff at Arapahoe. I have now been put on leave for breaking a protocol? Yet they can’t tell me what protocol I violated. The treatment seems similar to a colleague of mine Cameron Rust back in January, who criticized LPS Administration for the way it handled the shooting incident.
Approximately two weeks ago a trusted colleague came up to me and asked how I was doing. This individual stated “sometimes you need to ask yourself can you find peace and live with the way things were handled and the way they continue to be handled?” I have thought long and hard about this question and the answer is NO I can’t because of the way LPS Administration treated and continues to treat those that risked their lives to keep students and staff safe. We were told that the Administration doesn’t want us here and that we would be relocated because of concerns that we brought up to them prior to the shooting?
For the safety of the students, we related the following to LPS Administration before December 13, 2013:
•We questioned why a student who admitted to selling knives was allowed back into the school.
•I was told to stand with my back against the wall if I felt unsafe.
•We told the administration that a student was looking up guns on the computer after he had been the subject of a threat assessment about threatening a staff member’s life. We were told that there was nothing they could do, but to watch this individual. Administration stated “we all know that this student will go off the deep end. It just will not happen at Arapahoe.”
•Brought up on several occasions that cameras were not working properly
•Requested further training for the kind of danger the student presented.
•Brought up that doors that needed to be locked didn’t lock, were not shut all the way or were repeatedly propped open
What has happened after the shooting December 13, 2013:
•I filed a complaint with HR and School Board
•I have been shunned, singled out, isolated, excluded, yelled at, had some security information withheld so I could not properly do my job, and nit- picked, where others are not.
•I have been asked by LPS Administration several times to deny what Cameron Rust said in his statement and it was because I would NOT deny what he said that that’s why I was treated differently. I agreed with Cameron’s statements and could not honestly deny what he had reported.
•I have been subjected to offensive, intimidating work environment
•I have been asked to sit in the same location that Claire was shot
•The doors still do not latch properly
•The cameras still are not functioning properly
•Behavior issues with students are not properly worded or accurately documented
•I have been placed on leave for protocol violation. I have not been told what those protocols are, and was not told what protocol I violated.
•My disagreement with the way Security is currently organized is not properly acknowledged.
Questions that go through my head, among others:
•Why would someone have an escape plan for a low level threat?
•Why did SRO not know why we were in lockdown?
•Why was the library walked past after we radioed the shooter was in library?
•Why was another threat assessment NOT done after campus supervisors pointed out student was looking up guns?
•Why are the very first responders being treated so poorly and getting put on leave when it has been told to us we have done nothing wrong?
In closing, I want to say to the Students and Teachers at Arapahoe you are the true heroes. I am sorry that no one has come out publicly to say that! Students, you all amaze me! You had to grew up very quickly that day, but you kept your classmates safe and calm, some of you standing by doors in case danger came in, others thinking of classmates who would not be able to hear anything, grabbing them and getting out of the school. Teachers you remained calm and kept your students quiet and calm in the worst of situations.
Some may criticize the way that I’m going about this, but I have tried the proper channels. The administration has restricted necessary documentation and training, and has retaliated against myself and at least one other for bringing problems like these into view. I hope this statement will serve to make schools safer. As of right now the school is operating short of campus supervisors because I am now forced to take leave. It doesn’t make sense. I know the students and have proven my commitment to them.
There is so much that is happening behind the scenes and being left out of the public’s eye for a reason that is unclear to us as a community.
