Dear LPS Parents:

I want to provide additional information related to today’s events in Highlands Ranch and the impact on LPS.

At 2 p.m. today, we were alerted by local law enforcement there was a reported shooting at the STEM School in Highlands Ranch and the suspects had not been apprehended. All LPS schools were immediately put on Secured Perimeter, and the decision was made to not dismiss students until district security and local law enforcement determined it was safe to do so. As a reminder, when LPS schools are on a Secured Perimeter, students remain inside and no one enters or leaves the school. Our students remained safe at school and were not in harm’s way. LPS sent text messages within minutes regarding the Secured Perimeter to LPS parents who have opted in to text messaging through their Infinite Campus Parent Portal. We also posted this information on Facebook, Twitter and all school and district websites.

At 3:09 p.m., we were notified by local law enforcement it was safe to dismiss school. Once we were allowed to release students, LPS sent a follow-up text regarding today’s dismissal procedures. We believed it was important to have elementary students who normally walk home be picked up by a parent. We appreciate parent support for the change in dismissal for elementary students who are walkers. Our middle and high school students were dismissed as normal. As was expected, given the late release of elementary schools, busses were running 45 to 60 minutes late. Parents, thank you for your patience, understanding and care.

We also want to thank our partners in local law enforcement for their timely and appropriate action in our area, and we are thankful our students and staff knew exactly what to do in a Secured Perimeter situation.  

We continued to work with our partners in law enforcement throughout the day and will do so in the coming days. Any time there is police activity in our area, we increase the presence of district security and local law enforcement throughout our district, in and around our schools and at activity/athletic events. We ask our parents and community members to continue to join us in our vigilance. Together, we keep our children safe.

School staff, including mental health professionals, will be prepared to provide support for students. If your child needs individual support, please contact your school. You may find this resource helpful when talking to your child. As always, thank you to our administrators, teachers, school staff, transportation staff and security department for the guidance and support they give our students every day.

I want to take this opportunity to again remind everyone that Safe2Tell is an important tool that anyone can use to anonymously report concerns to law enforcement and school officials. We also ask our students and parents to tell their school principal if they have concerns so that we can reach out to those who need support.

As I mentioned earlier, we communicated with parents today via text message. If you did not receive these texts, please check the message preference settings in your Infinite Campus Parent Portal and make sure both “Emergency” and “Priority Notification” are selected to receive text messages on at least one cell phone.

We continue to keep our friends and neighbors in the Highlands Ranch STEM School community in our thoughts.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation today as we work together to keep our students safe.

Sincerely,

Brian Ewert,
Superintendent