Incoming Senate President Bill Cadman pledged to the parents of slain high school student Claire Davis that lawmakers would find ways to keep kids safer in school.
Michael and Desiree Davis were invited guests on opening day of the 2015 legislature and watched as Cadman lit a candle in honor of their daughter, who was 17 when she was shot and killed by a classmate at Arapahoe High School.
Cadman, a Colorado Springs Republican, attended Claire’s memorial service in 2013 and has kept a copy of the program in his Capitol office.
“As parents we worry about our kids being on time for class, having enough lunch money, remembering their homework or carrying a backpack full of books that’s half their weight,” he said. “We shouldn’t have to worry about their safety. … This body must seek solutions.”
But what those solutions are remains to be seen. Some bills already are being drafted; others are in the infancy stage.
“This whole school safety thing, it’s not like it’s a new issue, and it’s not like the legislature hasn’t been passing bills on it for the past many years,” said Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver.
Tougher gun laws passed in 2013 over the objections of Republicans following massacres at an Aurora movie theater and a Connecticut elementary school the previous year.
Colorado is home to one of the nation’s most notorious school shootings. Two seniors at Columbine High School in 1999 killed 12 classmates and a teacher before turning their guns on themselves.
Claire’s father said he’s confident lawmakers will come up with solutions.
“There are a lot of smart people here,” Michael Davis said. “We’re looking forward to working with legislators on both sides of the aisle to help this pass.”
Already, a that would require schools to report sexual assaults and marijuana use and fix an often-ignored state law that requires law enforcement agencies to report violent incidents involving students.
State Sen. Linda Newell, D-Littleton, and state Rep. Polly Lawrence, R-Douglas County, said the measures would offer more transparent reporting on school violence and discipline while also continuing efforts to curb the number of students who end up in the criminal justice system for minor violations.
Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327, lbartels@denverpost.com or twitter.com/lynn_bartels
