I tell them, if my cellphone were on the desk, I would be checking social media, too. While students still peek surreptitiously at their devices below the desk, I find the ban is mostly respected. Going without cellphones in class vastly increases engagement and learning.

What is true for college students is doubly applicable to younger students. Cellphones disrupt class and distract students from engaging face-to-face with teachers, other students, and the academic material. Achievement suffers, particularly for students who are already struggling academically.

Sadly, heavy usage of smartphones and social media is also associated with poor mental health outcomes such as depression, poor self-image, and anxiety, as well as reduced time studying or sleeping outside of school.

There’s no way to stop parents from allowing their children to stare listlessly at a screen, but state lawmakers, school board members, administrators and teachers can impact what goes on during the school day. Last year, the General Assembly set a deadline for public school districts to adopt policies by next month to address cellphone use in schools, leaving it up to districts to determine the details.

The Denver Public Schools board did the right thing by unanimously passing a policy that prevents the use of smartphones and smartwatches with or without earbuds from the time they set foot into the school building until the moment they leave. Denver charter schools like Rocky Mountain Prep and STRIVE Prep already have such a “bell-to-bell” policy in place, but the ban will be new for some charter and traditional public schools.

Other school districts, such as Boulder Valley, Cherry Creek, Douglas County and Colorado Springs District 11, have classroom bans but vary on whether students may use phones during passing periods or lunch. For example, the Douglas County School District maintains a bell-to-bell ban for elementary and middle school students. Still, it allows high school students to access their smartphones during lunch and passing periods. While more flexible policies preserve the environment in the classroom, they could allow students to isolate themselves during lunch and recess or allow cyberbullying to take place on campus.

How hard will it be to enforce classroom or school-wide cellphone limits? A research paper published last year by the National Bureau of Economic Research examining the impact of a bell-to-bell cellphone ban on schools in one of the ten largest school districts in the country offers some insight. Researchers found that disciplinary infractions rose during the first year, but the rate returned to average in the second year. More significantly, while test scores remained the same in the first year, they increased substantially in the second year.

While Colorado teachers and administrators can expect some rebellion after implementation, as students break themselves of social media addiction, by the second year, turning off the phone at the beginning of the school day and keeping it off will become a habit. As attention and engagement increase, achievement will go up.

Krista Kafer is a Sunday Denver Post columnist.

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

School systems began curtailing their spending last year by pulling back on staff raises, but now they are taking more drastic measures — marking a period of retrenchment that administrators say is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

“This is probably the first of a number of difficult budget years because the state of Colorado simply can’t invest in K-12 — not to say that (the state) really invested in K-12 over the last number of years either,” said Scott Smith, chief financial officer for , during a school board meeting last week.

The K-12 budget crunch stems from the fact thatÌęenrollment is falling nationwide as fewer people have children and rising housing costs change where families live.

Generally, districts receive less money from the state when there are fewer children in their classrooms. The state uses a mechanism called averaging to determine how much money individual districts receive and to soften the impact of declining enrollment.

This year, Colorado used a three-year enrollment average, a change from last year’s four-year average. The change in how the state counts students is affecting districts’ bottom lines, and education officials are concerned about the state’s ability to implement the funding formula in the future given the government’s own budget constraints, officials who spoke to The Denver Post said.

While districts didn’t seeing a decrease in state funding this year, some, such as the , are receiving the same amount of money they did two years — which is a problem because the dollars that districts do receive aren’t stretching as far as they used to, as costs for health insurance, fuel and other expenses have increased, said Tracie Rainey, executive director of the .

“Every district is facing very different challenges,” she said. “They are very unique to every community.”

Democratic state legislators hope voters will approve a ballot measure in November that would exempt K-12 education funding from the spending cap set by the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights, which would increase education funding by giving the state a $4.5 billion buffer before it needs to refund money.

Several metro Denver school districts have recorded deficits in recent years, using money they had saved in their reserves to balance their budgets. But district officials said they can’t continue to rely on those savings to make ends meet.

As a result, and Cherry Creek Schools began cutting jobs this year, slashing 139 and 159 positions, respectively. Adams 12 Five Star Schools eliminated roughly 150 positions in 2025.

Cherry Creek will reduce about $23 million via the cuts, a move that enabled the district to balance its roughly $846 million budget without using reserves.

Jeffco Public Schools, the state’s second-largest district, has spent most of the school year implementing a plan to trim $45 million, which included laying off 50 employees this month and cutting 89 unfilled positions.

The district expects to use $13 million from its reserves to balance the 2026-27 budget, an improvement from the $49 million deficit Jeffco ran last year. Jeffco Public Schools’ budget is nearly $1 billion.

“We are doing the work to live within our means, we’re making financially responsible decisions, and yet the declines in enrollment are so great that we continue to grapple with it,” outgoing Superintendent Tracy Dorland said.

Jeffco Public Schools leaders are hoping voters will approve a $15 million mill levy override in November that can increase fundingÌęfor the district. Otherwise, the district will have a second round of reductions, Dorland said.

The , the state’s third-largest K-12 system, willÌęclose three elementary schools at the end of the month in an effort to save money. Still, the district will operate at a $22 million deficit next year because leaders plan to give staff 2% raises.

The Douglas County district saved money during the pandemic when schools struggled to fill staffing shortages, which is now enabling it to increase employee wages — a priority in recent years —by dipping into those reserves, Chief Financial Officer Jana Schleusner said.

However, the district can’t continue to use the money stashed away and is planning to slash between $15 million and $18 million — cuts that are likely to include jobs — in the 2027-28 fiscal year, she said.

“This is probably about the last year to use our reserves to stay where we are,” Schleusner said. “
As a nation, our demographics are changing. People aren’t having as many kids.”

, the state’s largest district, was able to balance its billion-dollar budget for next year without using reserves. But district officials expect to begin running a deficit by the 2027-28 academic year, according to the

The district is facing a cumulative four-year deficit of $28 million between the 2027-28 and 2030-31 fiscal years, according to a presentation district officials gave the Board of Education in May.

“We can’t continue to do everything we are doing when we have substantially fewer children,” DPS Chief Financial Officer Chuck Carpenter said.

The district’s financial outlook for the next four years “is something to be concerned about,” he added.

The expenses show former Superintendent Christopher Smith — whose travel drew scrutiny in recent months — isn’t the only frequent-flying K-12 leader in metro Denver.

His peers at the Denver, Jefferson County, Aurora and Douglas County school districts have also had the chance to accrue miles in the past two years as they traveled to places such as Breckenridge, New Orleans and Helsinki, Finland, the expenditures showed.

It’s not unusual for K-12 district leaders to travel to conferences across the U.S. to receive professional development, but it’s becoming “increasingly more common” for superintendents to undertake international travel, said Melissa Gibson, executive director for the .

“Professional learning has always been a priority and, frankly, should be a priority,” she said. “…A lot of the highest quality conferences really occur at the national level.”

The expenditures reviewed by The Post covered a range of costs, including the superintendents’ airfare, mileage, meals, hotels and other travel expenses for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 fiscal years.

The travel costs for each superintendent reflect a small portion of each district¶¶Òőap budget, but come as K-12 systems are tightening spending and closing schools amid declining enrollment and other financial pressures.

“It just sounds like a lot of money when schools are laying off teachers,” said Jane Feldman, an ethics consultant who previously was executive director of the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission, of the superintendents’ travel expenses. She is also chair of the. “…It’s a lot given the current economic pinch that all governments are under.”

Among the state’s five largest districts, Superintendent Alex Marrero spent the most money — $37,433 — on travel to conferences, including to Helsinki and Shanghai, China, documents show.

Marrero’s travel appears to exceed similar trips taken by his predecessors.

Former DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg spent at least $8,927 traveling to conferences during his final two years leading Colorado’s largest K-12 district — although records for him were incomplete. Susana CĂłrdova, who preceded Marrero, spent less than $5,000 on travel as her tenure overlapped with the pandemic.

“It is important for the superintendent to also collaborate with, and learn from, other similar districts nationwide for the benefit of our students,” spokesman Bill Good said in a statement. “As such, travel is an expected and endorsed part of the superintendent¶¶Òőap role and has been included in each of his contracts.”

Marrero traveled abroad to attend conferences held by the , an organization that Good said has a long history with DPS. Boasberg also attended conferences hosted by the organization, he said.

outgoing Superintendent Tracy Dorland spent the least amount of money — $6,408.53 — of the five metro Denver leaders, The Post found.

DPS and Jeffco Public Schools are the state’s largest and second-largest K-12 districts, respectively. They each operate a roughly $1 billion budget.

Superintendent Michael Giles and Superintendent Erin Kane spent $29,039 and $25,212, respectively, on travel during the same time period.

Smith, who previously ran Cherry Creek Schools, spent $23,499 on travel to conferences before he resigned in January.

An outside investigation found that Smith and his wife, Brenda Smith, the district¶¶Òőap former human resources director, likely violated district policy by charging Cherry Creek Schools for costs of events they did not attend or only partially attended.

The district fired Brenda Smith earlier this month, citing multiple policy violations related to travel and contracts. The outside investigation did not find the Smiths violated district policy by acceptingÌępaid trips to Brazil and Guatemala, but ethics experts told The Post likely violated a state law that prohibits government officials from accepting gifts that can influence their decision-making.

David Feil was sentenced Monday to 10 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections for child sex exploitation, a felony, which will be followed by 10 years of a sex offender , court records show.

Feil took a deal and pleaded guilty in March to two counts of child sex exploitation, dropping four felony charges of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust from his case,Ìęaccording to court records.

Douglas County School District received a Safe2Tell tip in March 2025 from a student in Feil’s class at Roxborough Intermediate School about the man sending students inappropriate videos and connecting with children on social media, police said. The students nicknamed Feil “Mr. Pedophile,” according to his arrest affidavit.

Feil had previously received a written warning about having personal relationships with students, but continued to interact with them on social media and message them outside of class, the affidavit stated.

The man was hired at Roxborough Intermediate School in 2015, became a sixth-grade classroom teacher in 2017 and was fired in 2025.

“Feil’s actions followed a clear pattern of grooming, manipulation, and abuse of trust,” 23rd Judicial District Deputy District Attorney Brynn Chase . “He targeted vulnerable students, blurred boundaries over time, and worked to keep them silent. Thanks to the bravery of these victims, his exploitation of students has been put to an end.”

Douglas County District Court Judge Daniel Warhola called Feil’s behavior “unacceptable in this community and to this court,” during Monday’s sentencing hearing, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Every district is required to adopt a cellphone policy by July 1, 2026, which means families have a narrow window to weigh in on a critical choice: classrooms defined by distraction, or ones where students can fully engage and learn.

What does getting it wrong look like? Restricting phones only during class time. It feels reasonable, but it is not.

As executive director of Stand for Children Colorado, I work closely with families, educators, and school leaders across the state. The message I hear consistently is clear: cellphones are undermining learning and students’ ability to focus, connect and engage with one another in ways that are impossible to ignore. In fact, 72% of U.S. high school teachers say phone distraction is a major problem, according to a Pew Research Center survey.

Colorado now has a rare opportunity to get this right.

This moment comes as schools grapple with rising anxiety, addictive algorithms and lost instructional time. Phones are not just a distraction; they pull students into constant comparison, notifications, and social pressure throughout the day. Students lose an estimated 43 minutes of learning time each day to their phones, according to Common Sense Media research.

Kids ages 13 and older pick up their phone over 100 times a day on average, Common Sense Media reported. Instruction is constantly interrupted. Social media conflicts spill into hallways and lunchrooms. Teachers spend valuable time policing phones instead of teaching.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Where districts have taken a clear, consistent approach — requiring phones to be off and away for the entire school day, including lunch and passing periods — the results are striking.

Schools with these policies report more instructional time, fewer behavioral disruptions, stronger student engagement, and improved peer relationships.

And it¶¶Òőap not just the educators who are noticing the positive changes.

During a recent Stand community information session on phone-free schools, we heard from Bianca, a ninth grader in Boulder Valley School District, where schools have had a bell-to-bell phone-free policy since January 2025. Bianca told us: “I am able to study better. I am able to listen to teachers better without knowing that someone next to me is using their phone or playing video games. My mental and physical self have both changed tremendously over the course of a year in a phone-free school. I have strong friendships with both students and teachers.” She also said that being off phones for most of the day has reduced cyber-bullying. Some districts are considering policies that restrict phones only during instructional time.

The concern I hear more than any other from parents is, what if there’s an emergency and I can’t reach my child? School safety experts who train for and respond to these situations say phones can actually make students less safe. One superintendent described watching parents flood the school driveway during a lockdown, blocking emergency vehicles from getting in. No one wants to cut off communications. Schools have trained staff and protocols for reaching families safely. Students need to be fully present and attentive when it matters most.

That same principle applies throughout the school day. While it may feel like a reasonable compromise to allow phones outside of instructional time, inconsistent policies create ongoing disruption. As Jonathan Haidt, author of the best-selling “The Anxious Generation,” notes: Scientific studies show even short interruptions can derail learning and require significant time to recover. When phones reappear throughout the day, the cycle of distraction, social comparison, and emotional disruption never fully stops.

Districts seeing success have three things in common: phones are off and away all day, expectations are clearly communicated to students and families, and rules are consistently enforced with immediate consequences. And consequences shouldn’t be punitive. Suspensions and expulsions do not belong in a phone policy. Taking the phone and requiring a parent to pick it up does.

Don’t let your district settle for an “instructional time only” policy. If you believe your child deserves a classroom focused on learning, not distraction, and a school environment that supports mental health and real human connection, speak up.

Call your school board member. Email your superintendent. Show up at a meeting. Rally your community — like the over 300 people who recently emailed Douglas County school officials urging them to include high schools in the district’s bell-to-bell phone free policy. Tell them you support districtwide bell-to-bell for all schools.

Colorado has a chance to lead on this issue — not just to improve academic performance, but to improve mental health, make our schools safer, and help students rediscover what it means to feel present and connected. But that will only happen if leaders have the courage to go all in on something that has a track record of success from schools around Colorado, the country and the world.

Krista Spurgin is the executive director of Stand for Children Colorado, a nonprofit advancing solutions that increase opportunities for families, historically furthest from privilege, through meaningful partnerships with families, educators, schools, and policymakers.

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

Most of the job reductions — as many as 123 full-time equivalent positions — will be made among school support staff, such as people who work in special education, gifted and talented, and language supports, as well as administrative health liaisons and high school administrative support, according to Cherry Creek Schools’ .

“These decisions are not easy, but they are necessary to ensure the long-term strength and stability of our district,” Perry wrote in an email to parents. “By reducing costs and strengthening accountability, we are staying focused on what matters most — educating students and delivering on our promise of excellence for all. ”

Cherry Creek Schools has a $840 million budget and is projected to have a $15.4 million deficit this year, in large part because of declining enrollment.

The district will also cut 36 full-time central personnel positions, such as in transportation, maintenance, IT, communications and human resources.

Nearly $9 million of the reductions will come from other parts of the district’s budget, including overtime pay, professional development and a reduction in contracts, according to the district’s website.

At least two of the contracts that Cherry Creek Schools expects to eliminate are related to the district’s ongoing investigations into former Superintendent Christopher Smith and his wife, Brenda Smith, the district’s chief human resources officer.

Cherry Creek Schools’ investigation is focused on the Smiths’ ties to , which hasÌęreceived nearly $3 million in contracts from the district.

The district’s list of contracts being eliminated from its budget includes one worth $850,000 with Education Accelerated and a second worth $350,000 with a Washington, D.C.-based real estate firm called that has ties to Education Accelerated, according to the district’s website.

The budget cuts largely come as K-12 districts across Colorado are tightening their belts amid declining enrollment. Statewide, enrollment fell by more than 10,000 students this academic year — the largest decrease since 2020.

The decrease is largely driven by fewer people having babies and housing costs shifting where families live, but districts also saw enrollment drop more than expected this year because fewer immigrant students are attending schools amid the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts.

Jeffco Public Schools, the state’s second-largest district, is slashing $45 million in spending, including cutting 139 full-time positions in its central office. Most of those cuts were made via retirements and other turnover, but at least 50 people will be laid off at the end of the school year.

, which serves Adams and Broomfield counties, cut at least 150 jobs in 2025 because of budget pressures.

James Christopher “Jim” Thomure, 57, of Centennial was arrested in June 2024 after he sexually assaulted and propositioned a 17-year-old student who was finishing an exam in his classroom in May 2024, according to police reports.

Thomure pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child, a felony, and misdemeanor child abuse in January. The district attorney’s office dismissed one count of child sex assault as part of the plea agreement.

The victim read a statement during Thomure’s sentencing hearing Friday and described feeling guilty after the assault and Thomure’s arrest and worrying about how it was impacting him. She convinced herself he thought it was a terrible mistake and regretted it, she said.

“However, this consideration and care was once again not extended when he chose not to plead guilty at the first plea hearing,” she said. “It was not extended when he made that choice knowing I would have to endure a trial over a crime we both know was committed.”

She described being weighed down with anxiety during her high school graduation, carrying the secret of what happened as she was expected to praise him while talking to her classmates.

“The experience has stayed with me for years. I am proud that I chose to stand with myself, with others who have spoken out, who are afraid to speak out or are unsure if they should,” she said.

In addition to 300 days in jail, Thomure was sentenced to eight years of intensive probation for sex offenders as part of the plea agreement.

“This man violated the trust placed in him as an educator and caused lasting harm to a young victim,” said Danielle Jaramillo, chief deputy district attorney. “Our office will continue to hold accountable those who exploit and prey on children.”

Thomure’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sentencing.

The changes, which were approved by the district’s Board of Education on Tuesday, will be implemented over a four-year period, beginning in the 2026-27 academic year, according to a news release.

The three schools targeted for closure are , and .

“These recommendations reflect thoughtful, long-term planning,” Superintendent Jeni Gotto said in a statement. “Our goal is to align facilities and enrollment in a way that strengthens academic programming, preserves student opportunity and ensures sustainability for years to come.”

The district’s first step is to close the Westminster Academy of International Studies later this year and have students move to to form a PK-6 International Focus Program. The academy’s seventh- and eighth-graders will go to the new Uplands Discovery Campus, according to the news release.

and are merging to form the Uplands Discovery Campus. Flynn students will attend school at Shaw Heights starting in the fall until the new campus opens in 2028, according to the

The other changes by Westminster include:

• and will no longer serve seventh- and eighth-graders starting in the 2027-2028 academic year. Fairview students in those grades will move to , while TKP students will go to .
• ÌęMesa Elementary will close in two years. A boundary committee will determine where students go for the 2028-29 school year, but not all pupils affected by the closure will attend Uplands Discovery Campus, according to the news release.
• Ìę will no longer teach seventh- and eighth-graders. Instead, those students will move to Uplands Discovery Campus in the 2028-29 academic year.
• Hidden Lake Secondary School will close in 2029. The educational program will relocate to the former Mesa Elementary building.

K-12 enrollment is falling statewide, mostly because fewer Coloradans are having children. Housing prices are also shifting where families live in metro Denver. The drop in students is hitting districts financially as they receive less per-pupil funding from the state when they have fewer students in their classrooms.

Other districts have also closed schools because of falling enrollment, including Denver Public Schools and Jeffco Public Schools. The Douglas County School District will shut downÌęthree elementary schools this summer.

Westminster Public Schools enrolls 7,590 students as of the 2025-26 academic year, according to state data.

Teacher absences forced schools to delay and cancel classes in Denver, Boulder, Aurora, Commerce City and Glenwood Springs, and students initiated their own walkouts. Dozens of restaurants and cafes closed across metro Denver. spoke out. An afternoon at Denver’s La Alma-Lincoln Park drew more than a thousand people.

Denver resident Kenneth Daniels, 46, and his 14-year-old daughter Violet were among the crowd gathered on the park’s grassy field at 2 p.m. Daniels, who owns Drop to Pop Records and Curio, closed his store for the day for the protest. The past few weeks have sparked feelings of horror and disgust, he said.

He and his daughter have been to several other protests, and Violet said attending helped her feel connected to the community.

“I feel happy to share their support for wanting a better future, and I’ve seen people who are from my school as well, trying to end this fascist regime,” she said.

A crowd marching past the Colorado Capitol around noon chanted “No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here!” Marchers carried signs calling out the recent shootings of civilians by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Hundreds of Denver-area students participated.

“Get ICE out of here,” said Charles Easley, 18, who had seen flyers posted around Northfield High School and decided to join in. Teachers, coaches, and school staffers were there, too.

“Even kids can tell this is wrong,” said Levi Caufman, 17, another student from Northfield High, referring to the stepped-up ICE tactics in Minneapolis.

The demonstrations were the latest amid widespread outrage following the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis, which have heightened concern over the Trump administration’s tactics in enforcing immigration laws.

Pretti, an intensive care nurse, was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent on Saturday after a group of federal officers tackled him to the ground while he was filming ICE actions in Minneapolis.ÌęAn ICE officer shot and killed , a mother of three born and raised in Colorado, after a confrontation in the Minneapolis streets on Jan. 7.

Protesters at the Capitol marched through downtown to join the demonstration at La Alma-Lincoln Park, sparking expletive-laden chants against Trump and ICE. Organizers passed out food and water to the crowd as advocates from different metro Denver groups addressed the crowd.

“Are we great yet? Cause I just feel embarrassed,” one sign read. Other signs urged people to love their neighbors or likened ICE to the gestapo.

Kelsang Virya with community group Mutual Aid Monday called for the release of all children in immigration detention centers as she spoke to the crowd, referring to the arrest of a 5-year-old Ecuadorian boy and his father who are now being held in a federal facility in Dilley, Texas.

“Now is the time we must join our neighbors and fight back against a fascist government,” Virya said.

Teachers across metro Denver called out of work on Friday as part of the protests, with district officials reporting more than 1,000 teachers and other staffers saying they would not work on Friday. Another 497 teachers at called out, district officials said.

Mapleton Public Schools officials in Adams County told students they could not participate in walkouts in a Thursday letter, but did not stop them when at least 400 did walk out on Friday at Skyview and Global campuses.

“Our kids did participate in protests and nobody did stop them,” district spokesperson Melissa Johnson said. “We do support their First Amendment rights.”

District officials were concerned about students leaving campus unsupervised, but school administrators were able to monitor the protests to ensure pupils’ safety, she said.

Denver school officials announced two-hour delays at George Washington, North, South, East high schools and Joe Shoemaker and McMeen elementary schools because of staffing shortages. Early childhood education and other programs were canceled.

The and the Boulder Valley Education Association notified teachers that Friday was not “an authorized day of action,” officials said.

Aurora Public Schools and Commerce City-based Adams 14 canceled all classes because of staffing shortages.

“We always seek to keep schools open to provide critical learning, social-emotional support, mental health resources, and healthy meals for our students,” Aurora Public School officials said in a statement. “However, after closely monitoring the number of staff absences across the district for tomorrow, we have determined that APS will not have enough staffing capacity to safely operate schools.”

Adams 14 Superintendent Karla Loría declared that, because of high student and staff absences, Friday would become a “teacher and staff work day” with no classes.

In contrast, Cherry Creek Schools, the fourth-largest district in the state, didn’t have a large number of staff absent on Friday, and district spokeswoman Lauren Snell said operations were “as normal as usual.” Douglas County School District officials also reported no impact, with no school closures or delays. In Mapleton Public Schools, 66 teachers called out, and district officials were able to fill most of the absences with substitutes, Johnson said.

More than a dozen Denver-area restaurants planned to close on Friday, and owners of other restaurants said they would donate a percentage of their profits to local immigrant rights organizations. The point, Sap Sua Vietnamese restaurant chef and co-owner Ni Nguyen told the Denver Post this week, “is to grind the economy to a halt.”

Denver Police instituted rolling road closures throughout the downtown area on Friday afternoon because of demonstration and march activity, .

Colorado officials also pushed back on ICE this week, with U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper demanding ICE reforms as part of a proposed government spending package to avert a partial federal government shutdown and Denver officials supporting Minnesota’s lawsuit challenging ICE operations. Bennet on Friday condemned the Department of Homeland Security policies, and “Donald Trump’s immigration troops,” in a speech on the Senate floor.

“Alex Pretti was killed by his own government, and then his government immediately began to lie about him and what had happened,” Bennet said. “He did not attack the agents. He did not threaten them, and at no point did he pull a gun in the video of that horrific scene. It’s clear that an agent disarmed him before any shots were fired. Multiple agents held him to the ground. Three of them beat him. No reasonable person would have believed he posed any threat to the agents or anyone else at the scene, but the agents still shot him.”

Professional sports figures also commented on ICE on social media.

Nuggets coach David Adelman, who worked in Minneapolis for five years, told a reporter he watched drone images of what “looked like a war zone” and wondered how to explain what is happening to his children.Ìę decried “utterly senseless acts of violence,” referring to the killings of Good and Pretti, on X.com. “
 their lives are just taken from them,” Johnson said in the post. “It¶¶Òőap sad, and it hurts.”

Denver Broncos football guard also called for the abolition of ICE in a since-deleted post on Instagram.

BREAKING: Denver star Quinn Meinerz is calling for President Donald Trump to ABOLISH ICE.

Quinn posted this after Minnesota resident Alex Pretti was shot by US federal agents on Saturday.

Meinerz was one of one of first athletes to call for ICE to be abolished.

Wow.

— MLFootball (@MLFootball)

The device exploded in a technology office at Mammoth Heights Elementary School at 9500 Stonegate Pkwy, Douglas County School District spokesperson Paula Hans said in an email.

That office space is not used by students, and the one staff member in the room was not injured, Hans said.

The explosion set off the fire alarm and evacuated the school. South Metro Fire Rescue crews responded and determined it was safe for students and staff to return to the building, Hans said.

The incident left a small burn mark on the office floor, she added.

crews responded to a hazardous materials call at the school at 10:58 a.m. and said there was no threat to the community.