As frustrated parents gathered around East High School’s big red and white “E” to call for a safety plan from their school board Monday morning, a quiet funeral was taking place across town.
In a chapel at Central Baptist Church, at 2400 California St., friends and family of the 17-year-old accused of causing the latest shooting at Denver’s largest high school said goodbye.
Ten days ago, Denver police said Austin Lyle shot two East High administrators who were patting him down before class. The deans survived their wounds, but Lyle did not. He fled the scene and took his life near Bailey that night of March 22, according to the Park County Sheriff's Office.
Lyle's death and the injuries to the two school deans followed the murder of 16-year-old Luis Garcia, a popular soccer player who was gunned down while in his car near the school, multiple lockdowns — some of which were swatting incidents — and a shooting at a nearby recreation center.
Addressing the coffin which held his grandson, Wesley Lyle Jr., reassured Austin Lyle that he wouldn’t be remembered for his last day, but for “the 17-and-a-half years that came before it.”
Two miles away, a more public scene unfolded at East High as parent organizer Steve Katsaros began a planned press conference with a moment of silence for Lyle. He said his frustration is with the system and not the ill-fated teen.
“I do not blame the boy,” said Katsaros, who helped form the Parents Safety Advisory Group (PSAG).
In just ten days, PSAG went from four anxious parents who met by accident after receiving a text that East High was experiencing a lockdown, to 600 as of Monday.
Parents and students are worn out from the multiple shootings, false alarms and urgent cellphone messages which have made East High School’s 2022-23 school year an emotional disaster.
PSAG officials want a detailed safety plan from the Denver Public Schools Board of Education by Wednesday morning's first bell at 8:05 a.m.
“We demand transparency and we want a seat at the table,” said East High alumnus and dad of two East students Vince Jordan, one of the original four.
“We have had zero communication from the school board,” said Katsaros, whose 16 year-old is a sophomore.
Jenny Jordan Abel said that Spring Break provided a good respite from the chaos, but her 16 year-old is afraid to return to school.
“When you get one of those texts, your breath is taken away,” said Jordan Abel.
In response to the March 22 shooting, the Denver Public Schools Board of Education requested two school resource officers (SRO) be installed in all high schools after the March 22 shooting. It got a portion of what it wanted.
Friday, Denver Police announced that two armed SRO's will be at East High, the district’s largest school with 2,500 students. Another 12 high school campuses will have one officer each, adding up to a total of 14 SROs, according to the police department.
Katsaros called the move "a knee-jerk reaction" and is asking for a more multi-pronged approach. Besides better communication, and a well-thought out safety plan, PSAG wants the school board to put an end to the practice of holding executive sessions. Those meetings are held in private and no one except those present are allowed in on what is discussed.
Auon’tai Anderson, vice president of the Denver School Board, was out of town for Monday's first PSAG meeting, but is intent on creating a dialogue with parents.
“I am looking forward to the Superintendent communicating his operational return to school plan for the students and educators at East High School to both the community and the Board of Education,” said Anderson in a text while on a flight bound for Denver. “The Board of Education sets policy and the Superintendent is trusted to maintain the day-to-day operations of the district. My colleagues and I voted to suspend Executive Limitation 10.10 in response to members of the community wanting the return of School Resource Officers for the remainder of the school year.”
Anderson said that the board requested not only up to two armed officers at each high school, but also wanted for them to work alongside two mental health professionals per school.
He added that the statement was solely his opinion and did not reflect the Board of Education’s response to the PSAG press conference.
Anderson was among those leading the 2020 effort to remove armed police officers from Denver schools, but has done an about-face on the issue.
For their part, PSAG is not going away. The group plans to meet at the East High “E” every Monday at 10:20 a.m. until May 22.
Monday morning, two long black hearses waited to lead Austin Lyle's funeral procession. As he waited for the two-hour service to end, his cousin, James Pullen Jr., paced the sidewalk.
“This is the way I always saw Austin,” said Pullen holding up the memorial service program. On the front cover was a photo of Austin Lyle, all dimples, grinning in a yellow baseball cap.
Below it in another photo, a smiling baby in a striped shirt shows off two front bottom teeth.
“I never saw him angry a day in his life. He wouldn't flick a flea,” said Pullen. “He wasn't one of those bad kids. He was a good kid.”
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