Voice
LONE TREE 12.20.12
Lone Tree
Douglas County, Colorado • Volume 11, Issue 49
COP SHOP
December 20, 2012 A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourlonetreenews.com
Schools exercise discretion on alcohol Two principals lose jobs; administrator not facing action By Jane Reuter
jreuter@ourcoloradonews.com
Grant Atwood, 4, of Parker, picks out a toy with the help of Deputy Matthew Bach at Target, 1950 E. County Line Road. Grant was on the outlook for anything to do with Spider-Man, trains or dinosaurs. Bach was among a group of Douglas County Sheriff’s Office deputies who volunteered their time to help brighten the holidays for 30 area kids on Dec. 15. The inaugural “Heroes and Helpers” event paired deputies with kids identified by Douglas County Human Services and the Douglas County School District to go on a $50 shopping spree for the holidays. Photo by Courtney Kuhlen
More to danger than strangers Law officers, schools collaborate on safety video By Jane Reuter
jreuter@ourcoloradonews.com In the days that followed Jessica Ridgeway’s disappearance in Westminster, some Douglas County parents turned to the school district for help. They wanted to know if it offered a program to help kids understand the threat of strangers. Douglas County Deputy Sheriff Jay Martin stepped up to answer that question. Martin, who leads the office’s Youth, Education and Safety in Schools (YESS) program, first proposed a PowerPoint presentation. With help from former 9News producer and Douglas County Schools spokesman Randy Barber, Martin’s idea evolved into a video and a collaboration including the Parker, Lone Tree and Castle Rock police departments. Martin and officers from other jurisdictions now are showing it at local elementary schools. “Friendly Faces Fakes Us Out” also can be viewed at the district’s Web site, making it more far-reaching than Martin ever had imagined. Martin alone estimates he’s spoken to more than 6,000 students. The video goes beyond the strangerdanger concept, taking what Martin and Barber say is a more all-encompassing, current-day approach. “`Stranger danger’ assumed you didn’t know the person who was threatening you,” Barber said. “This tries to say, appearances aren’t everything. This could be somebody you may have seen around the neighborhood, someone you have a familiarity with. The idea is not to be fearful, but just be aware.” Martin gives students homework, asking them to work with their parents and compile a list of four trusted adults. It also provides instruction for children who are lost,
Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputy Jay Martin, a Youth Education and Safety in Schools officer, talks to students at Northeast Elementary School in Parker on Dec. 13 about dangerous strangers. Martin talked to the students about finding trusted adults and paying attention to their instincts. Photo by Courtney Kuhlen
‘Unfortunately, we live in a society now where we have to make sure our kids know the people they can trust.’ Douglas County Sheriff ’s Deputy Jay Martin urging them to seek out people with name tags or adults who have other children with them. “We’re trying to get away from the word `stranger’,” he said. “Unfortunately, we live in a society now where we have to make sure our kids know the people they can trust.” It’s a message Martin delivers with personal passion. In addition to having four children, he experienced an attempted abduction during his childhood. A man began
screaming profanities at the then-sixthgrader, ordering Martin to get into his car. “I followed one of my rules, and turned and started running in the opposite direction,” he said. “I ran all the way home.” Martin was, however, walking alone, which the presentation advises children not to do. Instead, it suggests using a buddy system and emphasizes safety in numbers. For more information or to view the video, visit www.dcsdk12.org/friendlyfaces.
When two Douglas County School District principals reportedly tested positive for alcohol during breathalyzer tests at an administrators’ meeting, both lost their jobs. When Chief Academic Officer of Elementary Education Dana Strother was arrested for drunken driving after she reportedly drove her car down the wrong side of a street, told police she thought she was in a different city, had trouble standing during a roadside test and blew a .277 during a breathalyzer test, district officials took no action. The difference, they say, is that Strother was not working. Former principals Alan McQueen and Ally Berggren were. Both principals reportedly had attended separate events involving drinking on the night of Dec. 5, then drove the next morning from those locations to the meeting at The Wildlife Experience in Parker, where they were given alcohol breath tests shortly after the meeting began. While district officials won’t reveal the tests’ results, school policy states that reporting for or remaining on duty with an alcohol concentration of .02 or greater is prohibited. The arrest of Strother, who was accused of driving with a blood-alcohol level more than triple the legal limit, also came after a social weeknight evening, a police report says. The report of the 1 a.m. Aug. 17 incident in Norwalk, Iowa, describes Strother driving “into oncoming traffic lanes” after a police officer pulled his car in behind hers, and says the officer stopped a roadside test after 28 seconds “for her safety.” In explaining the principals’ cases, district officials repeatedly emphasized safety among their top concerns. The district’s policy, said DCSD legal counsel Rob Ross, “is there for a reason. It’s there for the safety of students.” No students were present during the Dec. 6 administrators’ meeting at Parker’s Wildlife Experience. McQueen, principal at Highlands Ranch’s Heritage Elementary, subsequently was released from his principal duties; Berggren, principal of Buffalo Ridge Elementary in Castle Rock, resigned.
Strother lives, works in Iowa
Strother has been working from her Iowa home since her July 1 hiring, and the district said she plans to move to Douglas County next month. The 37-year-old was charged with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, failure to obey a red light and driving on the wrong side of a two-way highway. Court documents show her Nov. 27 sentencing included revocation of her driver’s license, a year’s probation, a $1,250 fine and alcohol classes. Court records say Strother got two days in jail; DCSD spokeswoman Cinamon Watson said the time actually was spent in a substance-abuse class that began on a FriAlcohol continues on Page 9
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