Douglas County charter to be first school to install drone active shooter response system in Colorado

A school in Douglas County will be the first in Colorado to install a drone active shooter suppression system.

John Adams Academy is a public charter school currently being built in Sterling Ranch. The school is preparing to open to students this August. It will be the first school to open in the growing community, and the first school in Colorado to use drones to protect students from active threats.

Tuesday, county leaders were expected to approve $200,000 in security funding for the school. They didn't end up voting on the funding, but the drones will still be taking to the halls of John Adams Academy.

"We were looking for technology that could enhance the response time for our first responders and give real-time critical information in the case of an incident," said Sarah Kiesewetter, headmaster at John Adams Academy Douglas County. "It's enhancing response time, and it's enhancing real-time information for our first responders. So we have a multi-tiered approach to school security."

Texas-based tech company Campus Guardian Angel places drones in schools that can launch within seconds of a confirmed threat. They're flown remotely and give responders a live look. They can even spray pepper gel or fly at and pummel an attacker.

"What about a drone spewing these pellets and hurting a kid?" Douglas County parent Jennifer Iversen asked. "It brings in so many ethical and legal issues that I just think it's a really bad idea."

"This is a new use of drones because they're actually using it as an attack, right?" said Highlands Ranch neighbor Julie Ort. "The potential for that to go wrong is so high, especially in a school like John Adams Academy, where they are saying that they are going to have armed teachers. So the idea that somebody in Austin is going to be the first responder to a school shooting, and doesn't have the awareness of what happens if we need to call this off, what happens if those drones are actually interfering with our law enforcement? There's big issues that we really need to explore."

Iversen and Ort came to the meeting to speak about the funding during public comment, but weren't able to address the issue since it was removed from the consent agenda.

"This company has the drones in other schools, but they don't have any data about their use," said Ort. "I think that that technology is unproven, and I think school security is really important, and we shouldn't be using our kids as test sites."

The technology is being tested in about 10 schools in the southern U.S. Campus Guardian Angel says there have been no attempted shootings at those schools, so the technology has not stopped any real-world threats yet.

"It's innovative technology. We might be the first school in Colorado that's looking at it, but we certainly won't be the last. What we're looking at is just any tool that we have in our toolbox that can help us if there were ever a critical incident in school," Kiesewetter said.

As a public charter, John Adams Academy is funded by public tax dollars. It asked the county for $200,000 for "physical school security improvements," the details of which were redacted.

"If this was privately funded, then we don't get a decision in that. But they're using taxpayer money, and I don't think that that should just be rubber stamped or given willy-nilly," Iversen said.

On Tuesday, Douglas County commissioners were set to approve the funding using the remaining funds from a school safety grant created after the 2019 STEM School shooting. But the item was removed from the consent agenda and tabled to allow discussions about an SRO to continue.

"Excited to have that conversation. I know you shared with me in some briefings around school safety that that would be your highest and best goal is to have an actual physical SRO. We want to make sure that you have that same opportunity that every other school has been provided," said Douglas County Commissioner Abe Laydon.

The school hopes to have both the drone program and an SRO. They will also have "armed staff."

"Our school is just at both ends. Every tool that we have in our toolbox, whether that's advanced technology, mental health supports, SROs, they're definitely part of the equation as well," said Kiesewetter.

John Adams Academy's founder told CBS Colorado they can afford Campus Guardian Angel without the county's funding, and the technology is expected to be installed in August. She would not confirm how much the partnership with Campus Guardian Angel costs.