Level seven: Firearm, Homicide, Attempted Homicide = Mandatory Expulsion Request

Denver Public Schools adopted the initial Discipline Matrix in 2021, aiming to reduce the school-to-prison pipeline. It was then reformed in August 2024–influenced by East High School shootings–to ensure discipline “practices are fair and equitable for everyone, no matter their race, background, or status,” (Discipline Matrix Informational Session). This revision resulted in the addition of “level seven.” 

There were significant disparities in the rates of suspensions and expulsions for Latino students and African-American students, claims AASA, The School Superintendents Association. The Discipline Matrix is extremely complex and designed under a “variety of stakeholders and …school leaders and members of the community.” 

 The Discipline Matrix falls drastically short due to its inability to take substantial action in fear of racial disparities. (Denver Public Schools)

Discipline Data: Total Enrollment and Expulsion

Thirty-eight students were expelled throughout the 2022-2024 school years. The matrix does not set the rules around when a student is allowed to re-enroll following an expulsion. Instead, DPS follows the Colorado law ((C.R.S.) § 22-33-105) that outlines the procedures for suspending, expelling, and denying admission to public school students; this law also sets guidelines for handling situations involving guns. DPS chose to follow the procedure for readmission: limiting the period of expulsion or denial of admission to one year, after the year has passed the student’s boundary or neighborhood school cannot deny admission, (Superintendent, Dr. Alex Marrero, wrote on the DPS Discipline Matrix webpage).

The Discipline Matrix turns towards Colorado law (CO Rev Stat § 22-33-106 (2024)) for direction on readmission, but not for crimes such as bringing a firearm to school, sexual assault, homicide, destruction of property, or actions detrimental to the safety of others—which would otherwise result in the perpetrator's immediate expulsion, but the Discipline Matrix proceeds, at the most, with an expulsion hearing. There are plenty of offenses deemed measurable to be settled by teachers for starters, then administrators, and maybe support staff. In no world is it fair to place the safety of 2,629 individuals—consisting of a total staff estimate of 188 with 124 full-time teachers and 2,505 students, according to US News—in the hands of deans required to handle a child charged with felony possession of a dangerous weapon and having a large-capacity magazine; however, that's what the Discipline Matrix allows for. After failing his diversion program, being placed on probation, and violating his verbal check-in conditions—allegedly removing a gun from his backpack and putting it on his person in class (9News)—Austin Lyle was placed under a safety agreement that involved him being searched at the beginning of each day, Denver7. That’s when Jerald Mason and Eric Sinclair faced attempted murder: Lyle ruthlessly shot Mason twice point blank and Sinclair three times. According to the lawsuit, DPS circumvented through claiming, “The student made no specific threat, nor did he indicate he intended to act violently towards (the deans) or anyone else at the school.” Therefore, DPS was not found legally responsible—yet, Lyle was a known threat expelled from the Cherry Creek School District under their zero-tolerance policy surrounding firearms and the safety of their student body and faculty. 

The Discipline Matrix is somehow incredibly intricate and sufficiently inadequate. I'll go as far as to say it takes too much into consideration, and strict, firm boundaries need to be implemented: stop making excuses. Homicide, attempted homicide, and bringing a firearm to a school–recovering from a fatal shooting not even three years ago–at the bare minimum, should result in immediate expulsion. Not an opportunity to explain yourself (expulsion hearing)—these actions, especially, speak louder than words. By prioritizing the privilege of public education for a single student, you risk the trust and safety of thousands. Traumatized students should not be subjected to returning into a classroom with a potentially, previously, dangerous classmate. It's brutal that a school with such a strong passion against gun violence is lenient about guns in schools but has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to cheating.

Recently, there has been intense discourse about the safety of East High School: many thought the answer was a ridiculously expensive vestibule, while the majority claimed it was an "illusion of safety.” Those who believe it's an illusion of safety succeeded in persuading DPS into, at least, halting the vestibules' construction through parent and student pushback. If DPS, and its community, truly wants to improve the safety of students, the discipline matrix needs to be reassessed—the root of the cause—instead of trying to patch its incalculable holes with coverups.