(11/7-11/8)

Doherty High School has been affected by many shooting threats throughout the past few years, along with other schools in the district. Students and staff members are fed up with the danger we all put ourselves through just to get an education. 

On Tuesday, November 7th, during lunch, reports were made about an armed man spotted by Doherty students at Skate City and in the general vicinity of the school. Around 11:20 am, students were walking back to school around Skate City when students saw a fight between the suspect and another person. The suspect was said to have seen the group of students making their way back to school and proceeded to pull out a handgun and point it at the students. The students ran back to school to tell security. “As a precaution, the campus was placed on “secure” and additional security personnel from [District 11] and CSPD responded to ensure the safety of the returning student population from lunch,” said a CSPD officer. Many officers were called around Austin Bluffs to encourage the remaining students to get to the school building.

Around 9:30 on November 8th, Doherty High School went into a hold status when reports of a potential shooter being in the building. This later proved to be a case of mistaken identity. Mrs. Flenniken, the principal at Doherty High School, later debunked the accusation that had been made. The alleged suspect Dekvin Osborn wasn’t on the Doherty campus at the time of the hold, and they put the students in the ‘hold’ for our protection. 

Mrs. Flenniken said, “Because of all past threats, I told other staff members not to worry about students’ academic progress because we need to know they are ok.”

There was not much information during the hold. “It’s hard to be a teacher when the information is limited and when students have so much information on their phones. It’s frustrating to comfort the students when they’re panicking,” said Jenny George, the Yearbook and Journalism teacher. When information is limited to teachers, it restricts what they can do to protect and inform students. 

Security Guard Ricky gave his opinion on what happened and how he felt. It was only his 2nd and 3rd day at Doherty High School. “The 7th, I was making sure everyone got inside and were searched to ensure everyone was safe and accounted for,” Ricky said, recounting the events. He replied, “On the 8th, ensuring everyone was safe was more nerve-racking. Having CSPD there made it better since they knew what was going on and had some extra people in case the perpetrator was in the building, but even though he wasn’t if he was, we had extra people to make sure students were safe.”

The administration, security, and teachers are here to protect us and ensure we get the best education possible. At Doherty High School, we put others before ourselves and will continue to do so for years. All the adults here try their best to make this a safe place for everyone.

What we need to remember is that students panicking justs adds to the chaos and makes it more difficult to understand what is really going on.