AURORA, Colo. — The principal of Aurora West College Preparatory Academy has resigned her position following a security scare at her school on April 3.
A school district investigation found the principal, Taisiya Tselolikhin, waited up to an hour to report alleged threats made by an administrator accused of having a gun.
Aurora school board members received an earful from academy staff members Tuesday night. Staffers say more needs to be done to ensure the safety of their students.
“I am so grateful that nobody was hurt,” one faculty member said during an open comment session at the board meeting. “I think we can all agree to that.”
The former dean of Aurora West, Tushar Rae, is now facing charges after being accused of bringing a gun to school. Police say Rae placed the gun between him and Tselolikhin and said he didn’t want to hurt her, but he wanted to shoot the knee caps off of two administrators.
Tselolikhin refused to have the school secured because she didn’t want to make a scene, according to the publicly released district report.
“One school leader brought a weapon into the school,” a teacher told school board members at the meeting. “And another school leader refused to put our school into a secured perimeter. I think we can all agree that when something like that happens, that’s enough information. That in a school of over 1,000 people — we are going to need a long-term mental health support plan.”
A criminal investigation shows the suspect and principal were in a relationship and had a history of domestic violence.
At least one teacher says students are still traumatized by the events.
Under state law, the principal is required to promptly report crimes. Aurora police won’t confirm or deny if a criminal investigation is ongoing against the now-former principal.
Tselolikhin’s resignation happened in late April. On Tuesday, FOX31 called a phone number associated with Tselolikhin. A woman who answered the phone said, “no comment.”
District leaders say the desire is to learn lessons from the audit report that could lead to changes, if needed, on security protocol.