GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Grand Rapids Public Schools held a safety forum Saturday so district leaders could get feedback from community members.
GRPS planned the event several months ago; however, recent incidents of teachers confiscating guns from students, including a seven-year-old, emphasized the need for this community discussion.
“I am petrified because when I drop my kids [off] to school, I don’t have that sense of security and peace,” one parent said Saturday.
GRPS has had four instances during the 2022-2023 school year where students brought guns into the classroom.
Thankfully, no one has gotten hurt.
The district recently banned backpacks, but many people said Saturday that is just a temporary fix.
“The most basic things are not met in all of the schools in our district,” one teacher said.
READ MORE: Backpacks banned from GRPS after loaded gun found on 3rd grader
Attendees pushed district leaders to create better solutions— from physical security infrastructure, like metal detectors, to mental and emotional support, such as additional counselors.
One school nurse suggested creating an anonymous staff survey: “There is a concern about fear of retaliation if staff speak up about safety.”
“I can assure you, there’ll be no retaliation,” Larry Johnson, Chief of Staff and Executive Director of Public Safety and School Security, said.
Johnson and Dr. Leadriane Roby, the superintendent, stressed that there will not be consequences for anyone who wants to raise a concern.
“We want to make sure that we are able to have tough conversations and I think part of a healthy system is when you can have constructive conversations, give and take with others around what’s working, what’s not working, and then what do we do to make some improvements,” Dr. Roby said.
GRPS plans to use part of a $1 million state grant to hire an outside consultant who would assess the safety of district buildings and analyze district policies.
From there, the consultant would make a series of recommendations to better secure the schools; however, the timeline for that isn’t clear.
“His team will go to work, doing some interviews, one-on-one interviews with staff members, hopefully some scholars, and some of our security staff and they provide us with a report,” Johnson explained.
The district also said it does year-round recruiting for hard-to-fill positions but sometimes faces challenges, such as a lack of social workers.
Regardless, they hope a multi-layered approach will create the environment parents and staff members want to achieve.
“It’s about how do we work together to find the best solutions, not only for our scholars, but also our staff and our school, our school communities as a whole,” Dr. Roby added.
GRPS plans to host another school safety forum on June 28.
We’ll bring you details about the time and place when we learn them.
