MICHIGAN — Following the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, FOX 17 talked with Lt. Col. Chris Kelensp about what schools and individuals can do to keep their students safe. Besides being a deputy director for the Michigan State Police, Kelensp is also the chair of the School Safety Commission.
The School Safety Commission was created in 2008. The organization works to maintain a level of security in schools. One of the organization’s goals is to get civilian school safety specialist positions in school districts. They would work with school administrators, the Office of School Safety, local and state and its management coordinators, emergency responders to implement prevention programs. Kelensp believes that it is important to have someone who is specifically focused on school safety instead of someone who’s time is also being spent on educating students.
After a mass shooting occurs, the School Safety Commission will have policy discussions about the different aspects that can be looked at. They also wait until more information is released on the shooter before having the policy discussions. Since this type of violence is an evolving situation, the organization continues to make adjustments.
Kelensp talked about how its disheartening to see these types of situations when they could have easily been prevented. One of the ways to prevent it is for parents and guardians to secure their firearms. “Speaking as a father with two sons who hunted, we had firearms obviously in our house,” said Kelensp. “They were always secure, they never had access to them, until obviously they were much, much older. So that’s a very easy step that someone can take.” Gun locks are available at most law enforcement agencies and gun stores.
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Another way that schools can keep gets safe, is by having school resource officers. However, a school district only having one resource officer between all the different schools would make it challenging. Kelensp says that each school needs its own officer. "It's gonna cost some money," Kelensp acknowledges, "but I think with these past recommendations, we were able to get these tiers identified, as well as getting some training requirements in place. There's just some legislative items that need to be to be addressed."
Since the commission's inception 14 years ago, they highlighted the need for school safety specialists and provided a host of resources on the Office of School Safety website. Kelensp says cybersecurity measures have also been implemented. "We just added a school security assessment tool that was updated by the Department of Homeland Security," he tells us. "There's information on firearm safety, mental and behavioral health, physical security."
He also says $66 million have been put toward enhancing schools' security since fiscal year 2015. "It's been used for things like access control systems, classroom doorways, and exterior doorways, intercom systems ... and public address systems." says Kelensp. "But we can always do better."
We're told the committee — made up of a variety of members including state police, educators and school safety personnel — can make recommendations to enhance school safety, but measures can only be enforced with new legislation. "There's nothing we can do as far as passing legislation other than educate them as to why we do it," says Kelensp. "So I'm really hopeful that some of these legislative items get moved forward, because there's not a lot of teeth." He tells us final decisions depend on school superintendents and administrators.
Kelensp says it's not as simple as finding a singular solution to end violence in schools. "The mental health aspect of it with our kids is so critical," he explains. "So when we talk about trends or things we've seen in the past, that's always been there." He says many students who have plotted or committed school attacks in the past have dealt with bullying, physical abuse, substance abuse, depression, parents who are incarcerated or parents who have mental health struggles.
At the end of the day, no amount of protection and preparation is perfect, but risks of school shootings can be minimized when necessary steps are taken. "All hazard plans, supported by training, exercise and education are vital for an effective response during any emergency situation," Kelensp says. "It just becomes that, you know, it's institutionalized — or the mantra — of providing a safe school and treating everybody with dignity and respect."
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