GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — For your children to learn and their teachers to teach, everyone inside the school needs to feel safe. Tackling this safety issue is a group effort. Architects, consultants, state legislators, and then some have to work together to get the job done. This summer has been busy for many schools and districts as building security is top of mind.
Architect Matt Slagle with Tower Pinkster is an expert in K-12 design, and the team lead at his firm. He was integral in the design of the new Fruitport High School, which happens to be his alma mater.
Since his days in Trojan Nation, things have changed safety-wise, he explains, "Adult eyes, that have good visual control over the entry and into the vestibule and even back into the school. This allows staff members to really see all the kids at once, at their lockers. This door actually can open and close this off."
Slagle said every design element his team puts inside every school serves a purpose, "This wing wall, and this wing wall allows for, there's a shadow zone that allows for kids to tuck away in the corner if need be. Public safety officers, they like the bit of wing wall out here if something were to happen, because there's something to hide behind, instead of just a big open space," said Slagle.
"The addition of bullet resistant film, it provides an additional barrier. We have been fortunate to have received some large state safety grants, a community that has supported a bond project," said Fruitport Community Schools Superintendent Jason Kennedy.
Kennedy said the district takes a layered approach to security, that's why it just hired Secure Education Consultants to complete a threat assessment inside every building in the district.
Secure Education Consultants CEO Jason Russell started his business in West Michigan, now he works with schools across the nation. "I was a Secret Service agent, involved in law enforcement for about 20 years. Have kids in school, I'm a parent so I realized I could use some of my background to help schools be more safe and secure," said Russell.
We went inside Rockford High School with Russell and asked what was going well inside the classroom. Russell said, "This is a very secure classroom. The door is excellent, it's in the locked position so they could go into lockdown very easily. There's a lot of space on the walls here that would provide some cover, concealment for students if they were in a lockdown situation."
Rockford Public Schools and Fruitport Community Schools are just two of the 1,000 schools on Secure Education Consultants waitlist right now.
"We've been busy since December of last year we probably assessed 3 to 4 hundred schools since then. All over the state again, about 100 districts so far," said Russell.
Secure Education Consultants went inside Oxford High School after the tragedy on November 30 and completed a security assessment. The company has 30 consultants with extensive law enforcement backgrounds.
Ionia Public Schools uses Secure Education Consultants to keep the eye on the pulse of new technology, "There is a steel door barricade, right next to every door in our entire district. And then anybody, if there is a crisis or emergency, can pick the boot up and then secure their door," said Superintendent Ben Gurk. Gurk is referring to a system called "Smart Boot" which the district will install in July 2023.
Slagle and Russell work together to make sure schools are safe, but still a fun place to be and learn, not like a jail, "that's really what we need to remember too is because schools are about teaching and learning and to be able to have a student come out here and sit here and work on something together and learn something but feel safe at the same time, that's the driving force behind this." said Slagle.
The state recognized security needs to be a priority. Legislators included $150 million in the Omnibus bill that will be split up between every school district in Michigan for security updates. The funding will be allocated based on the number of students in every district. The Michigan Department of Education will distribute the money in the Fall.
Meanwhile, the state also provided funding for every single district to hire security consultants to come inside buildings and complete an assessment of schools. It is not mandatory but encouraged, Russell said "the assessment is not a requirement. In fact, it is voluntary for schools to do it, and surprisingly we have reached out to some schools that were not interested, which is kind of disappointing. It's optional."
The Michigan State Police started the Office of Student Safety in 2019. The office awarded competitive school safety grants to many districts over the summer for security updates.
"Jenison was one of them. They received the maximum allowable of $250,000 and Jenison Public Schools are using those dollars to invest wisely in what we call access control systems, and then also the exterior doors. What I think is clear, is that we need to take a sustained approach to school safety, we can't let our guard down because we know that another Oxford or another Uvalde is potentially going to happen," said Office of School Safety Manager Kim Root.
Root said this school year, the office will host its first in-person training for school resource officers across the entire state and behavioral threat assessment training. That provides districts with information to intervene ahead of a bigger issue.
Below is a list of West Michigan districts that applied for and received competitive school safety grants:
- Kalamazoo
- Hackett Catholic Prep High School
- Kent
- Holy Spirit School
- Algoma Christian School
- Byron Center Charter School
- Grand River Preparatory High School
- Grandville Calvin Christian Schools
- Hope Academy of West Michigan
- Plymouth Christian School
- River City Scholars Charter Academy
- St. Patrick School
- Wellspring Preparatory Academy
- West Side Christian School
- NexTech High School
- Cedar Springs Public Schools
- Comstock Park Public Schools
- Grand Rapids Christian Schools
- Kent Intermediate School District
- Mecosta
- (None)
- Muskegon
- Muskegon Heights Public School Academy System
- Divine Providence Academy at St. Joseph's Church
- Newaygo
- (None)
- Oceana
- Walkerville Public Schools
- Ottawa
- Jenison Public Schools
- South Olive Christian School
- St. Mary's School (Spring Lake)
- Allendale Christian School
- VanBuren
- St. Mary Catholic School (Paw Paw)
Allegan
- Fennville Public Schools
- Moline Christian School
- St. Stanislaus School
- Berrien
- Lake Michigan Catholic Schools
- Branch
- Branch Intermediate School District
- Pansophia Academy
- St. Mary’s Assumption
- Union City Community Schools
- Calhoun
- Lakeview School District
- Cass
- Heritage Southwest Intermediate School District
- Eaton
- Charlotte Public Schools
- East Intermediate School
- Eaton RESA
- Maple Valley Schools
- Ionia
- Faith Community Christian School
