NEWAYGO COUNTY, Mich. — The infrastructure of a school building is one of the keys to safety. But, no plan is complete without putting people into action.
In districts across West Michigan, it takes everyone from school resource officers to parents to make sure students and schools are safe.
Newaygo County Deputy Nicole Loomis hits the road for the day. Loomis is headed to White Cloud Junior Senior High to check in on things.
"I'm excited for this new position, this is a new position, new to the sheriff's office, this is the first time in the history of the sheriff's office that we've actually had a designated school resource officer," said Chad Palmiter, Undersheriff Newaygo County.
Deputy Loomis' role, so new, FOX 17 was there when she met White Cloud Public Schools Superintendent Ed Canning for the first time.
"It makes me excited to get out there and collaborate with all the local districts and make our community a better place," said Loomis.
Deputy Loomis knows her presence in these halls, is more important now than ever.
"Within the last year, the stuff that we've seen in our state and nationally that's huge," said Deputy Loomis.
In a bigger district like Grand Rapids Public Schools, this kind of role might look a little different but it's the same personal approach.
"Our officers are just very involved in the day-to-day life of our students. They coach, they tutor they mentor, and every one of our officers have at least 25 Kids and when we call the will and so they're checking in on students grades, attendance, calling parents," said Larry Johnson,
West Ottawa Public Schools has two school resource officers through the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office. This year, it's adding a different kind of professionals to talk to kids.
"We've added a sizable amount of school counselors and social workers that can really be proactive, and just talking with kids that may have some more violent tendencies or come from broken homes, and just are unsure of the environment," Jeff Malloch, associate superintendent of business services.
The safety work in Newaygo County doesn't stop at the school doors. NCRESA has a school safety council that's been working together for 10 years. It takes a multi-jurisdictional approach to safety issues.
"It's the superintendents, building principals, our SROs, police chiefs, mental health professionals and we're all working together. The last thing we did was kind of a mock reunification and walking through that," said Blake Prewitt, Superintendent NCRESA.
This year NCRESA is adding in a behavioral threat assessment team that will work proactively with students before an issue happens.
The county also asks deputies to alert school administrators if they responded to a call at a student's home outside of school hours. This helps administrators understand if students' behaviors seem strange or strained at school.
For the undersheriff and his team, safety in the entire county, which houses six different districts, is both a top priority and personal.
"I have a son in Newaygo Public Schools, so obviously when there's an event there, I'm the first one to take off and run out of the office but it's a little different when you've got a kid in that school district," said Undersheriff Palmiter.
"As my child grows up, it will be nice to just take my uniform off and be a human with them," said Deputy Loomis.
GRPS is looking for 8 or 9 school safety officers. It's a great way to jump-start your career with kids or education.
Here's an application link if you're interested: https://grps.tedk12.com/hire/index.aspx
