School safety has been an important topic in education for years, but the Michigan lawmakers included new investments in school safety and student mental health in the latest School Aid budget, following the mass shooting at Oxford High School in November 2021.
This incident in Michigan, plus the hundreds of copycat threats across the state in the days and weeks after that, sent communities on a quest to improve safety and security at their schools.
At Northwest Michigan's largest school district, that work led to efforts to make school buildings more secure and placed a focus on security protocols.
With state-funded grants, the Traverse City Area Public Schools district has done work on all of its exterior doors and entrances to make them safer and hired an outside consultant to conduct an assessment of the school district's security. In September, the TCAPS administration also hired a districtwide safety and security coordinator.
After the Oxford shooting, TCAPS received multiple copycat threats at its middle and high schools. None of the threats were credible, but they did cause fear in the community as well as school closures.
This summer, the TCAPS school board also crafted its three-year strategic plan, which included goals that focus on preventing and addressing harassment at TCAPS, increasing mental and emotional health and social well-being, and assessing safety and security at TCAPS buildings.
The school board now plans to review the results of the districtwide security assessment in the new year, as two new trustees join the board.
TCAPS also has been trying to hire a new mental health professional for the district, but has struggled to draw applicants.
Kingsley Area Schools also has worked toward improving school security in recent months.
Last fall, the Kingsley Area Schools board of education formed its safety and security committee after community members expressed concerns, as previously reported by the Record-Eagle.
In the weeks since the formation of that committee, Kingsley hired an outside consultant to conduct an assessment of the district's security and installed a new buzz-in system at each school building, interim superintendent Jason Stowe said. Previously, each building had one door that was open at all times, but now visitors have to buzz the main desk to be allowed entry to the building.
The committee also hired a company to complete a three-dimensional map of all the district's buildings. The map will provide a detailed layout that the school officials can then share with local law enforcement and emergency services personnel. This will allow for faster and more efficient responses to emergencies, Stowe said.
The organization completed walk-throughs and spoke with the facilities manager. Stowe said he expects the map to be complete in early 2023.
Kingsley staff also are in the process of updating their emergency operating procedures, and the Kingsley administration has already installed more than 130 cameras in the district in the past six months and re-established relationships with the local police department and the Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Office.
The safety and security committee has plans to meet again once all that work has been wrapped up, Stowe said.
©2023 The Record-Eagle (Traverse City, Mich.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.