Rudyard Area Schools welcomes newest security hire, Gator the yellow lab

Brendan Wiesner, Sault Ste. Marie News
·3 min read
Security dog Gator and his handler Carlos Molina will be starting work at Rudyard Area Schools in April.
Security dog Gator and his handler Carlos Molina will be starting work at Rudyard Area Schools in April.

RUDYARD — Rudyard's most adorable security guard will be helping to protect students through a new safety dog program starting this April.

Gator, a 14-month-old yellow Labrador, and his handler Carlos Molina will be the newest security feature at Rudyard Area Schools, as well as companions to Rudyard students.

As schools across the country continue to assess safety initiatives and security needs, a federal grant for improved safety and mental health became available for Rudyard. School officials said they wanted to address both safety and mental health needs with the funding.

"We qualified for the 31aa grant to improve school safety and mental health, and wanted a program which could help with both," said Rudyard Superintendent Tom McKee. "We did a lot of research into what lowers anxiety levels in kids and how do we get our kids to feel safe at school, and we kept coming back to trained dogs."

The company Zebra K9 trains various kinds of working dogs and dog handlers and has provided seven other Michigan school districts with safety dogs and handlers.

Gator is specially trained to detect explosives and firearms, and even though he isn't a trained therapy dog, he has a very friendly temperament and loves attention from kids. Unlike with most working dogs, Rudyard students will sometimes be allowed to pet and play with Gator while he's at work.

"We allow the dogs to be pet at the discretion of the handler, which is something we consider an added benefit because they can help provide social and emotional support," said Zebra K9 President Greg Guidice. "He's not a certified therapy dog, but we take great care in selecting dogs that have a high work ethic and are very social and comfortable around people."

Security dog Gator and his handler Carlos Molina will be protecting Rudyard Area Schools starting in April.
Security dog Gator and his handler Carlos Molina will be protecting Rudyard Area Schools starting in April.

It will be Gator's job to patrol the school, perform perimeter checks, greet students and sniff backpacks and lockers throughout the day. He may also take trips to visit students and classrooms and attend school events, such as football games and Homecoming dances.

Gator and Molina will move throughout the day on a shifting schedule at the discretion of the superintendent.

"We're just one big building, so his handler Carlos will have an office in our school, and they're going to spend most of the day just walking up and down but also going into classrooms," said McKee. "They'll be around when a kid needs some support for anything. It's gonna be a lot of walking and a lot of pets."

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Gator and Molina will also be working closely with Rudyard-assigned school resource officers, security personnel and other law enforcement to make their patrols as effective as possible.

District officials said introducing Gator is not due to any incident, but is simply a proactive way of diffusing dangerous situations before they happen.

"Most security technologies and devices in schools — video cameras, automatic locking doors, bulletproof glass — those are all reactive and only help after the first shot has been fired," said Guidice. "Now schools are taking a proactive approach to guns coming into the school. They want to prevent them from coming in, which is what Gator does."

Guidice added that the trained dogs often "become a very integrated part of the school family."

"They're not just there for a security perspective," he said. "They become part of the fabric of the school district."

Molina is a Rudyard graduate himself and is familiar with the school and local area.

"Carlos led the basketball team not too long ago to a district championship and he played on a semi-final baseball team. He was a Rudyard student from preschool all the way through 12th grade and owns his own business in the summertime," said McKee. "We're excited to have him back in the school that made him and also providing that positive role model support for the next generation of Bulldogs."

— Contact Brendan Wiesner: BWiesner@Sooeveningnews.com

This article originally appeared on The Sault News: Rudyard schools welcomes newest security hire, Gator the yellow lab