Northern Michigan schools prioritize safety as students prepare to return for new year

In a few weeks, students will begin returning to school for the 2022-23 year. In the wake of the shootings in Oxford and Uvalde, Texas, the question of school safety is on the minds of community members.

For schools, safety is the top priority and as more shootings reveal gaps in security, districts are forced to adapt quickly.

In the Public Schools of Petoskey, acting superintendent Jon Wilcox said an outside agency is currently reviewing the district’s crisis plans and offering recommendations for how it can be improved. The district will then work with local law enforcement to implement those recommendations into both short-term and long-term changes.

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In addition to security measures, staff attend trainings often to stay up to date on new practices and measures.

“We can't ever rest on our laurels. We can't ever think that we have the perfect plan. We have to be willing to adjust our plans accordingly with the best research that's available at the time,” Wilcox said.

While crisis plans are only made available to staff and law enforcement for security reasons, the district has made changes such as installing buzzer intercoms on the front door of all schools and keeping all other external doors locked to prevent intruders entering.

Districts like Sault Ste. Marie Area Public Schools have used a combination of technology and human support to ensure school safety. Superintendent and HR Director Amy Scott-Kronemeyer said the district has received significant community support in the form of millage funding to add upgrades like buzzers and security cameras.

The district also recently received a Michigan State Police grant to add centralized location automatic lock systems and priorities.

Just adding technology is not enough to keep schools safe, people are needed to ensure the system is running well and enforce compliance with protocols.

“Students appreciate us ensuring that they're safe,” Kronemeyer said. “They look to us as the adults in the system to make sure that we're doing everything we can to minimize any event taking place at our school. And should an event happen that we have good, solid plans in place for their safety.”

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Districts are paying close attention to shootings by taking note of flaws in security and adapting their own protocols accordingly.

“One of the lessons that we learned out of Uvalde is that to start this year, we are requiring (in) all of our classrooms that teachers have the doors locked and closed,” Cheboygan Area Schools Superintendent Paul Clark said.

“My understanding is that in Uvalde, the shooter had gone past I think it was six closed doors until he went to an open one. So after talking with law enforcement, we are going to make that change this year.”

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With security measures and crisis plans in place, school districts have begun to focus on preventative work by emphasizing social and emotional learning for students.

“We've had an increased focus on, not just the response or the crisis plan, but also recognizing a lot of preventative work like focusing on social and emotional learning,” Wilcox said.

“That's an increased focus. Focus on a PBIS system, which is a positive behavior, intervention and supports. Those tier one practices that affect all students, to make all students happy and comfortable at school, results in a safer, better school.”

The current generation of students have grown up knowing that attacks on their schools are a real danger and have spent their school careers doing lockdown drills, just like past generations practiced drills for fires and tornadoes.

“Unfortunately, it's something that most of these kids have grown up having to do from the time they were in kindergarten. They're used to doing lockdown drills, they know procedure and get really good about taking it pretty seriously,” Clark said. “They understand that this is something for their safety. So they’ve actually been very good and very responsible.”

One way students have stepped up to help keep their schools safe is through OK2SAY, a state program where students can anonymously report threats made in spaces only students have access to like social media and private chats, as well as concerning behavior they notice.

“We actively advertise (OK2SAY) as a method to speak up and students do. I get calls late at night from OK2SAY saying that a tip was submitted and then we immediately follow up and deal with those,” Wilcox said.

While educators are doing everything in their power to ensure safety, they rely on support from the federal, state and local governments for the funding necessary to make changes and uphold safety in schools, but they would also like to see action taken.

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“Firstly, I'd like to see a ban on assault rifles. I’ll go on record saying that. I mean, they only serve one purpose,” Clark said.

In addition to concrete action, educators want communities to understand that increased safety comes with sacrifices.

“Security and safety measures aren't convenient. And we need everybody; students, staff, parents, community to understand that putting these measures in reduces autonomy and access to our schools from years that we used to always have the schools (as) the center of our community,” Kronemeyer said.

“I think, just that understanding and shared vision for safe schools, also means we've lost some of that accessibility for everybody to just access our school and to me that's sad, because we are the center of our community. But at the same time, we have to balance the safety and security with convenience and accessibility.”

Contact reporter Tess Ware at tware@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on Twitter, @Tess_Petoskey 

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Schools prioritize safety as students prepare to return for classes