All districts — Bills passed Jan. 22 by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer address various safety needs affecting Michigan schools, including gun safety and emergency response.
In all, Whitmer signed 19 bills she described as “common sense, bipartisan bills to make Michigan schools, homes, and communities safer,” in a press release.
‘If everybody is using the same five terms at the school, at the police department, at the fire department, at the ambulance company, everybody (will know what’s going on).’
– Sean Burns, Kent ISD director of safety
“Each of these bills build on my administration’s commitment to protecting Michiganders and their families,” Whitmer stated in the release.
“Since I took office, we’ve invested over $1.6 billion into public safety programs across six balanced, bipartisan budgets, ensuring Michiganders can feel safe no matter where they are.”
Ensuring Safe Gun Storage
Kelloggsville social worker Eunice Benavidez said she was pleased to see the governor sign House bills 5450 and 5451, which will require schools to distribute information on the safe storage of firearms to parents of students. In 2023, Whitmer signed into law a bill requiring firearms to be unloaded and locked with a locking device or stored in a locked box or container if a minor is likely to be present in the premises.
The Department of Health and Human Services has until July 1 to develop the informational brochure, with schools required to distribute the information starting in October.
According to the press release, an estimated 150,000 Michigan children live in homes that have an unsecured firearm. Nationally, more than 70% of school shootings involve a firearm that is owned by a parent or close family member and taken by the shooter.
Benavidez, whose brother died in an unintentional shooting, has been a longtime advocate for gun safety and is a volunteer for the Everytown for Gun Safety initiative Be SMART.
Kelloggsville adopted a districtwide Secure Storage Resolution in May, becoming one of two Kent County public school districts, along with Grand Rapids Public Schools, to do so. Through that initiative, Kelloggsville has partnered with Be SMART for Kids to share information in English and Spanish on safe storage and with the City of Wyoming Department of Public Safety to provide families with free gun locks, Benavidez said.
“By educating caregivers about the importance of secure firearm storage, we will prevent tragedies, deaths, and injuries that occur when children gain access to unsecured guns, such as unintentional shootings, gun suicides, and school shootings,” she said. “This information truly saves lives, and school districts, as leaders in our communities and champions for our students, have a responsibility to educate families about the easy steps they can take to keep their children safe by securing all firearms in their homes and vehicles.”
GRPS Superintendent Dr. Leadriane Roby echoed that sentiment. Since last summer, the GRPS public safety and school security team has distributed hundreds of free gun locks to families. They have shared information about safe gun storage with all families and staff and have educational resources on their website.
“I am deeply grateful to our legislators for taking meaningful action to enhance school safety across our state,” Roby said. “Proper gun storage is a critical step in safeguarding our children and ensuring they do not have access to firearms in our community.”
Standardized Response Terminology
John Wittkowski, Region I emergency response and safety coordinator, and Sean Burns, Kent ISD director of safety and security, said House Bills 4095 and 4096, are critical in ensuring emergency response is as streamlined and efficient as possible.
The bills require a standardized response terminology used by schools in response to emergency situations.
Wittkowski said districts statewide need standardized terminology so everyone is familiar with the same terms, from school staff to law enforcement. Schools are using training from the I Love U Guys Foundation, an organization that creates programs to improve school and community safety including standard response protocol.
The organization offered training at Kent ISD last March, and Wittkowski and Burns have been rolling it out county-wide since then. Training includes drills and making sure that the staff really know when to use these protocols, Wittkowski said.
The state is expected to adopt the protocol, which uses the terms “hold,” “secure,” “lockdown,” “evacuate” and “shelter” in emergency response. Schools are no longer using other terminology such as “soft lockdown,” “shelter-in-place” or coded-color systems that were vague or confusing, Wittkowski said.
Wittkowski and Burns are starting a second layer of training with local law enforcement and chiefs of police on the terminology. Burns said first responders use radios that connect directly to emergency dispatch.
“If everybody is using the same five terms at the school, at the police department, at the fire department, at the ambulance company, everybody (will know what’s going on),” Burns said.
Wittkowski said the I Love You Guys protocol is common, evidence-based and free.
“You are eventually going to see this really grow community-wide where this protocol will be used in other areas, other organizations, agencies and entities. It makes sense,” Wittkowski said.
Behavior Threat Assessment and Management Teams
Wittkowski and Burns were less sure that districts have the resources needed for what’s required in House Bill 5549. That law calls for districts to have behavior threat assessment and management teams to monitor concerning behavior of students and devise supportive measures to mitigate potential threats. The teams are to be made up of a school administrator, a mental health professional, and a school resource officer or other law enforcement official.
“The thing they are going to struggle with is that the state is mandating who is going to compose that threat assessment (team) and the big one is law enforcement,” Burns said, noting that requires time, training and manpower. “If you have a school resource officer, that solves itself, but if you don’t have a school resource officer you are going to have to partner with your local law enforcement agency.”
Reporters Joanne Bailey-Boorsma and Riley Kelley contributed to this article.
Read more:
• Threats to schools: real or hoaxes?
• Bus drivers role play safety, security events