Van Buren School Board hears report on safety measures in district

At the March 23 meeting of the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education, Dan Wright, director of school safety, gave his annual update on safety procedures, policies, and vision.
He did not mention the threat to McBride Middle School that promised to shoot up the school on March 19. Some parents kept their students home that day.
Wright said the keys to security are “prevention, preparedness and community working together.” He said now visitor entries require sign-ins, facility use is monitored during and after hours, and the buildings are SEC inspected. Threat assessment and management is required by the state and every building has a Medical Emergency Response Team trained and in place. Medical safety training is taught by the school district nurse.
He said the buildings are safe and lockdowns are practiced. He said 40 staff members went to the Van Buren Township Police gun range to learn more about guns last summer.
Wright said a big document, the Emergency Operation Plan, was just updated. He said on July 1 the state is coming up with an updated focus. He said the new cell phone policy for schools is separate for emergencies.
He said he meets daily with the police officers who are school resource officers and is looking into what other schools are doing. He said the teachers are more confident since they know the procedures.
School board president Amy Pearce suggested a newsletter go out twice a year so families can hear about the procedures. Wright said he sends such a newsletter to staff and could put it in community resources on line.
President Pearce said it would be good for them to know what the school does, and “what happens if x or y happens.” She said they should use any way to get information out to parents because the staff has been taught and they know what to do.
Wright said the school will not let a parent go in to get their kid and in every classroom is a poster saying the three steps in an emergency: Classroom Hold, Shelter in Place, and Secure Mode.
Board member Cal Hawkins said when you look across the country, “they’re not prepared.” The old way was to get away from windows, but, “That won’t work with an active shooter.”
Board secretary Darlene Loyer Gerick said it’s not only in schools, but now it’s churches. Wright said he met with a local church recently to give it information.
“I feel safer in any one of our schools, than Meijer or the bank,” Wright said.
School Supt. Pete Kudlak said he wanted to emphasize that teachers are not carrying guns in the school. Wright agreed, and said they just wanted to know more about guns and so went to the gun range. He said five just watched and didn’t shoot. He said Van Buren police are considering opening their gun range to the public so people can learn about guns.
He said gun safety locks are available at all the schools for distribution without question.
In other business at the 55-minute meeting on March 23, the board:
• Honored music students selected from grades K-12 for their outstanding work;
• Approved Palmer Moving Services for the Rawsonville Elementary School Classroom HVAC, ceiling and lighting upgrade project in the amount of $41,275 for move management services as presented at the last school board meeting;
• Approved the retirement of Owen teacher Derrick Graves on Sept. 30 after two years of service;
• Approved the resignation of McBride secretary LaDonna Walker as of March 20 after 1.5 years of service;
• Approved hiring bus driver Naja Boone as of March 9;
• Heard Julien Frazier, special services director, report the district now has more foster care students and are training those involved. He said there was a Unified banquet at BHS last week, with awards. He said this is McBride’s first year with Unified teams and will also have a banquet;
• Heard financial director Priya Nayak that the sale of the first bonds is set for March 31;
• Heard Jill Marvaso say there are two trainers from the University of Florida who are spending time in each of the elementary schools to stress phonics and other skills;
• Heard praise for the robotics team which will be going on to the state competition in April. Supt. Kudlack said Victor DeLibera, Wade Fields, and Mark Laginess run the competition which was held last weekend at BHS and do a top-notch job. The event at BHS started in 2018 and two years were missed during COVID. Wade said after the weekend, he got a cold. He said there was only one power outage during the competition;
• Learned Avery Holtzheuer and Jayce Aryhart won at the Regional Great History Challenge and will be competing in the national contest;
• Heard Gerick report her Craft Day earned $1,600 for Tiger Village;
• Heard Hawkins say there is no expenditure too much for safety and “money can’t replace a kid.”;
• Heard DeLibera say before competition started last weekend they got in a circle with the robotics team and talked about what would happen if there was an emergency and then the electricity went out and they knew what to do; and
• Heard Pearce discuss several events and then praise the great custodial crew that kept things in order during the color guard competition, band fest, craft show, and robotics competition. “They make it easy for us to brag about our facilities,” she said.