GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — As students prepare to head back to the classroom, school safety remains a top priority for many parents.
A local security expert says there are things parents and children need to know before the first day of school. During orientation or open house, your questions should go beyond simply knowing what time is lunch and where your kid's locker is.
Experts say parents need to ask school officials the tough questions, like what is the emergency response plan?
Jason Russell, the president and CEO of Secure Education Consultants, works directly with school personnel to evaluate safety security measures and provide risk assessments.
The company works with about 100 school districts across the state.
Russell says asking about the types of security measures is important. For example, can the doors be locked from inside? What is the alert system in place?
“I'll try to talk to the teacher or somebody within the school to just, you know, see, you know, have they been trained recently," Russell said. "Certainly, schools don't want to tell everything about what they're doing. They don't want to share all their emergency procedures. But just getting an idea if they've been trained, and if they feel comfortable with emergency procedures is important.”
Russell says schools are doing a lot of things right, but more focus needs to be on prevention, which is why investing in mental health services is significant.
"A big part of what we focus on is understanding why these, especially the violence situations, why they happen, and what are some of the warning signs that you might see in somebody prior to an event happening at all, that you as a teacher, or an administrator, as the school can intervene before it ever gets to violence," he said.
He also recommends having a conversation with your child about what to do if there is a threat on campus.
Secure Education Consultants is holding a security training Thursday at Caledonia High School.
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.