HOLLAND, Mich — As students get ready to go back to school, safety is top of mind for parents, teachers and students. School districts across West Michigan are addressing this by adding new positions focused on security.
Joe Soto was the Holland Public Schools' School Resource Officer for many years before retiring last school year.
That retirement lasted only 18 hours before they re-hired him for the new position of Director of Safety and Security.
"I think I think I went home, mowed the lawn, had dinner, watched TV," Soto said. "That was my retirement."
He says it's a necessary position that will allow educators and students to return their focus to learning.
"You look over the last several years, you start seeing situations with school shootings," Soto said. "Educators are in the job to educate. We're obviously in the profession of safety, and I think they're realizing that they need an outside person to come in and view things through a different lens."
Though he doesn't have official plans yet, he's taking these first few weeks of school to assess the buildings and find what needs securing.
"Try to examine how things work, how things function," Soto said. "At that point, I make an assessment of what I view based on my training, experience and knowledge, what type of changes we might need to make."
Down in Kalamazoo, new funding allowed Comstock Public Schools to hire a security consultant.
"He is helping us plan with our emergency operation guide," Superintendent Dr. Jeff Thoenes said. "There'll be one for every building, and then there's going to be one for every teacher."
This will include plans for something as small as a water leak and as big as an intruder.
Funding also allowed the district to get their first School Resource Officer ever, who started just a few weeks ago.
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