School signs warn intruders that Peck Elementary is equipped with security cameras. (MACOMB DAILY FILE PHOTO)
The largest school district in Macomb County has joined more than half of the school districts in the county in signing up for a risk and vulnerability assessment.
The county Board of Commissioners earlier this month approved an inter-governmental agreement with Utica Community Schools to evaluate the district’s 41 buildings and their potential vulnerability to dangers such as shootings.
UCS, the second-largest district in the state, will forward its $2,000 grant per building for a total of $82,000 to join in the assessment that 13 other districts, including the Macomb Intermediate School District, in the county agreed to in May. There are 21 local districts in the county, in addition to the MISD.
John Graham, assistant superintendent of auxiliary services for UCS, informed the county May 31 it wanted to join the agreement.
The 13 other districts are paying a total of $200,000 for county School Safety Coordinator Jim Burke and his team to conduct the assessments that will be completed by September 2024, according to county Emergency Management Director Brandon Lewis
County Board Chairman Don Brown said UCS joining the deal could result in some of the other eight districts joining.
“Utica being the biggest district and committing must make a statement to the other school districts around the county, the confidence they have in the county providing the service, which isn’t necessarily new but it’s been coming to light given recent events,” Brown said.
The county has been providing assessments since 2019 when U.S. Department of Justice grants, Lewis said.
Since then, the county has been working with UCS on related issues, “But this is the first time we’ve had an opportunity to go in their buildings and do these risk-and-vulnerability assessments,” Lewis said at the July meeting. “The effort to get i there comes from long-standing discussions between out department – our school safety specialist and the ISD (Intermediate School District) to educate them on the importance of these programs, educate them on the value of the resources the county provides, and have them invite us when they heard we were doing (the other districts), when they heard about what the program is, what we’re going to deliver. They became very eager to come on board and participate in the program and we’re happy to have them aboard.”
UCS officials “believe they will receive a better product and greater countywide cooperation by being part of the county’s program,” he added in a board document.
The county has about 350 school public and private school buildings, of which about 270 are public, Lewis said. He said the county performed risk-and-vulnerability assessments of about 150 of the public buildings in 14 districts as part of the 2019 program, and some of them will receive a second assessment.
An unknown number of schools also have privately contracted for assessments, he said.
Lewis at the May meeting described the benefit of the districts hiring the county for assessments.
“These assessments … tend to not only provide them with information on what they can do to improve their school-safety posture but they tend to lead to long-term dialogue between us, between law-enforcement agencies, the ISD and the school districts on how they can improve their school-safety posture overall,” he said.
Burke, the county school safety coordinator and former Harper Woods Public Safety director, told The Macomb Daily in June: “We conduct a comprehensive study of the school. It’s not just physical. We gather data about the school’s demographics and location.”
At Peck Elementary School in Center Line, safety measures including no parking space designated for the principal or anyone, and no trees or bushes block windows. The building has a vestibule-style entry (double doors) that prevents anyone from getting into the school without permission from the front office, and the principal has access to 30 cameras and a lockdown button.
The cost to perform each assessment will be less than the $2,000-per-building grant, so Lewis said the extra money will be placed into a “revolving fund to expend on school-safety initiatives such as threat and risk-assessment training, training and exercises that benefit all of the districts …, things that our districts are asking for but no funding has been identified,” Lewis said.
The funds will be created in the “newly created cost center in Fund 350, the Homeland Security Grant Fund,” a document says.
The county will be hiring people to help conduct the assessments, Lewis said. He said he expects the new employees will have experience in law enforcement and/or school safety.
In addition to UCS, following are the participating districts and the amount of funds they will pass on: Armada Area Schools, $8,000; Center Line Public Schools, $14,000; Clintondale Community Schools, $12,000; Eastpointe Public Schools, $14,000; Fitzgerald Public Schools, $12,000; L’Anse Creuse Public Schools,$40,000; Lake Shore Public Schools, $16,000; Lakeview Public Schools, $14,000; Macomb Intermediate School District, $16,000; New Haven Community Schools, $22,000; Roseville Community Schools, $22,000; South Lake Schools, $10,000; Van Dyke Public Schools, $14,000.
