ELPS to Hire Safety Director After Spring Swatting Incidents
After being targeted by two swatting calls in three school days this spring, East Lansing Public Schools will hire a safety, security and student support director. The school board unanimously approved the plan at its June 30 meeting.
The board approved a three year contract for $166,000 per year at the June 30 school board meeting, after Superintendent Dori Leyko initially presented about the position at the June 8 board meeting.
The position will be funded through state funds allocated to pay for school safety and student mental health. The funding has also been used for safety teams at the middle school and high school, the district’s mental health coordinator, a district nurse, the RAVE emergency alert system and a cybersecurity alert system, Leyko said.
She said uncertainty surrounding last year’s budget led the district to eliminate the director of health and safety position previously occupied by Matt Morales.
The contract is with Secure Environment Consultants, or SEC, led by former Secret Service agent Jason Russell, who was present to answer questions from the board at the June 8 meeting.
“We’re carrying over nearly $900,000 of our 31aa [state] funds,” Leyko said, “so we are in a very healthy financial position to be able to do this for three years, and I don’t have any concerns about that.
“I think it will provide us some experienced leadership in these areas, especially as we have been processing these swatting events and getting input from our staff on their preparedness and how well they feel prepared. I see some things we could increase and ramp up, such as tabletop exercises, scenario training at our schools and putting people in problem-solving, options-based scenarios more frequently.”
Russell told the board at the June 8 meeting his company primarily works with school districts by providing assessment support. It also has contracts to provide safety and security directors to 16 districts, including Okemos and Waverly.
“We really see the purpose of this position in two ways,” he said. “Safety and security as having a tactical piece — school safety teams checking doors, standing at the front and all those good things — and a strategic piece, which is more oversight of programs. Are we progressing? Are we doing drills correctly? Are we writing new emergency procedures? Are we seeking additional funding opportunities?”
He said one benefit of contracting with SEC is that its network of security and safety directors collaborate.
“We assign every new director a mentor director,” he said. “We do strategic planning with our directors. We don’t just say, ‘Go do something this year.’ We lay out a plan to make sure they’re driving progression in their district.”
Russell said several of the services SEC currently provides ELPS, including training and consulting services, would instead be provided by the director.
At the June 8 meeting, Leyko presented the proposal as a partnership between ELPS and Haslett Public Schools, envisioning that the individual selected would spend three days each week in East Lansing and two in Haslett. The districts would have split the costs based on the number of buildings each has.
However, at the June 30 meeting, she explained that Haslett was instead partnering with Okemos schools and East Lansing will contract for its own director. She said that because Haslett and Okemos share Meridian Township Police, the districts decided to work together.
Responding to a question from board member Terah Chambers about the qualifications sought for the position, Russell said a typical director is often a former command-level law enforcement officer, but SEC has also hired educators with experience in safety and security programs.
“I’m very specific about this not being a police job,” he said. “Even when we hire safety staff for schools, the first question I ask is, ‘Do you like kids?’ If the answer is no, this probably isn’t the right place for you.”