(LANSING, MI.)–State Rep. Beau LaFave of Iron Mountain today introduced a plan to help improve school safety in Michigan. LaFave’s measure would require schools to submit incident reports to a proposed statewide school safety commission. The reports would provide the commission with examples of how incidents and threats were handled to develop best practices for other Michigan schools to follow. “Our kids deserve the safest school environment we can provide, and this proposal is a step in the right direction,” LaFave said. “Good ideas to improve school safety could pop up anywhere in Michigan. This plan provides a way to share those smart strategies with every school in the state as quickly as possible.” LaFave’s proposal is part of a plan to create a statewide commission to review safety procedures in Michigan schools and provide resources to make security improvements in local districts across the state The commission will evolve from a task force charged with making school safety recommendations by the end of this year. The commission will develop a system to audit safety procedures in Michigan schools. Grants would be distributed to make the highest-priority security improvements. The comprehensive plan calls for school inspections and evaluation of emergency procedures, funding for school security upgrades, expansion of Michigan’s OK2Say program, enhanced staff training, and other measures. Each school district would have a liaison to report to and work with the commission. “We all need to do our part to protect our kids, and this plan will help,” LaFave said. “I am pleased to work with colleagues from Marquette to Monroe to improve school safety and address other issues important to the great state of Michigan. This is a team effort.”
(Aaron Harper,WJNR,WOBE,WHTO)
aaronharper22@gmail.com