By Shelby Stewart
Staff Writer
Brandon School District is increasing security.
In light of recent events, superintendent Dr. Matt Outlaw and Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Brandon substation commander Lt. Greg Glover

gethered to discuss how to best ramp up security of the four buildings in the school district. Outlaw brought those ideas to the school board at a special meeting on March 19.
“We’ve been doing a review, working really closely with law enforcement, particularly with lieutenant Glover,” said Outlaw. “They went building by building, what doors were locked, unlocked, they looked at how people go in and out of buildings to give us recommendations. At the same time, we had each building administrator with their team do the same thing. It was a collective effort as we did this review.”
Some of the suggestions were to continue the staff training, and look in depth at how well drills go.

others included:

• Some form of security personnel at the main entrance of each building;
• More security cameras throughout the buildings with remote accessibility;
• More intense drills;
• A large scale drill in collaboration with the staff and first responders
• Security check-in points;
• Improving mental health screening and followups;
• Reviewing drop-off and pick- up procedures at both elementary schools.

Certain suggestions are already implemented or are in progress, such as numbering each building’s doors so locations can be relayed to emergency personnel with greater ease, and master keys for the emergency personnel so should they need immediate access to a certain area of the school building, they could get in without waiting for a keyholder.
“Back when Columbine happened, it was wait until you had enough man-power to enter that building. We don’t train that way anymore,” said Glover. “If you’re the first guy there, you’re the first guy in the building. The idea is to take care of the threat whether it takes one guy or it takes three guys. We need to be able to enter that building where the issue is taking place.”
Recently, Brandon school district has been given a security guard from DM Burr free for two months. Brandon also receives their custodial services through this company. The suggestion would be that starting in the 2018-2019 school year, they hire security personnel at each building, either through DM Burr, a different security company, or retired officers through Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
“Even if it’s not one of our guys, there are a couple of security companies out there, one that I recommended to Matt, that are designed specifically for schools,” said Glover at the meeting. “I can tell you from a law enforcement perspective, I am not a fan of that company (DM Burr). We have had issues with that company, and I know that they’re offering something for free, but I look at it as what’s the cost of free if something happens.”
The board gave the go-ahead to Outlaw to look into the different options for permanent security, either an unarmed guard from a security company or an armed officer from the sheriff’s department. Lt. Glover said, the part-time retirees still go through the same training that the full time police officers do and are up to date on procedure.