By David Fleet
Editor
Goodrich — The district will soon have a new layer of security.
On Monday night, the Goodrich Board of Education discussed a Premier Security Solutions Staffing Pilot program, a company that specializes in school security and employs retired police officers. The board will vote on the program at the March 20 school board meeting.
“Security is one of our main focuses in the district,” said Mike Baszler, district superintendent. “We’ve been looking for ways to increase security at the high school.”
If approved, the pilot program will include two guards at a cost $32 hour per who will be posted at the high school. The guards will be in addition to the current school resource officer.
“It’s not only for security, but also to deter vandalism and vapping,” he said.
The Brandon School District has contracted with Flint-based Premier Security Solutions since April 2018.
The security upgrades approved on Monday were one of several for the district in recent months.
On July 25, 2022 the school board of trustees voted 5-0 to replace about 120 security cameras in the district with newer technology. Board President Greg Main and Secretary Ashley Herriman were absent with notice.
The upgraded cameras were supplied by Farmington Hills based Capricorn Diversified Systems.
The upgrades are IQ eye legacy security cameras and include: 15 cameras at Reid Elementary; 24 cameras at Oaktree Elementary; 35 cameras at the middle school and 47 at the high school. Upgrades also included Digital Watchdog cameras.
The cost of the upgrade is $80,860 bringing the total cost to $350,951 for the security project. Funding for the project was available in the tech budget, said Wayne Wright, school district superintendent.
In addition, a second lock was added to classroom doors, located at the bottom that can be operated by foot. A piece of hardware mounts to the door and another piece mounts to the floor. One end is slid into a slot into the door; the other end fits into a notch in a metal plate mounted on the floor.
In March 2019, the school board of trustees voted 7-0 to join with Atlas Township to sub-contract with the Genesee County Sheriff Office for a school resource officer. The SRO will serve nine months with the school district and three months on patrol in Atlas Township.
In August 2022, Genesee County Sheriff Deputy Brian Compeau was named the new school resource officer.
Compeau is a Goodrich resident, a 2002 Goodrich High School graduate and has two children in the district. He replaced Deputy Casey Seeley who served since 2019 and was the first SRO for the school district.
Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson emphasized the importance of a school resource officer.
Currently, there are 11 school resource officers in Genesee County serving at the GISD, Goodrich and Clio school districts in addition to a special Genesee County Circuit Court school. Mt. Morris Consolidated School District added an SRO last fall.