Anchor Bay School District to hire armed security guards
(CBS DETROIT) - Thousands of students from the Anchor Bay School District are set to return next week. For the first time, armed security guards will be there to protect them.
"This is kind of one of those watershed moments, it's like hey if we want to be as proactive as possible this is something we have to do," said Phil Jankowski, the district's superintendent
On Wednesday, the school board voted to hire five guards from a firm called Fortis Group. The district plans to eventually hire eight of them, placing at least one at each school.
The contract is for three years.
"If education is our first mission, we want to make sure we can alleviate those safety concerns," he said.
Jankowski said the guards will be retired police or former military.
He also said they won't be in uniform, but will instead wear plain clothes to make everyone feel comfortable.
"Everybody always thinks that doesn't happen here or that won't happen to me. And I think it's now kind of changed because it hit so close to home," he said.
Safety is top of mind for school officials, parents and students after high profile school shootings from as far as Uvalde, Texas, to as close as Oxford.
At the board meeting, parent Stephanie Richards expressed her support for the board's decision.
"I think it's great we are being proactive," he said.
The district is also planning to add more cameras and better secure entrances to school buildings.
"If we can have somebody who is on site who can help intervene because it's all about handling that first four to seven minutes and if they can help and that gives everybody a little bit more comfort and allows them to go about education with a little more peace of mind then this will have served its purpose."
Many of the schools in the district already have school resource officers.
The guards will provide another layer protection, Jankowski said.