E-Edition
Sign up for email newsletters
Sign up for email newsletters
E-Edition
Anchor Bay School District leaders will conduct a special meeting tonight to learn about the administration’s plan to hire additional armed security personnel for the upcoming school year.
The meeting will focus on a security plan that would add manpower to district buildings beyond the existing school resource officers and security guards.
The measure comes after recent mass shootings in schools, including the May 24 incident in Uvalde County, Texas where 19 students and two adults were killed, and closer to home, the 2021 Oxford High School in Oakland County that saw four students shot to death and seven people injured.
“We’re in uncharted territory now,” said Phil Jankowski, superintendent of Anchor Bay, a quasi-rural district that includes Chesterfield Township and New Baltimore in Macomb County, as well more rural areas in St. Clair County.
“Everybody knows we’re in kind of a world where you have to prepare for the unknown, because you don’t where it can happen next. We think it’s the right thing to do.”
School officials will present a plan prepared by Fortis Group of Brighton, which is headed by three brothers who are current or retired law enforcement officers and/or military personnel with extensive training in everything from arson investigations to protective services.
The cost would be around $200,000, school officials said.
According to the company’s website, Fortis was “established in 2010, responding to the growing demand for private investigations, protection, training and enhanced safety & security measures.”
The security plan would add five and eventually expand to eight guards as the budget allows. The new security personnel would be rotated across the district so that every school has coverage.
Fortis Group employees would wear khakis and polo shirts as opposed to uniforms.
Brian Bastianelli, CEO of Fortis, describes his firm as a training and consulting organization for individuals and corporations to prepare for a crisis.
In Anchor Bay’s case, Bastianelli said the firm would provide not only tactical and investigative services, but he also sees employees as being accepted as part of the school community.
“Basically, we want to keep our clients safe,” said Bastianelli, who retired this past year after 29 years as a detective lieutenant with the City of Farmington Police Department.
“We all worry about our kids in school. Every school is struggling with how to deal with the scenario of an active shooter in their building. Our firm sees itself as being a strong partner in the school system,” he said.
Active shooters will generally only attack “soft targets,” or facilities where armed opposition is lacking to protect the students and staff, Bastianelli said. “These people aren’t coming in if an armed deterrent is standing in their way.”
School shootings in 2020-21 soared to the highest number in two decades, according to a new federal report that examines crime and safety in schools across the United States. The 31-page document released earlier this month by the National Center for Education Statistics also pointed to a rise in cyberbullying and in verbal abuse or disrespect of teachers over the decade that ended with the onset of the pandemic in spring 2020.
Jankowski, the superintendent, said another element to the equation is the prospect of being accused of negligence should the district find itself involved in an active shooter situation and later be sued for not taking steps to make the district safer.
“This is something the board and administrators have been looking at behind the scenes,” he said. “The Oxford incident shows we need to provide extra support where ever we can, to be proactive and do what we can to add to a secure environment.”
Fortis Group employees also have backgrounds in behavioral strategies and interpersonal skill shaping
The company has experience in serving the Huron Valley School District in Oakland County. Other clients include DTE Energy, Dupont, Quicken Loans, Medstar Oakland County and others.
In an unrelated note, Anchor Bay will ask residents Nov. 8 to approve a $168 million bond issue that includes new safety and security measures such as a new video surveillance system, replacing entrance intercoms, and installing emergency alert systems.
Tonight’s meeting will be held at 7 at MacDonald Elementary School, 5201 County Line Road, Casco Township.
Macomb County breaks ground on new Marine Sheriff Division headquarters
/*! This file is auto-generated */!function(c,l){“use strict”;var e=!1,o=!1;if(l.querySelector)if(c.addEventListener)e=!0;if(c.wp=c.wp||{},c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage);else if(c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if(!t);else if(!(t.secret||t.message||t.value));else if(/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret));else{for(var r,s,a,i=l.querySelectorAll(‘iframe[data-secret=”‘+t.secret+'”]’),n=l.querySelectorAll(‘blockquote[data-secret=”‘+t.secret+'”]’),o=0;o<n.length;o++)n[o].style.display="none";for(o=0;o<i.length;o++)if(r=i[o],e.source!==r.contentWindow);else{if(r.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message){if(1e3<(s=parseInt(t.value,10)))s=1e3;else if(~~s<200)s=200;r.height=s}if("link"===t.message)if(s=l.createElement("a"),a=l.createElement("a"),s.href=r.getAttribute("src"),a.href=t.value,a.host===s.host)if(l.activeElement===r)c.top.location.href=t.value}}},e)c.addEventListener("message",c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",t,!1),c.addEventListener("load",t,!1);function t(){if(o);else{o=!0;for(var e,t,r,s=-1!==navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE 10"),a=!!navigator.userAgent.match(/Trident.*rv:11./),i=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),n=0;n<i.length;n++){if(!(r=(t=i[n]).getAttribute("data-secret")))r=Math.random().toString(36).substr(2,10),t.src+="#?secret="+r,t.setAttribute("data-secret",r);if(s||a)(e=t.cloneNode(!0)).removeAttribute("security"),t.parentNode.replaceChild(e,t);t.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:r},"*")}}}}(window,document);
‘Gustnado’ blamed for storm damage in Macomb County
/*! This file is auto-generated */!function(c,l){“use strict”;var e=!1,o=!1;if(l.querySelector)if(c.addEventListener)e=!0;if(c.wp=c.wp||{},c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage);else if(c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if(!t);else if(!(t.secret||t.message||t.value));else if(/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret));else{for(var r,s,a,i=l.querySelectorAll(‘iframe[data-secret=”‘+t.secret+'”]’),n=l.querySelectorAll(‘blockquote[data-secret=”‘+t.secret+'”]’),o=0;o<n.length;o++)n[o].style.display="none";for(o=0;o<i.length;o++)if(r=i[o],e.source!==r.contentWindow);else{if(r.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message){if(1e3<(s=parseInt(t.value,10)))s=1e3;else if(~~s<200)s=200;r.height=s}if("link"===t.message)if(s=l.createElement("a"),a=l.createElement("a"),s.href=r.getAttribute("src"),a.href=t.value,a.host===s.host)if(l.activeElement===r)c.top.location.href=t.value}}},e)c.addEventListener("message",c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",t,!1),c.addEventListener("load",t,!1);function t(){if(o);else{o=!0;for(var e,t,r,s=-1!==navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE 10"),a=!!navigator.userAgent.match(/Trident.*rv:11./),i=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),n=0;n<i.length;n++){if(!(r=(t=i[n]).getAttribute("data-secret")))r=Math.random().toString(36).substr(2,10),t.src+="#?secret="+r,t.setAttribute("data-secret",r);if(s||a)(e=t.cloneNode(!0)).removeAttribute("security"),t.parentNode.replaceChild(e,t);t.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:r},"*")}}}}(window,document);
Pa. man gets lucky in Warren, wins $2 million playing lottery in grocery store
/*! This file is auto-generated */!function(c,l){“use strict”;var e=!1,o=!1;if(l.querySelector)if(c.addEventListener)e=!0;if(c.wp=c.wp||{},c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage);else if(c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if(!t);else if(!(t.secret||t.message||t.value));else if(/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret));else{for(var r,s,a,i=l.querySelectorAll(‘iframe[data-secret=”‘+t.secret+'”]’),n=l.querySelectorAll(‘blockquote[data-secret=”‘+t.secret+'”]’),o=0;o<n.length;o++)n[o].style.display="none";for(o=0;o<i.length;o++)if(r=i[o],e.source!==r.contentWindow);else{if(r.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message){if(1e3<(s=parseInt(t.value,10)))s=1e3;else if(~~s<200)s=200;r.height=s}if("link"===t.message)if(s=l.createElement("a"),a=l.createElement("a"),s.href=r.getAttribute("src"),a.href=t.value,a.host===s.host)if(l.activeElement===r)c.top.location.href=t.value}}},e)c.addEventListener("message",c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",t,!1),c.addEventListener("load",t,!1);function t(){if(o);else{o=!0;for(var e,t,r,s=-1!==navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE 10"),a=!!navigator.userAgent.match(/Trident.*rv:11./),i=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),n=0;n<i.length;n++){if(!(r=(t=i[n]).getAttribute("data-secret")))r=Math.random().toString(36).substr(2,10),t.src+="#?secret="+r,t.setAttribute("data-secret",r);if(s||a)(e=t.cloneNode(!0)).removeAttribute("security"),t.parentNode.replaceChild(e,t);t.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:r},"*")}}}}(window,document);
We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.
Sign up for email newsletters
Copyright © 2022 MediaNews Group