High school to continue security guard contracting
Paras complains about job eliminations
By Austen Smith, Editor
PUBLISHED: July 3, 2008
It won't be only students and faculty returning to Belleville High School after the summer break.
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Van Buren Schools officials during their June 26 meeting approved security guard contracting to be continued for the 2008 - 2009 school year. What began as a pilot program has been endorsed by school administration and board members despite a number of complaints from paraprofessionals, who say they could perform the same job skills.
Because school board members had not received sealed bids from a number of security companies who petitioned for the two, contracted positions, some were a bit confused as to what they were voting on. Superintendent Pete Lazaroff said they would be approving two security guards for the upcoming academic year, and that the bid would be approved per recommendation from administration and Brian Brice, operations supervisor.
The guards will be responsible for hallway monitoring, properly referring possible discipline problems to administration, confirm proper passes for students in hallway, monitor students behavior and actions and keep an ear to students conversations as they pass in the hallway.
The guards will work 7.5 hour days and will not be required to attend the school on days when students are not in attendance.
BHS Principal Sheila Brown pleaded for the approval of the security guards and said because of the size of the school and student population, the school is actually in need of more security.
"We have a fairly aggressive high school of 2,000 kids. We are the only school around neighboring districts that does not have a full-time (school resource officer)," Brown said.
Brown added that after attending a recent conference on school security, she said her fellow administrators were shocked when she told them about the security situation at the high school.
"Similar populated high schools have more security than we do. Huron High School has nine guards, Romulus has six," she said.
Despite recommendations from school officials, some paraprofessionals continued to air complaints about the continued elimination of para-jobs while the schools decide to spend money on security contracting.
"We have already had problems with some of the guards in the school," said Donna Gold, a paraprofessional in the district. "I don't understand how they are helping the behavior of the students."
Gold said the presence of the guards actually exacerbates aggressiveness in some of the students.
"I think with the new Walkie Talkies and new cameras, you'd be much better off bringing back a few para's," Gold said.
Assistant Principal in charge of the junior class, Larry Warren, disagreed with Gold saying that he had seen paraprofessionals do some light security work but that is not what they are trained for.
"(The guards) are specially trained, they know how to handle emergency situations," Warren said.
Addressing complaints about the guards not properly monitoring the hallways, Warren said that he has seen the guards walk together in a group initially but that they do split up and try to cover as much of the school as they can.
Warren also described a situation in which he was very impressed with one of the security guards in the handling of a particular student.
"(The guard) didn't know all the information at first, so he took the student in the office, sat him down and got the information before he rushed to judgment. I thought that was pretty good," Warren said.
Also addressing complaints about the quality of work, school board Trustee Martha Toth said the good thing about the contracted guards is that if they don't think one is working out well, they can just call for a replacement.
"They can be moved immediately if they do something inappropriate," she said.
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