Michigan school safety task force focuses on mental health

After the fatal shooting at Oxford High School in November 2021, the Michigan state government formed a task force to address school safety and security.

The bipartisan House School Safety Task Force released a draft of its safety recommendations as part of a progress report, showing a focus on mental health and physical security in school facilities. According to Representatives Scott VanSingel and Luke Meerman, the task force met with multiple security organizations while developing their recommendations, including the Michigan State Police (MSP), the MSP Office of School Safety, the Community Mental Health Association of Michigan, Safe Schools for Alex and more.

The preliminary school safety recommendations include:

Providing additional funding for in-school health centers
Conducting third-party threat assessments in schools
Addressing school resource officer (SRO) challenges in rural areas
Funding security cameras and threat detection
Implementing a statewide information sharing framework

To read additional recommendations shared by the task force, click here.

Madeline Lauver joined Security magazine in 2021 as its Assistant Editor. She covers news affecting enterprise security leaders, including physical security, cybersecurity, leadership and management, risk and resilience and more. Within her role at Security, Lauver focuses on news articles, Web Exclusives, features, and several departments for Security’s monthly digital edition, as well as managing social media and multimedia content. Lauver graduated in 2019 with a BA in English, German and Media Studies from Kalamazoo College.

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