Time after time, people ask, “How safe are DPSCD schools?” This question often is addressed in homes and communities where children attend school. So, what’s the answer?
According to 17-year-old junior Ahijah Gorman, “Some DPSCD schools are safe, because they have metal detectors, security officers and cameras.”
Security Officer Denisia Turner posted in front of one of the school metal detectors.
East English’s security officer Maurice Jones said, “In any community, there are flaws and things that can be improved, but for the most part, here at the Ville, there haven’t been many gang fights, and no massive shootings.”
Jones recently joined EEVPA’s security and already he is well-liked by students and staff for his sensitivity to students and his team player spirit.
The issue of schools being safe seems to crop up a lot, especially when there is a lot of media attention on a school shooting anywhere in this country.
Kids have lost their lives or were seriously wounded in many school shootings over the past several years. Most notedly, in 2012, there was the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School Newtown, Connecticut, that killed 26, and then there was the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead; 14 students and three adults.
So yes, schools need to make safety a top priority, and DPSCD is striving to keep Detroit students safe in schools.
DPSCD is the only school district in Michigan with its own police force of 78 officers, who patrol in and around schools. The district also has in-school security officers, surveillance cameras and metal detectors.
School officials will continue to keep students’ safety first. They will implement new school security initiatives beginning next school year.
