School Safety Frequently Asked Questions

Gull Lake Community Schools believes that a safe school district is the result of a coordinated, collaborative effort with all district stakeholders — local law-enforcement, emergency responders, community members, district staff, parents, and most importantly, students. We are proactively engaging these stakeholders to create a safe and productive learning environment throughout our district.

Gull Lake Community Schools has focused its school safety efforts into four key areas:

1. Facilities

2. Systems

3. Training and Education

4. Community Partnerships

Thorough facility walk-throughs have been conducted in each district building under the supervision of the district’s Safety Committee and local law enforcement. The walk-throughs have drastically improved staff awareness of ensuring interior classroom doors are locked during the school day, in the event of an emergency. The walk-throughs have also helped building administrators ensure that all exterior doors are locked and secured at all times during school hours.

Additionally, the current capital bond project has been addressing facility security upgrades for all District buildings and funds from our building site fund have been paired with capital bond project funds to bring all locations up to the high safety and security standards our community expects and deserves.

In conjunction with having new, secure vestibules in every district building, any visitor to a district building must sign in with the building’s front office staff before being approved to enter the building. Sign in and sign out records are monitored throughout the school day. Upon sign in, the visitor receives an office guest pass, which is to be returned when the visitor departs the building and signs out. 

Along the same lines of visitor sign in and sign out policies, all classroom volunteers are required, by district policy, to complete and pass a background check, to ensure building safety. In addition, teachers, support staff, and students are trained to report any unfamiliar adults in the building, who are not wearing a guest pass, to the main office or the building’s administrator.

Also in conjunction with new secure vestibules, an electronic key card access system is used throughout the district. District staff members each possess key cards that give them access to the appropriate building(s). Each time a staff member uses their key card to unlock and enter a locked door in a school building, the key card system tracks who entered the building, when they entered, and how long they stayed before exiting the building.

Finally, each school bus in the district, and multiple buildings in the district, are equipped with video security cameras. Building cameras are both inside each building, as well as around the external premises. Bus cameras are located in the front of each bus, near the driver. The cameras are continuously recording surveillance footage, which is accessible to the appropriate district administrators and staff members to ensure building and transportation safety.

Gull Lake Community Schools believes that students and staff will only respond as they are trained. Thus, ongoing safety and crisis response training of both staff and students is essential and has been the focal point of our investment in a safe school environment. In particular, our district’s training has focused on the first 5 minutes during a crisis, which is a critical time of action, before local law enforcement and emergency personnel can arrive on the scene.

Gull Lake students are currently participating in safety response training, which remains ongoing. Students will be participating in several scenario-based training modules, including:

• What to do if a strange adult is seen at a door or in the hallways

• What to do if a lock-down situation occurs and the student is in the hallway, bathroom, or cafeteria, and not in a classroom

• What to do if an active threat situation arises and the student is in the hallway, or in the same room as the threat

Regular drills for weather emergencies, fires, and lockdowns are an important aspect of both staff and student safety training. Each district building regularly practices each type of drill to ensure staff and students know where to go, what to do, and how to respond—doing so in a timely and orderly fashion.

The Gull Lake Community Schools’ Safety Team—a group of district leaders, staff members and local law enforcement and safety personnel—has been instrumental in building community partnerships that ensure safe schools. The Safety Committee consults on a regular basis and has greatly enhanced communication and collaboration with school staff, parents, local police, local fire department personnel, and the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office.

Thanks to the Safety Team’s efforts and partnership with local law enforcement and MDOT, there has been installation of a School Zone Speed Limit Enforcement area in front of Richland Elementary School and Gull Lake Middle School on M-89. Flashing signs remind motorists of the school zone limits during the starting and ending times of each school day.

Along with the School Zone Speed Limit, the Safety Committee’s efforts have resulted in an increased law enforcement presence on Gull Lake’s school grounds. Local Richland police, as well as the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office, have partnered with the district to ensure safe driving on school property, as well as on the roads surrounding the district’s campus.

For more information, community members can visit www.gulllakecs.org, call 269-548-3400.