NORTHVILLE, Mich. – With students returning to school, safety is top of mind for many parents at the moment.
One district is being proactive in preventing tragedies, and they’re doing it with key fobs.
There are more than 40 ways to get into Northville High School. All of which are locked, but in the event of an emergency, our first responders need to get in. Waiting for access or even breaking a door down could potentially be the difference between life and death.
“We don’t want in Northville any officer to have to think how do I go and do what I need to do right now,” said Northville Public Schools Superintendent R.J. Webber. “We just want them to be able to get in and do what they’re trained to do and protect our kids protect our staff.”
Webber explains their district’s plan on how to be proactive if first responders would need to enter a building in their district.
“Everything changed in the world of education after Columbine. Webber said. “Everything, having been in education before that and passed, that is how we all look at things the way we all address. The safety of our students is changed.”
That’s why Wednesday (Aug. 31), the police officers who serve in the district received fobs that allow immediate access to every door in every school in the district.
“We can not afford to have any type of delay in entering the school,” said Northville Township Chief of Police Scott Hilden. “And so by having the electronic access fobs, it’s going to let her officers immediately get to the threat and immediately stop it.”
The fobs are all electronic, so it eliminates the fear of what would happen if one was misplaced.
“Now, let’s say you lose one of these, so you let the station know that you did in our team can turn it off in a second,” Webber said.
Webber says the fobs were an idea their district came up with together, and he hopes it’s something more districts adopt as many already have the technology installed.
“Let’s share this with our brothers and sisters in education and law enforcement as widely as we can to help people see that there are many things that can already be done without having to wait for a mandate or legislation or even additional funding,” Webber said.
Every police officer from Northville, Northville Township, and Novi received one of those fobs seen in the video player above, which means they’re prepared heading into the new school year, which starts on Tuesday.