Wayne-Westland superintendent: District's new security firm has great reputation with kids

Beginning Monday, Dec. 6, high school students in the Wayne-Westland Community Schools district will see some new faces roaming the halls. 

The district partnered with Securitas AB, a private security firm based in Sweden, to station two full-time guards at Wayne Memorial High School and four guards at John Glenn High School, the larger of the two school buildings. 

"Coming back, we knew it was going to be hard for kids after 19 months off (away from school buildings)," Superintendent John Dignan said. "It takes some of the pressure, too, off teachers and administrators because now you'll have people dedicated to different parts of the building."

Guards will be present in hallways and the cafeteria throughout the school day to monitor behavior and promote a safe learning environment. They will be unarmed.

The superintendent said the partnership has been in the works since the school year began and is unrelated to the recent school shooting that killed four teens in Oxford. 

Wayne-Westland has one student resource officer from the Westland Police Department serving its district and another from the Wayne Police Department. The officers are based at the high schools but service all of the district's 9,500 students across 18 schools. Having a security presence at the high schools, Dignan said, will allow the student resource officers to better serve the other schools. 

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The student resource officer will, however, continue to serve the two high schools.

"The SRO also has all of the middle and elementary schools," the superintendent said. "So, they're not always there. We need more people who are in the hallways with our kids and interacting with our kids."

Securitas operates in 53 countries around the globe and employs over 300,000 people. The company has five offices in Michigan and, according to Dignan, has a good reputation of working in schools. 

"Every district I've been in, we've had them," Dignan said. "They're very proactive in working with our kids and they develop great relationships with kids. It's almost like they become part of the family, and we wanted that more than anything else."

Contact reporter Shelby Tankersley at stankersle@hometownlife.com or 248-305-0448. Follow her on Twitter @shelby_tankk.