OXFORD, Mich. — In the days after the shooting at Oxford High School, safety and security became top of mind for not only Oxford Community Schools but for districts across the state of Michigan.
Some schools bring in experts to assess where their downfalls are when it comes to protecting their students and staff.
Almost a year after the tragedy at Oxford High School, one safety expert discussed what had changed in the past 364 days.
"Good security in schools really happens in layers," said Jason Russell.
Layers of protection that Jason Russell, the founder and president of Secure Education Consultants, said needs to be done at schools when it comes to safety and security.
In days following the shooting at Oxford High School, Russell went to the school and evaluated the practices of security that were in place.
"When we are doing our assessments, I would say probably 60 percent of the things that we're finding art needs for physical security. It's needed for adjustments and processes and procedures and just increasing in training and those types of things," said Russell.
Russell said when he travels around the state, and even the country, he finds actually putting those processes and procedures in place is where most districts fail.
Russell was asked if the schools realized they needed to make those adjustments and procedures.
"No, they don't. And that's really why the assessment is such an important thing. It really allows somebody to come in and give an outside set of eyes to see what your issues are," said Russell.
Following the shooting on November 30, 2021, a shooting that left four students dead, six other students injured, a teacher injured and countless others in the community traumatized, the Oxford community school district made changes to safety and security.
Weapons detection software was added to the high school, clear backpacks were to be used by every student walking into school for the day, and they added an ammo sniffing dog.
But as Russell explained, more can still be done in Oxford and across the state when it comes to protection.
"I think schools want to do the right thing, you know, sometimes it comes down to a matter of funding or a matter of resources to be able to do those things," said Russell.
In June, Governor Whitmer signed a bill allowing grant money to be allocated to schools to access safety and security.
Then in July, the state's 2023 budget became the most significant investment in K 12 schools, including money for safety and security.
"If you're preventing incidents, then you're going to see less incidence. You have to really make sure that you're diligent about continuing to focus on that because once you kind of let off the gas, you'll see those incidents start to come back," said Russell.
Russell said more long-term sustainable investment should be done for these schools instead of short-term grants.
He said districts need to know they can afford to continue these safety practices beyond when the grant money runs out.
He sits on a commute in the state and is working towards that.