Hesperia Community Schools Superintendent Vaughn White, center, testifies before the House Regulatory Affairs Committee.
Hesperia super testifies before House urging school safety.
LANSING – Hesperia Community Schools Superintendent Vaughn White sat before the Michigan House Regulatory Affairs Committee last week to testify about the importance of keeping his students and staff safe.
The testimony was regarding the use of temporary door barricade
The SmartBoot System.
devices to lock down classrooms and offices during an active-assailant situation. White discussed his favor for the devises as Hesperia placed the SmartBoot System in its schools in 2017.
Rep. Scott VanSingel (R-GRANT) brought forth House Bill 4689 in June to amend the Construction of School Buildings Act to allow those devices to be installed in school buildings and to stop the Department of Labor and Regulatory Affairs from prohibiting school districts from installing them as long as they meet certain specifications.
“The goal of the legislation is to provide a framework of clarity to the
Rep. Scott VanSingel
existing law making their approval for use a much easier processes,” states a press release from the school district. “The approval of the bill will amend the fire code which is sometimes a sticking point for barricading devices.
“White and VanSingel are looking for clear legislation removing that gray area of the fire code and ensuring school districts can install and keep these systems.”
“It’s important that school districts follow the law and install these systems correctly,” White said. “We want to keep our kids safe, and that shouldn’t be up to interpretation. It should be in the statute as an allowable thing.”
Hesperia Community Schools installed the SmartBoot system two years ago for $165,000. The system is scheduled to be paid off in five years through the savings of electricity created by the conversion to LED lights district-wide. Hesperia was the first district in Michigan to implement this comprehensive lockdown system.
VanSingel hasn’t heard any opposition to his bill and expects the committee to vote on it next week before moving it to the House for a vote soon.
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