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By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
SHELBY — Last week Shelby Elementary School students learned a valuable lesson in how to deal with bullying. Speaker Kevin Kimes of Lock Out USA presented his “Not In Our School” program to the students grades kindergarten through five.
Kimes served as an elementary and middle school principal at Mason County Central School District for a total of 19 years and has been in education for over 30 years. He developed the anti-bullying program 13 years ago for his MCC Upper Elementary students. The program includes skits and an original song written by Kimes. Kimes has even written a book on the topic.
“Students can’t learn when they don’t feel safe,” Kimes said. “I have zero tolerance for bullying and it was dealt with swiftly in my school. These are lessons that these kids can take with them for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, bullying isn’t behavior that is limited to childhood.”
Kimes retired as a principal last summer and has since worked for Lock Out USA, a company that is best known for its development of the SmartBoot School Lockdown System, known commonly as the “boot.”
“For years I would stare out my office window and contemplate that I was the first person charged with protecting over 400 children and dozens of adults every single day,” Kimes said. “When we discovered the boot system, it provided an extra layer of protection and some peace of mind to our students and staff along with myself.”
The boot was invented by Rob Couturier after his daughter was in college and was attacked while running. The attacker had barricaded himself in a room while Couturier attempted to enter him. Couturier couldn’t get in because the man held his feet at the bottom of the door, and that’s where he got the idea. Once initiated, the boot can withstand 16,000 pounds of force.
Today, Couturier is the president of the company and his daughter, Brennan Woodruff, is CEO. Lock Out USA is based in Fowlerville in southeast Michigan.
Kimes’s passion goes beyond assuring the safety of the masses. He is equally as passionate about protecting the safety of the individual.
“It is invaluable for these children to know that every single one of them was created perfectly beautiful,” Kimes said. “I believe if we can instill that assurance into our youth, we would create a world that is much safer and kinder.”
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