Student safety and security very high on Notre Dame priority list; campus security 'commended'
Jim Travis is the supervisor of Notre Dame’s security detail. He’s been working on campus for about eight years and says that serious incidents are extremely rare.
In early 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice launched the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative, a large-scale, integrated research effort that is building knowledge about what works to increase the safety of schools nationwide. It began in response to a congressional appropriation of $75 million, which gave the Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ) primary responsibility along with more than 20 federal partners.
The initiative was to achieve its goal by improving national-level data collection, convening stakeholders to identify and share best practices, and conducting research and testing by evaluating pilot projects in school districts around the country.
While the findings from NIJ have not yet been fully disseminated, most schools across the country already have taken aggressive student and school safety steps of their own, including Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, which likely will not receive any of the $75 million appropriation.
“Safety always has been our number-one priority,” said NDPMA head of school Fr. Leon Olszamowski, s.m. “For awhile now, we have had armed Oakland County Sheriffs in each of our buildings. It was shortly after the Sandy Hook school tragedy.”
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office has had a presence on campus since 2012.
Olszamowski said the school’s security guards, who are contracted through an agency, also provide virtually round-the-clock protection for the students, staff and parents and the buildings and grounds. A regular security presence near Notre Dame’s athletic complex, Harold Leslie also coaches 5th- and 6th-grade girls basketball for the school. Larry McIntosh, a minister at Calvary Missionary Church, goes out of his way to ensure student safety, especially during peak traffic times.
He also said the school has an up-to-date safety plan. “We do everything we can to keep our kids safe short of turning school into a prison.”
NDPMA building manager Julie Frakes, who is in charge of the school’s five security guards, said the Marist Fathers have always been very concerned for the safety and well-being of the students, faculty, staff and parents. She notes that incidents are very rare on campus and that parents should be reassured that this level of safety will continue.
Keeping students safe. That is in fact what all who were interviewed for this article said was their number-one priority. Jim Travis, one of NDPMA’s security guards, also supervises the crew. He said without a doubt “making sure the kids are safe” is job one.” Travis’ wife Barbara also works security at Notre Dame, primarily in the afternoon and evening.
Jim Travis has been working on campus since 2006. He said he and his crew are laser-focused on school safety and security and “making sure that the people, the traffic and the property stay safe every day.”
He wants all parents to drive slowly in the parking lot, especially during morning drop-offs. “I have a lot of kids all over the place, and it’s often very dark. I know some of the parents are late with bringing their kids to school, but please—leave five minutes earlier from the house and then you won’t have to come screaming around the loop, especially on the north side.”
Brian Ward, the security guard who works exclusively at the lower division, echoes Travis. He said he realizes that the parking situation at the new lower division campus has been problematic, but he’d like everyone to be patient.
“But that new parking expansion cannot come along fast enough,” he said. “It will be a godsend for alleviating the congestion at peak times around here.”
Ward has been working security at NDPMA for six years, including five at the former lower division building in Waterford. He said the expansion will be a whole lot better for parents and traffic, but the new entrance off of Walton, while overall beneficial for traffic flow, will make his job a little harder. “I’ll have to make sure that the cars in our lot belong there,” he said. “I am hoping to get gates up at the entrances as well.”
Ward, who said working at Notre Dame is a complete joy for him, notes that beside keeping an eye on the parking lot, his daily duties include securing the lower-division building, windows, doors, etc. But his biggest thing is the extended-care program in the evening. “It’s a main job for me, making sure the kids are all picked up by the right people. I am so, so careful about that!”
Being safe, feeling safe
Security guard Larry McIntosh has been a fixture at Notre Dame for seven years, two at the lower division. An ordained minister at Calvary Missionary Church across from the school’s main campus, McIntosh said he is particularly focused on student and staff safety, but he also wants to maintain a sense of normalcy on campus.
“I want to keep everyone safe, but I want to do so while hopefully making sure everybody feels safe and secure,” McIntosh said. “Even when there may be an issue—and those are very rare—I think it’s important to keep an even keel so that this great comfortable atmosphere we have here is maintained.”
Like his colleagues, McIntosh said that traffic and pedestrian safety is a big part of his job.
“The kids generally do not watch where they’re going, especially when school gets out in the afternoon,” he said. “They come out of school talking to one another, talking on their phones and texting. They are not watching traffic. We all must be vigilant about keeping the traffic speeds down and watching for the students walking into traffic, because they’re not watching for the most part.”
After-school safety
A real fixture on campus in the afternoons for two-and-a-half years is Harold Leslie. Always ready with a wave and a hello for passersby from his post at the athletic gate near the football field entrance, he nonetheless takes his job and responsibility very seriously.
While extremely personable and friendly on the outside, Leslie said he is definitely focused on who’s who and who belongs on the campus and who does not.
“It gets really chaotic around here when there are games on the field, and multiple practices going on in multiple locations,” he said. “I am always watching like an eagle.”
A retiree from American Axle & Manufacturing and a U.S. Navy veteran, Leslie’s stints at Notre Dame are seasonal since he is outside most of the time. “When sports move inside for the winter, I am not needed as much.”
But he is not short of things to do during his “off season.” Leslie coaches 5th and 6th grade girls basketball at Notre Dame and he and his wife run a math and English tutoring business from their home. “We just love helping kids!”
Low incidence of incidents
Security supervisor Jim Travis said that the NDPMA campus has been virtually trouble-free for as long as he could remember.
“We used to get what I call drive-throughs, where suspicious vehicles would sometimes make a slow drive around the main circle, looking for who knows what,” he said. “That’s why we installed the second gate off of Giddings, which is closed most of the school day when there aren’t a lot of people in the lot.”
He said that in the last five years, there has been only one larceny in the parking lot—an iPod was taken from a car, an unlocked car. He said it’s important for the student to lock their cars all of the time.
“And also please remember, security is everybody’s business! If a parent sees something, please don’t hesitate to come to me or my people and we will check it out,” Travis said. “And. . .remind your kids to lock their car doors!”
Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org.
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.