GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — They are the unsung heroes, protecting students and staff at West Michigan's largest school district.
Officers with Grand Rapids Public Schools' Public Safety Department were honored Friday on the last day of school.
“As we face challenges across this nation, I do want you to know how much I appreciate you. How much I respect what you do,” GRPS Superintendent Teresa Weatherall Neal said to the district’s 45 public safety officers.
It's a job which has changed from making sure kids don’t skip school a few decades ago, to defending students against armed attacks against school across the country in recent years.
“We see the stress in them every day. That's why these types of events at the end of the year are so important,” said Assistant Superintendent and Public Safety Director Larry Johnson, who also serves as chairman of the National Association of School Safety and Law Enforcement officers.
Johnson will soon share his success in Grand Rapids with the rest of the state as a member of Gov. Rick Snyder's School Safety Task Force.
He will be joined by two other representatives from West Michigan on the task force, including Nicholas Dent, a Spanish teacher at Marshall High School and former Grand Rapids police officer Brian Gard, who owns Rockford-based CommTac Solutions, which teaches people how to respond to workplace violence.
FULL STORY: WOOD TV