East Lansing board hears plan to hire shared safety and student-support director funded from 31A allocation

The East Lansing School District Board of Education on June 8 heard a proposal to hire a shared director of safety, security and student support through a three‑year contract with Secure Educ Environmental Consultants (SEC).

Superintendent Michael and Jason Russell, identified in the presentation as the founder of SEC, told the board the position would be shared with another district under a cost‑share arrangement. Russell said the role is intended to be strategic rather than purely tactical: "safety and security really is such a huge issue," he said, describing the director as providing program oversight, planning tabletop exercises and coordinating with law enforcement and school safety teams.

Why it matters: the district said its 2025–26 allocation under the state 31A program was about $1.36 million and that those one‑time funds must be spent by September 2027; the administration proposed using a portion of the carryover to fund the shared director. District figures presented at the meeting estimated East Lancing's annual share at about $80,600 under an 8/13–5/13 split with the partner district and described a three‑year commitment to allow the position to build systems and training.

Details of the proposal: Russell described SEC's model of placing contracted safety directors in districts, supporting them with a mentor network and accompanying consulting services, and hiring candidates with either law‑enforcement command experience or relevant district leadership. The presentation emphasized that the director would not be a school resource officer or a police officer and that the position would integrate with existing district uses such as behavioral threat assessment, nursing and emergency medical response.

Board members asked about hiring procedures, candidate qualifications, how a shared schedule would work during simultaneous emergencies and whether strategic plans would be tailored to each district's needs. Russell said SEC would screen applicants, present finalists and support the district interview team, and that SEC provides a supervisory layer and regional director network to backfill during overlapping crises.

Next step: Superintendent Michael said the board will consider formal action on this proposal at the June 22 meeting.

Ending: The presentation followed recent district after‑action work after two swatting incidents at East Lancing High School; board members expressed interest in further detail and in seeing the proposed contract and cooperative agreement before the June 22 vote.