District opens 30-day public comment on 2025–26 safety plan; new drill terms and confidentiality stressed

Kevin Byrd of Area 1 MOCES presented the Holland Central School District's district-level safety plan for the 2025–26 school year and opened a 30-day public comment period required by State Education Department rules.

Byrd said the district plan is a public document but that building-level emergency response plans (floor plans, responder maps, chain-of-command contact details) are confidential and are submitted to State Ed and local law enforcement. "The district wide safety plan that we're presenting tonight is a public document ... that's not in this plan because we don't want it out there for public consumption if someone is considering doing harm to our population," Byrd said, explaining why the more detailed building-level material is withheld. He reviewed statutory origins (the SAVE legislation passed after Columbine and later additions requiring violence-prevention and mental-health training) and described recent changes: trauma-informed drills, an emergency remote instruction plan post-COVID, and revised terminology such as "secure lockout" replacing "lock out" and a new "hold/hold in place" status for restricted in-building movement.

Board members asked practical questions — where plans are kept and whether the district has a school resource officer. Byrd said plans are stored in a secure portal and shared electronically with State Ed and the state police, and that the district will coordinate further with local law enforcement. The plan will be available for public review and the board expects to consider final approval at the August meeting after the comment period.