Plymouth-Canton Schools Looks to Address Security Issues at P-CEP

Parents Matt and Barb Dame feel isn’t doing enough to protect students at its 6,200-student high school campus.

The Dames, who represent the group Parents and Community Advocates for Plymouth-Canton Community Schools (PCAP) and were at the center of a terse debate earlier this year at ,  said they have asked administrators to take further steps to boost security at the park, including offering teacher and parent hall monitoring, enforcing the dress code and re-educating students on the district’s code of conduct.

“Despite our efforts this year,” Barb Dame said, “The administration has turned a deaf ear on our solutions.”

Barb Dame said her daughter has dealt with sexual harassment at the park, both in the hallways and in the classroom.

“Problems do exist at the park,” she said. “And they need to be resolved now.”

Matt Dame said the district hasn't done enough to solve the problem.

“Sadly, it seems the only entities interested in solving problems are charter schools,” he said. “They don’t push parents away.”

He told the school board and administrators in attendance the district is driving parents and students away toward alternative education institutions with its lack of enforcement on its code of conduct.

“Get your heads out of the sand,” he said. “Recognize we have problems and do something about them.”

Study: Most feel safe sending children to P-CEP

Plymouth-Canton Educational Park faced several security issues in 2011, including following threats of violence just two days apart in October 2011. In June, a spilled from the cafeteria onto the grounds of the park, causing a Canton Police officer to .

Additionally, district parents expressed outrage at what they termed "" at after-school events, such as October 2011's Homecoming dance.

Still, many P-CEP parents and students say are comfortable with security on campus.

According to surveys by Lansing-based EPIC-MRA that were commissioned in November 2011 and conducted between April and May, an overwhelming percentage of students and parents indicated they feel safety is sufficient at Plymouth-Canton Educational Park.

“There weren’t any (respondents) who felt personally threatened, nervous or anxious about going to the park,” said John Cavanagh of EPIC-MRA.

The firm presented its survey findings Tuesday to board members and administrators.

Cavanagh said those the firm polled didn’t perceive incidents involving fights, bullying or drug use at the park as any more or less of a problem than a typical high school campus.

Enforcement at park identified as a concern

One issue identified in the EPIC-MRA survey is inconsistent enforcement of the students’ code of conduct, and disagreements about who should be enforcing the rules.

According to the survey, Cavanagh said, district teachers said they felt their job was to teach students, not enforce the code of conduct. Yet, he said, teachers responded they felt they were the most active in addressing issues.

“There was a palpable sense of frustration, if not resentment, over what they believe to be shouldering a disproportionate burden on enforcing codes of conduct,” Cavanagh said.

District focuses on intervention, consistency to stem safety concerns

While survey results indicate a majority of students feel safe at P-CEP, Principal Carrie Lawler said, that isn’t enough.

“Until 100 percent feel safe, the education (experience) isn’t as great as it could be,” she said Tuesday while addressing the board on security and safety updates at the park.

Coming off the 2011 lockdowns and food fight, Lawler said, targeted intervention has prevented some of those problems from recurring.

“There was not even a grape thrown at any of our cafeterias” this year, she said.

Principal Nancy Laws said the addition of security cameras in the cafeteria, which will extend to entrances, stairwells and gathering areas this year, also has served as a deterrent.

The addition this year of a dean of students for each P-CEP school, Lawler said, also should help keep enforcement consistent throughout each school, putting one person in charge in each building for discipline referrals.

Editor's note: The headline of this story was changed at 2:43 p.m. on June 27. On June 28, the story was changed to remove implication that Matt and Barb Dame organized the PCAP group. They did, however, identify themselves as representatives of the group during their comments to the board.