Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com


The Brighton Area Schools Board of Education will be taking new measures this fall to protect its students, staff and community.

On Monday night, the Board unanimously approved a contract with Premiere Security of Flint that will provide four retired police officers at a cost of $42,000 per year for each of the four officers, or a total of $168,000 per year to the district.

The contract will be for a period of 175 school days, and the district has the option of employing the company for other school functions for a separate fee. Premiere Security will select the former officers for each specific school.

Brighton High School, Maltby Intermediate and Scranton Middle School already have security in the form of police liaison officers, as well as many other measures that have been instituted in the last few years to keep students and staff safe.

It’s notable that Officer Kristi Bell, the Brighton City Police Dept’s school resource officer at the high school, won the “Extraordinary Bulldog” award for the month of February for always “going the extra mile” and for the extraordinary relationship she has developed with students. However, the elementary schools - Spencer, Hawkins, Hilton and Hornung (which house grades pre-K to 4), have not had the same level of security as have their secondary grade counterparts.

Explaining the program at Monday night’s board meeting, Superintendent Matthew Outlaw said the three other programs he investigated all are excellent. However, he had the opportunity to work with Premiere Security when he was superintendent in Brandon - which had perhaps the first such police security program of any school district in the state, Outlaw told WHMI “They’re very professional, understand the importance of school safety; they were looked up to by the students and respected by staff and parents.”

Outlaw will be shoring up the contract wording in the days to come to be ready for final implementation at the board’s Aug. 8th meeting.