What Schools Should Review Before Summer Break

Every summer break at school feels like the finish line. When students leave and buses stop running, when athletic schedules slow down, buildings become noticeably quieter.

For school administrators and school safety directors, however, the first weeks after students leave may be the best opportunity of the entire year to conduct a thorough school security review.

Review Emergency Operations Plans

The Emergency Operations Plan guides how a school responds to fires, severe weather, medical emergencies, security threats, reunification, and other critical incidents. If the plan does not match current building operations, staff may lose valuable time during an emergency.

Questions worth asking include:

• Have key personnel changed roles?

• Are emergency contact lists accurate?

• Do building maps reflect recent renovations?

• Are reunification locations still practical?

• Are law enforcement and emergency responder contacts up to date?

In Michigan, law requires public school districts, intermediate school districts, and public school academies to maintain an Emergency Operations Plan for each school building and review it with at least one law enforcement agency every two years. For West Michigan schools, June gives leadership teams time to complete that work before staff training, fall schedules, and student arrival take over the calendar.

Evaluate Physical Security Measures

Physical security systems support school operations every day, but they are rarely evaluated as a complete system. Over the course of a school year, changes to staffing, building use, athletic activities, and vendor access can gradually create gaps that were not present in August.

Summer allows schools to test and inspect these systems without disrupting instruction. It is also an opportunity to verify that access permissions still match employee responsibilities, cameras still cover key areas, and emergency communication tools function as expected.

Areas worth examining include:

• Exterior doors and locking hardware

• Visitor entry procedures

• Camera placement and coverage

• Access card permissions

• Athletic facility access

• After-hours building access

• Emergency communication systems

For schools that host summer programs, camps, athletic events, or community activities, security expectations may differ from the regular academic year. Reviewing physical security measures helps ensure buildings remain protected regardless of who is using them.

Review Staff Training and Preparedness

Emergency plans are only effective when staff understand their responsibilities.

Between retirements, staff turnover, internal transfers, and new hires, the group returning in August is rarely identical to the group that finished the previous school year. Summer provides time to identify where additional instruction may be needed before students return.

School security managers should evaluate:

• Emergency response expectations

• Crisis communication procedures

• Reunification responsibilities

• Behavioral threat reporting processes

• Classroom emergency procedures

This is also an opportunity to schedule training for the upcoming school year. SHIELD’s directors of security and safety work directly with Michigan schools to deliver training and certification programs such as de-escalation training, critical incident response training, behavioral threat assessment support, tabletop exercises, AED/CPR instruction, and emergency preparedness workshops. Conducting that training during the summer helps staff begin the school year with consistent expectations and procedures.

School Safety Expectations Continue to Evolve in Michigan

Michigan schools operate within one of the more developed school safety frameworks in the country. Beyond local district responsibilities, schools have access to resources from the Michigan State Police Office of School Safety, the School Safety and Mental Health Commission, the OK2SAY confidential reporting program, and state-funded safety initiatives that continue to expand each year.

As new guidance, training opportunities, and security resources become available, districts face ongoing decisions about how those tools fit into their own buildings, staff structures, and student populations. A procedure that worked five years ago may not fully address current expectations for threat assessment, emergency communications, reunification, or school-community coordination.

Summer creates an opportunity to step back from daily operations and evaluate those larger questions. Rather than focusing only on immediate concerns, district leadership can compare existing practices against current state guidance and determine where additional improvements may be beneficial.

SHIELD’s directors of safety and security work with Michigan schools throughout this process, helping district leaders translate statewide recommendations into practical procedures that fit their buildings, staff, and community partners.