Grand Rapids school board votes to inform parents about making homes safer with secure gun storage

Over 70 people attended a Grand Rapids Board of Education meeting on Monday, May 15, 2023 at Southwest Middle High School - Academia Bilingue. (Melissa Frick | MLive.com)

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The Grand Rapids Board of Education passed a resolution Monday allowing Superintendent Leadriane Roby to send information home to all parents about making their homes and communities safer through secure gun storage.

The unanimous resolution approved Monday, May 15 comes a week after the district confiscated a gun from a student for the fourth time this school year.

The resolution declares gun violence as a public health crisis and asks city officials to support a similar ordinance and promote gun safety education.

RELATED: Grand Rapids 3rd grader brings loaded handgun to school

GRPS board president Kimberley Williams said the school board wanted to issue a declarative statement in support of responsible gun ownership to try and prevent guns from entering schools.

"We want to make sure our young people have safe homes to be in, and that even in the home, outside of our care, that gun or that weapon is stored safely," she said. "We know that when that happens, that decreases the level and the opportunity for our young people to bring a gun to school."

The resolution was passed just days after a loaded gun was found in the backpack of a third-grade student at Stocking Elementary School on Wednesday, May 10. One week prior to that, a 7-year-old brought an unloaded gun to Cesar E. Chavez Elementary School.

GRPS has had four separate incidents this school year where a student brought a weapon to school. The first two incidents happened at Burton Middle School – the first time in October, and the second time in January.

Last week, school leaders said they issued the temporary backpack ban to try and prevent any more guns from entering the schools. The ban is expected to remain in effect until the end of the school year.

Roby said gun violence is a multifaceted issue, and that Monday's resolution is just one step the district is taking to try and keep guns out of the hands of young children.

"This is not a GRPS issue, and this is not just a community issue," she said. "This is everybody's issue. It's parents’ issues, it's grandparents’ issues, it's around safety for all of our young people, and we want to wrap our arms around our young people to make sure that they understand that we expect them to be safe."

In March, a parent group lobbied for the school board to pass a similar resolution supporting gun safety.

RELATED: Parent group asks Grand Rapids school board to promote safe gun storage to families

The group of parents, grandparents and volunteers said they were part of the Be SMART movement, a national campaign for gun storage safety. The group shared with the board Be SMART toolkits with materials, infographics and presentations that GRPS could use to easily send information out to families.

Williams said the board didn't want to pass a "cookie cutter" version of the Be SMART materials, but rather come up with specific language that would address the issues happening in the Grand Rapids community.

"While we were doing that work and trying to figure out what our strategy would be to put together a resolution, and how we will provide education to the community, these incidents came up," she said. "And so, it really was to a point where we were like, ‘We don't want to let the school year end without us having put that resolution out there.’"

Larry Johnson, GRPS chief of staff and executive director of school safety, said the district expects to start sending out gun safety information to families before the end of the school year.

Also during Monday's meeting, Roby and the school board addressed the district's recent decision to ban backpacks, which has been controversial because there was no public input prior to being announced on May 10 and took effect immediately on May 11.

RELATED: Backpack ban isn't solution to guns at schools, Grand Rapids parents and students say

More than 70 people attended Monday's meeting, with four people addressing the backpack ban during public comment.

Roby acknowledged that the backpack ban has had unintended consequences on families but promised that the policy is a temporary measure as the district looks to find more permanent ways to stop guns from coming into schools.

"The reason for the temporary restriction on our scholars carrying bags into our schools, is three of the four incidents came through backpacks," Roby said Monday. "It is our hope that this measure will make it more difficult to conceal weapons and to bring them onto school property."

GRPS mom Gema Lowe, who has a daughter at Southwest Middle High School, called the backpack ban an "ineffective measure" that doesn't address the root of the problem: Guns, and a culture of violence in the U.S.

"The backpack ban is a Band-Aid that can fall off at any time," Lowe said. "A young person that had decided in their mind that bringing a gun to school is what they want to do, they will find a way to do it with or without a backpack."

Lowe said the district should be focused on implementing mandatory classes to teach children about non-violent conflict resolution, increasing mental health services, and making extracurricular activities more accessible so children can occupy their time in constructive ways.

GRPS parent Ana Aleman-Putman said that while she understood the district implemented the backpack ban because they needed to take immediate action to keep kids safe, she believes the district did a poor job communicating about the new policy with families.

"It came last minute to parents, and then the poor principals and the teachers they were left to deal with the fallout of a ban that was not planned out," said Aleman-Putman, a former GRPS principal.

Several board members on Monday spoke in support of Roby and her decision to ban backpacks, even though it has been difficult on families.

"This is just a stop gap measure, this is not something that we think is going to solve the problem of guns in schools," board member Katherine Downes Lewis said.

"But I do have a great deal of trust and confidence in the people who are in charge of things that affect our safety, and I have a lot of respect and support for Dr. Roby and the decisions she makes, and I want to assure you that this board is trying very hard to meet the demands that you put on us."

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Grand Rapids school board votes to inform parents about making homes safer with secure gun storage