East Lansing school violence provokes district to overhaul safety measures

EAST LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — A series of fights and potential threats at East Lansing High School sparked a board meeting on Monday to discuss potential new safety measures.

The East Lansing Public School safety meeting discussed measures such as one-door student entry and bathroom checks.

It took place amid “peaceful picketing” in front of East Lansing School after two weeks of fights, a shelter-in-place order and a recent gun violence incident that happened at a school basketball game on Thursday.

Iris Zink, mother of an East Lansing High School teacher, said her daughter was breaking up a fight between students when a gun was dropped on her foot. She is now protesting in front of the school two more days this week.

Zink said the violence level at the school has been going up over the past four years, and her daughter sees it every day.

“She’s broken up numerous fights, she’s been hit in the midst of fights; it’s ridiculous. The kids are exposed to violence every single day in the halls. My daughter is just trying to teach and it’s not an easy environment to be in,” Zink said. 

According to Zink, her daughter never went to the restroom last year because it wasn’t safe, and she says this year is much worse. She said people are not accepting the violence because it’s
“East Lansing,” but this incident is proof that it’s happening.

“It’s getting worse. There’s just so much apathy in the community like ‘oh there shouldn’t be gun violence in East Lansing, there’s never any violence in East Lansing’ it’s just an incident waiting to happen,” Zink said. 

East Lansing school officials said they have considered more than 24 safety recommendations, and more changes could be coming down the road. This could include additional metal detectors, changes to the cell phone and backpack policy, and even bringing in a school resource officer.

While school administrators asked the community to express their thoughts through a survey, Zink will be standing outside of the school on Wednesday and Friday this week to make sure the school board is listening.