(Spirit Lake)– The Spirit Lake School Board Monday evening adopted the district’s safety policy with revisions made based on community input over the past couple of weeks. The action followed additional comments Monday evening from the public, most of whom were in favor. Statistics gathered through public comment via Google Form, district email and personal emails showed 187 were in support while 102 were opposed to the proposed safety plan.
While the proposed policy drew approval from most first responders and the Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office, it came under scrutiny recently from Spirit Lake Police Chief Shane Brevik, who sent an email November 16th to local media and school officials outlining his concerns. Superintendent Dr. David Smith was critical of that, saying he was under the impression the chief was in favor of it based on some prior communications. Smith told board members last (Monday) night they didn’t have a chance to review the chief’s concerns before they were made public in the November 16th email…
The Chief wasn’t in attendance at last night’s meeting. School Board member Scott Trautman said he’s still hoping the board can work with Brevik…
Greta Gruys, another board member, spoke of all of the other pre-emptive safety measures the district already has in place and will soon be adding, saying arming personnel is a last option in the safety plan…
Jamie Hunter was among 25 members of the general public who spoke at last night’s meeting, calling on the board to work with the Spirit Lake Police Chief prior to formally adopting the safety plan.
The motion by board member Scott Trautman to adopt the plan was seconded by Sonya Ham and was approved 5-0.
