By Don Rush

For a little over a week, James Vernier, 48, has been getting the lay of the land in regards to Oxford Community Schools. On Oct. 24 he took a position with the district as School Safety Administrator.

On the third day of his one-year at-will contract with the district he said, “I can tell you this, hands down, Oxford is the safest school district in the state, if not the country. That’s the reality. The perception to some in the community, however, is that it might not be. I hope to get the perception to match the reality. I want to improve that and maintain our level of safety and security going forward.”

Before coming to Oxford, Vernier had 28 years in law enforcement and assessment.

Oxford School Superintendent Ken Weaver said in a statement, “Mr. Vernier has an extensive background in public safety and law enforcement as a police officer with a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Western Michigan University. He served the Oak Park Department of Public Safety since 1998 in many capacities including several years as a School Liaison Officer for the Oak Park School District. In 2014, he was named Sergeant and served at that level until retiring from the police force this year.  Some of his many certifications include, but are not limited to, Crisis Negotiations with the FBI, National Incident Management System – Incident Command, Police Supervision, Fire Command Officer, Leadership of Police Supervisors, Accident Investigator, and Active Shooter Response. We are excited to have Mr. Vernier become a part of our team.”

Vernier also said he spent three years with Secure Education Consultants (SEC), where he would assess districts who hired SEC for safety and security. “We would assess everything, either an entire district or just an individual school. We’d break down everything, from their operational plans at the district level and then at the school level. Then we would evaluate their visitor process, their door policies and if they are following those policies. What are their window coverings like? We’d evaluate their PA system and emergency alert system. It was checking on their processes and making sure they were familiar with them and following them. We’d evaluate and write a report and offer recommendations based on our findings.”

Vernier said that about 70 percent of his time will be out in the school buildings and 30 percent will be in management and working with the district’s security team, ESS. When he is out in the district he said he will assess and review each building’s security.

“Day to day I will go school to school,” he said. “It will be like a perpetual assessment operation.”

He said it is commons where school districts have gone through tragedies like Oxford did last Nov. 30, complacency goes out the window immediately. But as the distance from the event gets further away, complacency starts to come back. I want to prevent that from happening in Oxford. Like I said, the reality now is Oxford is safe, but the perception is that it is not. I hope to build relations in the community to make them comfortable and make the reality match the perception.”

Vernier is married with two children.