Lapeer Community Schools - Open Carry Forum - Lapeer, MI 8-3-16

[JRoehrig]

**Description Taken Directly From Website**

https://lcsblog.com/2016/07/08/lapeer-community-schools-to-hold-community-forum-on-open-carry-issue/

LAPEER, Michigan — Next month, Lapeer Community Schools (LCS) will host a community forum to inform the public on the issue of open carry in schools. The forum will be held at 6 p.m. on August 3 in the cafeteria at the Rolland-Warner 6-7 Campus, 3145 W. Genesee St., Lapeer.

This event is a great opportunity for members of the community to be informed about the laws governing the issue of open carry of firearms in schools, as well as relevant school district procedures.

“We look forward to meeting with our community to discuss an important issue facing school districts across the state,” said LCS Superintendent Matt Wandrie. “Since the issue of open carry in schools is both complex and controversial, we feel it is our role as a district to provide as much information as we can to our families.”

The discussion will be led by district administrators and facilitated by members of local law enforcement agencies.

For more information, please contact Jared Field at jfield@lapeerschools.org.

[smellslikemichigan]

I noticed this letter was posted by MOC this morning.

Mr. Field,
On behalf of Michigan Open Carry, Inc. I would like to request that we be included in the LCS community forum on Open Carry on August 3rd. MOC's primary mission is education and I would venture to say there is no one in the state that knows more about the topic.
Over the past few years we have worked with numerous school districts to varying degrees all over the state. Our involvement has ranged from attending community events, such as the one LCS is putting on, to helping school leaders craft lawful policies.
Due to numerous issues in a letter previously sent by Superintendent Wandrie to parents in the district, that appear to have gone uncorrected to this day, we believe our participation is necessary to ensure accurate and complete information is provided to attendees of the meeting.
Thank you,
Tom Lambert
President
Michigan Open Carry, Inc.

Is MOC requesting permission to attend a public meeting? I'm a little confused about the intent of this letter. Or are we asking to participate in an official capacity? If we are asking to be participants seated on the dais, I hope this is clear to Mr Field.

[bigt8261]

The latter. We will see if/when he responds.

[bigt8261]

Received a reply.

Tom —

You are certainly welcome to attend the meeting, but our presentation panel set. Thank you for your interest.

Have a great evening,
--
Jared Field
Director of Communications
Lapeer Community Schools

[smellslikemichigan]

[Neilmrb]

So did anyone go ?

[gryphon]

Yes, there is a write up or two on the facebook home and group pages.  I'll copy some of the posts here.

John McIntosh Home from the lecture.....I mean forum. Lots of the usual cookie cutter rhetoric, but in the end some good dialog . Definitely a polar opposite to Ann Arbors response. Im sure Tom Tom Lambert will add more after he gets home.

Definitely a big thanks to Tom for traveling so far for this event.

Tom Lambert Overall, for someone who is not deep into the subject like we are, he did alright.

He was first approached by a lot of our people who, based on what I could hear, challenged a number of incorrect misconceptions and larger picture details.

After they finished, I discussed the school district's policy with the superintendent and the officers there, along with a few from the previous group. It turns out their policy isn't as bad as they made it out to be. It's not as good as I would like to see it, but they are not going to call the police and go into lockdown every time.

Hopefully, some of the others will chime in too.

John McIntosh It was good to see they do not intend to ban firearms, but to verify CPL status and reason to be there. I did not like some of his statements such as " OC is inherently disruptive" or that we OC for a political statement.

He got a little testy with me when I asked if he intended to check the license status of drivers on school property, as they are potentially dangerous as well. ( maybe he was still feeling guilty over his incident involving his vehicle in a local restaurant lot).

I'm less tolerant of having to choke down rhetoric that tries to paint us with broad brush comments.

That aside, there policy isnt great, but not the worst either.

Tom Lambert When talking with the super and the officers, everyone agreed that the most likely scenario is a student illegally concealing a pistol in their backpack. Later, I asked what they were doing to counter the most likely scenario. When they admitted nothing, I asked how they could say safety is their number one priority if they don't even attempt to stop the most likely scenario. They didn't like the implications of what I said.

[smellslikemichigan]

thank you. that's helpful for those of us paying members without facebook access

[mosnar87]

thank you. that's helpful for those of us paying members without facebook access

Just so you know, I just verified that our Facebook Group is visible without logging into Facebook or having an account. Just follow the hyperlink here, or click on groups at the bottom of the Facebook front page and then search for Michigan Open Carry, Inc.