For five years, Chuck Young walked the halls of Clarkston High School as the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department police liaison, but after a series of devastating occurrences on the job, Young decided to step away.
Now he, with the help of Sandy Blomquist, a Clarkston Middle School teacher, has formed PIECES, Inc., (Problem Identification in the Educational Community by Empowering Students), a nonprofit organization geared to increase awareness about, preparation for, and prevention of school violence.
Three years ago, a young Clarkston girl collapsed during a school day at the high school from complications with an eating disorder. The fire department was told to come to the front of the building, though the girl lay in the back, Young remembers. After unloading their equipment, it was decided the best way to reach the girl was to have the fire truck in the back of the school. All the equipment was loaded back onto the truck, which was then drove to the rear of the building. Unfortunately, the girl lost her life.
Because any extra minutes in an emergency situation can mean life or death, Young said, “I took it to heart it was my fault. It weighed heavy.”
He then mapped out the high school, dividing it into sections to find the closest entrances for emergency purposes and better response time in the future.
In another instance, a young man, a sophomore at the high school, got into a fight with a senior boy. Young talked to the men about what had occurred and tried to smooth out the situation. Since it was during the time school let out for the day, the younger of the two boys ended up missing his bus. So, Young drove him home. Along the way, he continued to lecture the boy, encouraging him and offering him guidance. Young dropped the boy off, but unfortunately, the boy’s parents were not home at the time and he used the opportunity to commit suicide.
“I felt totally responsible for him. Did I miss something?” Young asked.
In his 19 years with the OCSD, Young saw the deaths of 16 children; from murders to suicides to accidents to illnesses. But, Young felt he could have saved them all.
Depression set in, nightmares began and a suicide attempt was on the horizon.
Young went on a leave of absence to seek help for what has since been diagnosed as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Now, after a year and a half, he is feeling healthy and is ready to get back to work.
It was on his leave, Young, a Clarkston High School graduate and lifetime Clarkston resident, began working on PIECES, building on much of the safety measures he had already developed while at the high school.
Through this organization, Young works with schools to build a complete and comprehensive emergency response plan which includes communication and coordination efforts of school personnel and local emergency response teams, assessment of facilities, review of the school’s current safety plan and practice drills, development of a transportation emergency plan, lockdown training and drills, and much more.
Equally important is violence prevention planning to “avert a tragedy from happening in the first place.”
Young — who has attended several training seminars dealing with safety issues for schools; teaches a leadership skills program at N.A.M.M.A. Karate school; and is in the process of obtaining his bachelor’s degree in law enforcement — has developed a copyrighted survey to get feedback from students and learn of the problems and safety issues which need to be addressed.
“Research is clear in that safety plans and violence prevention programs must be custom-made to specific cultural realities for each district, or even perhaps each individual school,” Young said.
All of the services PIECES offer can be paid through the Safe and Drug Free Schools money or possibly Title monies, Young said, who was recently selected as a Regional Independence Level One Agent of the National Security Alliance’s Kid-Safe Network Division, a nonprofit child safety and danger awareness organization.
“I’m not doing this to make money. All I want to do is make sure these kids are safe. I’d do anything for them.”
For more information, Young can be reached through PIECES, Inc., P.O. Box 802, Clarkston MI 48347-0802. Call (248) 625-0945 or email piecesinc@yahoo.com.