TRAVERSE CITY— Traverse City Area Public Schools did not enter lockdown or secure mode during a reported incident near Munson Medical Center after emergency management confirmed there was no threat requiring school action, Superintendent John VanWagoner said.
VanWagoner said the district typically receives notification from local authorities — either the Traverse City Police Department, the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office or Grand Traverse County Emergency Management — when a situation warrants a lockdown or secure mode at schools.
He said the district has a secondary safety protocol because it employs a director of safety and security, a position VanWagoner said is uncommon among northern Michigan school districts. After administrators received early morning calls about the situation, the director contacted emergency management to confirm whether any buildings needed to be secured.
“That confirmation happened well before any of our schools started this morning,” VanWagoner said, adding schools were told no lockdown or secure mode was necessary.
VanWagoner said decisions about school safety measures are based on recommendations from law enforcement, not independent assessments by the district.
“We simply take that recommendation from our local law enforcement,” he said. “We don’t really ask a lot of questions from that standpoint.”
If a situation had escalated, VanWagoner said the district would have used its mass communication system — text messages and emails — to quickly notify parents, following the same process used for snow days or other emergencies. In a secure mode or lockdown, he said, there would be no entry or exit from school buildings.
Separately, Grand Traverse County dispatch officials described how emergency services would respond if Munson Medical Center were unavailable.
Corey LeCureux, speaking on behalf of dispatch, said 911 response would continue as normal even if the hospital were closed, locked down or otherwise unavailable.
“We can’t keep people from having medical emergencies,” LeCureux said.
He said first responders would still be sent to emergencies, and during patient transport would work with Munson Medical Control to divert patients to other area hospitals. Because Munson is a regional hospital with more capacity than others, LeCureux said no single facility could absorb all diverted patients.
“It’s probably going to be multiple different hospitals around the area,” LeCureux said.
LeCureux also described how decisions regarding school lockdowns are communicated. He said law enforcement determines whether a school needs to enter lockdown or secure mode and then notifies the appropriate contacts.
“If it’s a clear, active shooter, we know that we need to be sending out those notifications,” LeCureux said, adding that determinations are typically made by officers on scene.
He said dispatch and public safety officials maintain regular contact with Traverse City Area Public Schools, but emphasized that reports circulating in the community during this incident did not originate from official public safety channels.
“It just kind of caught fire in the community,” LeCureux said.
He said there was never a verified threat to public safety and the situation was resolved without incident.
“If there is ever a time when we have a verified public safety concern,” LeCureux said, “we’re going to let people know through official channels.”