Macomb Daily: Students feel a little safer with K-9s like Gator on duty

Lakeview, Van Dyke among districts that add dogs to buildings

By: GINA JOSEPH| Macomb Daily | September 6, 2023

Gator has been working with Lakeview Public Schools for a week but students at Jefferson Middle School in St. Clair Shores were still excited to see the dog on patrol Tuesday morning.

“He’s protecting me against any danger,” said Gwen Pasella, one of several seventh-graders giving Gator a tummy rub before school started.

Zoey Watson agreed.

“I feel like we’re going to be a lot safer having a dog around and he’s adorable,” said Watson.

“I love Gator,” said Dorian Fox, who joined Christopher Stachowiak in taking a few photos of the chocolate Labrador and his handler, Dawn Zonca, who will be visiting schools throughout the district.

“We’ve also worked two home football games,” said the retired Michigan State Police trooper whose work with police dogs included security for several presidential elections and big events like the Super Bowl in Detroit.

“I was excited to get back in this line of work again,” Zonca said, who is one of several retired law enforcement and members of the military working for Zebra K9. “The level of safety I can provide to the schools and community will hopefully make them feel more comfortable and secure.”

Principal Amanda Michalowicz said it’s the first year Jefferson Middle School has had the K-9 team and so far she’s heard nothing but positive feedback, not only from the students but also teachers and parents.

“This is just one layer of safety that we’ve added,” said Michalowicz, who joined the students in greeting Gator and Zonca on their second full week of school.

Lakeview will have two K-9 teams working in the district that are trained to detect everything from gunpowder, potassium chlorate other materials associated with firearms and explosives to heroine, cocaine and methamphetamines. Children who attend Jefferson are between the ages of 12 and 14 but such are the times; last year there were five incidents related to marijuana vape pens.

Michalowicz said middle school is a dynamic time in the life of a student and making sure students are working in a healthy environment and that they feel safe is paramount.

“You can’t learn if you don’t feel safe,” said Michalowicz, who is also a parent and like many others was pleased to hear about the additional security measure.

“I’ve got two kids going to school in the district,” said Sean Zaborowski, executive director of operations and athletics. “Knowing that we have this capacity to protect against any incidents has given me confidence and peace of mind that my kids will be safe at school along with the 4,000 other students that we have.”

Zaborowski added the new security force has been especially comforting during football games, which are usually attended by a large crowd.

“You just pay $5 and you get in. There’s not any screening or security involved in that,” said Zaborowski, one of many weighing in on security measures during meetings with Lakeview Public Schools Superintendent Karl Paulson, who sees the teams as a good deterrent.

“It’s an added level of prevention,” Paulson said, on top of other measures including metal detector wands and alarms that can set lockdowns and security warnings in motion within seconds.

“I don’t want to catch anyone,” Paulson said. “Our goal with these K-9 safety teams is prevention. Our leadership hopes students, staff and visitors to our schools will feel safer, and those same individuals will make the choice not to bring these items to the campus for fear of getting caught.”

How sensitive are their sniffers?

Most people can probably detect a teaspoon of sugar added to a cup of tea. But a dog working on a K-9 team can smell that amount of sugar in two Olympic-size swimming pools, which provides a whole other level of scrutiny.

“Since we came on board they’ve added two more schools to their roster,” Zaborowski said of the company’s growing list of clients that include Van Dyke Public Schools and Oakland County’s Avondale and Huron Valley districts.

Unfortunately, these are the times we live in and it’s this that prompted entrepreneur Gregory Guidice to create Zebra K9.

“It’s a proactive humanistic approach to gun violence in schools,” said Guidice, who started the company with five teams and a master trainer with more than 30 years experience as the director of K-9 operations for MSP.

Now he has eight teams and five school districts leveraging State of Michigan School Aid funding for school safety and mental health to underwrite their costs.

“We worked with state legislatures to get safety dogs as a funded expense,” said Guidice, who sees metal detectors as a cold and intimidating approach to security.

Critics also say that it requires staffing and does not cover all of the entrances.

The K-9s can be deployed at any time and can go anywhere. Besides that, when they’re not working they’re just dogs that the students grow to love and trust. On several occasions, Guidice has had teams who were approached by students wanting to tell them about an incident they heard brewing among their classmates. Others have been invited to special events because they’ve become part of the fabric of the school.

‘We’ve been to the prom and to senior all-night parties,” Guidice said. “The teams are good liaisons for the administrators and the students.”

For more information visit ZebraK9.com.