Rochester Area State Representative Mark Tisdel Updates:
School Safety and Student Mental Health, Legislator of the Year, Town Hall Meeting.
Feb 16, 2023: Rep. Tisdel introduces bipartisan plan to support school safety, student mental health.
State Rep. Mark Tisdel on Tuesday helped introduce a bipartisan plan to strengthen safety at Michigan K-12 schools and support students’ mental health.
Tisdel, R-Rochester Hills, co-sponsored the plan, which resulted from months of in-depth work by the House’s Bipartisan School Safety Task Force. Formed in response to the Oxford High School shooting, the task force released its report last December, with input and support from Michigan parents and professionals in law enforcement, education, and mental health.
“Protecting Michigan students in their classrooms must be a top priority in our state, and the Bipartisan School Safety Task Force carefully studied where our state and our schools are lacking in our approach to student safety and mental health,” Tisdel said. “This bipartisan, statewide plan will address weaknesses in school security, fill gaps in student mental health supports, and mitigate miscommunication.”
Tisdel expressed his sympathy for the victims of Monday night’s shooting at Michigan State University, noting that although the package of legislation specifically addresses K-12 schools, the Legislature should explore additional ways to protect the entire state — including colleges.
“The deadly shooting at Michigan State has left grief and pain in its wake — for the survivors, for the family and friends of the victims, and for all of us,” Tisdel said. “After Oxford, lawmakers, parents, and experts came together to write a detailed plan to help secure Michigan schools and support Michigan students, and we must continue working together to keep the people of Michigan safe.”
The bipartisan plan, contained in House Bills 4088-4100, is designed to organize a unified approach to school safety and student mental health with communication, training, personnel, and more. The package addresses specific problems identified by the task force: tips submitted to the OK2SAY system not getting to law enforcement officers, an insufficient focus on mental health at schools, a lack of communication between school mental health experts and school resource officers, no active threat training for some school staff, and inconsistent terminology that can lead to poor communication among first responders and police officers from different departments.
To address these problems, the plan would:
• Establish the School Safety and Mental Health Commission. This commission would identify best practices for schools to address behavioral, physical, and mental health needs. The commission would support at-risk students and work to reduce youth suicides by establishing a comprehensive statewide approach.
• Dedicate school staff to student safety and mental health. Each intermediate school district will receive funding to hire a safety and security coordinator and a mental health coordinator. These new staff would serve as points of contact for school safety plans, grant opportunities, and mental health and security strategies. They would maintain communication between the state and school districts within the ISD, while also facilitating communication between other school districts in their region.
• Plan for safety. Schools would be required to review and update their safety plans every three years in consultation with their ISD-level safety coordinator, and statewide standards would guide the implementation of modern security measures for school buildings.
• Expand and improve OK2SAY. Contact information for the OK2SAY confidential tip line would be placed on school ID cards for easy student access. Reporting and tips received by OK2SAY would be passed on to the ISD coordinators and local law enforcement; reporting and tips would also be provided quarterly to the School Safety and Mental Health Commission. Higher standards and new reporting definitions for OK2SAY would also be adopted.
• Improve responses to school safety crises. The plan would require the Michigan State Police to provide uniform, comprehensive school safety and security training for school resource officers and all staff at Michigan schools. It would also create uniform definitions statewide for school safety terms, such as lockdowns, to foster better communication during crisis events. Other provisions would add more active-shooter drills and ensure at least one drill includes local law enforcement involvement and one is conducted between classes.
Feb 16, 2023: Greater Rochester legislator, Rep. Tisdel, named Legislator of the Year by Michigan Retailers Association.
The Michigan Retailers Association last week honored state Rep. Mark Tisdel as a Legislator of the Year for 2022.
The association, which represents retailers of all sizes in Michigan, recognized Tisdel, R-Rochester Hills, and five other lawmakers for their work last year passing legislation to crack down on organized retail crime. Tisdel was the lead sponsor of a bipartisan law to establish transparency requirements for third-party online sellers. The change was designed to help catch thieves who resell stolen goods online.
“Michiganders visit our local retailers to buy food, hygiene products, furniture, electronics and more, and I’m pleased to be recognized as a Legislator of the Year by the Michigan Retailers Association,” Tisdel said. “It was my privilege to work with the retail industry on my bipartisan law to promote transparency, protect online shoppers, and punish thieves who try to profit on stolen retail merchandise.”
The online seller transparency requirements, contained in Tisdel’s House Bill 5487, were signed into law in July 2022.
Feb 6, 2023: Rep. Tisdel to host Town Hall on Saturday, Feb 25!
State Rep. Mark Tisdel today invited Greater Rochester residents to join him at a Town Hall Meeting.
On Saturday, Feb. 25, Tisdel will hold his inaugural town hall meeting from 10am to noon in the Multipurpose Room at the Rochester Hills Public Library.
“I’m always excited to meet with the people I represent,” Tisdel said. “Whether Greater Rochester residents prefer informal conversations at office hours or a question-and-answer dialogue at a town hall, I’m looking forward to hearing everyone’s perspectives and sharing about my work in our state Capitol.”
Tisdel represents Michigan’s 55th House District, which includes the cities of Rochester and Rochester Hills and part of Oakland Township.
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About State Representative Mark Tisdel
State Rep. Mark Tisdel, of Rochester Hills, represents Greater Rochester in the Michigan House of Representatives. The 55th House District, which Tisdel represents, includes the cities of Rochester and Rochester Hills and part of Oakland Township.
Representative Mark Tisdel is one of 110 Members of The Michigan House of Representatives who are elected by the qualified electors of districts having approximately 77,000 to 91,000 residents.
Representatives are elected in even-numbered years to 2-year terms. Legislative districts are drawn on the basis of population figures through the federal decennial census.
February 20, 2023, from the office of 55th District Michigan House Representative Mark A. Tisdel and Rochester.Life