Mike Dolan

As head of the security and safety department, Mr. Mike Dolan is the longest-tenured security guard at LHS. He is currently completing his eighth year as part of the LHS security team. In his position as head of security, he is not only responsible for the safety of the building, but he also helps manage the team and give our scheduling assignments.

“I think the biggest thing is you can’t take yourself too seriously, you know, by saying you’re head of the department because I’ve got pretty, pretty sharp people working for me,” Mr. Dolan said. “So when you say, ‘What does it mean to be head of security?,’ I’m more of a facilitator, put people in places where they’re going to be successful here. They’re all professional people, they all know what needs to be done. There’s very little management of the people at all.”

However, his eight years in security haven’t been his only years at Libertyville High School. Mr. Dolan grew up in the town and graduated from LHS. Mr. Dolan played soccer, ran cross country, and played a bit of football and baseball. He also participated in Student Council and was a member of the L Club, designed for athletes who had won major awards in their sports. His three children also graduated from Libertyville.

From there, he went to Illinois State University for college and got a job as a firefighter. He spent nearly 33 years in this position, 30 with the Libertyville Fire Department, and received many awards and accomplishments. Among them, he retains a certificate from the federal government deeming him as an executive fire officer and has three archived research papers in National Fire Academy’s library. He was also a paramedic for 25 years, per requirement. From 1975-79, Mr. Dolan was a firefighter and paramedic for Lake Forest Fire Department, and in 1979, he became a firefighter and paramedic for Libertyville. In 1996, Mr. Dolan was promoted to Lieutenant, and, in 1997, he was again promoted, to Assistant Chief.

“I was also in one of the first three or four paramedic classes in Northern Illinois,” he explained via email. “Guess you could say I was a pioneer of sorts.”

Mr. Dolan retired from his position as Assistant Fire Chief in November 2007 and took a job as a security guard at LHS. Throughout the past eight years, his favorite part is watching the students mature every year between their freshmen and senior years.

“This is an outstanding group of kids, and I’m just glad to say that I know a lot of you guys,” he said about the senior class in particular.