Safe Schools Programs
As the effects of the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut continue to echo nationwide, many are concerned for the safety of students in California’s schools. Many California schools have maintained a standard of vigilance related to threats of school violence by adopting CSBA’s board policies related to the subject (BP 0405), updating their comprehensive school safety plans annually and promoting exemplary school safety programs throughout California. One such program was developed by the Murrieta Valley Unified School District (MSVD). MVSD’s school safety program was awarded the 2012 Golden Bell Award for School Safety.
MVSD’s safe schools program was focused on a terrorist threat and the importance of communication with students, partnerships with law enforcement and staff training. Irrespective of the type of threat, MVUSD’s safety criteria apply before, during and after incidents that endanger the safety of school children, teachers, staff and administrators. In developing the program Murrieta Valley Unified School District focused on three core criteria as their framework for school safety:
1) Communication – Structure a program that utilizes activities which develop a culture of communication among the students on a campus.
2) School and Law Enforcement Partnership – Let the foundation of the safe school programs invest in a strong school and law enforcement partnership.
3) Staff Trainings – Identify an efficient set of trainings for staff to build capacity and optimize the time to engage staff in school safety protocol.
Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson and California Emergency Management Agency Secretary, Mark Ghilarducci’s joint September 15, 2012 message echoed MSVD’s framework by strongly encouraging school districts, campus safety teams and law enforcement to “take another close look at the safety plans and security procedures ... in place to reduce the risks on our school campuses and .. workplaces.” Both offices offered resources for assistance: CDE: http://bit.ly/schoolsafe or on the Cal EMA website at www.calema.ca.gov.
Policy discussions related to school safety are sure to heat up in the new legislative session and many of the concerns are sure to connect to the 2007 testimony of then-CSBA president Kathy Kinley. Speaking at an informational hearing of the state Senate Education Committee May 2, 2007, Kinley assured the panel that K-12 schools have many programs to prevent school violence, counsel students and deal with those incidents that do occur. She urged lawmakers to consider making additional resources more widely available.
“We do have many things in place already,” Kinley said, including annual comprehensive safety plans for each school site as required by the state Education Code following the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado. She also cited the state’s school safety block grants, which help fund local prevention programs, conflict resolution, staff training, cooperative arrangements with law enforcement and other effective measures.
“Unfortunately with these grants, they’re competitive, and so there are many, many schools that could use this,” Kinley said, but not all schools get the funding—and for those that do, the funding lapses after a few years. Kinley urged the state to extend adequate and stable funding for prevention and security programs, and she underscored other speakers’ call for other agencies and the larger community to share responsibility for school safety.
“For [children] to be really successful, they need five caring adults in their lives,” Kinley said, noting that those adults need to be in the students’ homes, schools and other elements of society.
Other members of the K-12 panel who addressed the Senate Education Committee were Sandy Clifton Bacon, a former president of the Association of California School Administrators, and Anthony Monreal, deputy superintendent of public instruction on the state Department of Education. Responding to their testimony, committee members agreed that schools need help and adequate resources to prevent violence and protecting children.