Citing the Sandy Hook and Santana High School shootings, the San Diego County Grand Jury is urging local school districts to adopt plans for keeping schoolchildren safe.
The efforts should have greater emphasis on identifying potential threats and training students, staff and parents to recognize and report suspicious behavior, according to report released Monday.
These and other no-cost or low-cost actions can be taken by schools and school districts to strengthen their security planning and preparedness, even in an era of tight budgets, the report states.
The report stresses that physical barriers such as fences, metal detectors, surveillance cameras and even armed guards do not necessarily prevent school violence, and those measures should be viewed as a supplement to, but not a substitute for, a more comprehensive school safety program.
Instead of buying more hardware, monies might be better spent on prevention efforts and creating a countywide culture of security awareness, the report states.
According to the grand jury report, a strong security culture can help avoid complacency.
In reviewing several past incidents of school violence, the grand jury found that most perpetrators signal their intentions in advance and, in one case, as many as 50 people, including two adults, were made aware of the plan but failed to alert authorities to the danger.
The grand jury report recommends encouraging students and parents to get involved in identifying and reporting any suspicious behavior on the part of their students or peers through established methods of reporting such as Crime Stoppers and Students Speaking Out programs, which allow anonymity.
The grand jury recommended that the San Diego County Office of Education:
- Develop an overarching school security policy that prioritizes the strategies set forth in this report.
- Work with the State of California Office of Education to amend the state laws governing charter schools to ensure that all charter schools comply with all individual school district safety and security plans.
The grand jury also recommended that 42 San Diego County school districts consider these school security programs:
- Identify key personnel responsible for school security. Identification of that person(s) should be made on both the district website and individual school websites.
- Develop a school specific School Security Plan for emergency preparedness that details responsibilities, procedures and resources required and a comprehensive security action and response plan.
- Develop training programs that, in conjunction with local law enforcement, train school administrators, teachers, support staff, and parents on school violence prevention, school crime prevention practices, school security procedures and awareness, and school emergency planning best practices.
- Develop and publish a Security Awareness and Prevention Program that is geared specifically for parent participation to help them identify abnormal behaviors of their children and the resources to turn to for help.
- Make both Crime Stoppers and Students Speaking Out websites accessible through the district and school websites.
- Put in place a program to strengthen partnerships with public safety and law enforcement officials to develop regularly reviewed specific emergency response protocols for each school in their district.
- Develop fiscal plans that include time-phased budgeting of the necessary funds to enhance each school’s security.
- ut in place the policy, procedure and infrastructure to provide website hosting service to all individual schools allowing the district to monitor and control content and to share safety and security news with school administrators, students and parents alike through this media.
- Develop a plan for initiating school-to-parent communication channels that encourage parents and others to come forward and report behavioral problems that could result in violent behavior.
— City News Service contributed to this report.
