Category Archives: School safety

Fairfield-Suisun board set to consider safety policy for schools – Daily Republic

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By Daily Republic Staff

Members of the Board of Trustees for the Fairfield-Suisun School District will review campus safety recommendations as part of a series of policy updates when they meet Thursday.

“Campus security procedures shall include a directive for staff to keep classroom doors locked at all times. Such procedures shall be regularly reviewed to reflect changed circumstances and to assess their effectiveness in achieving safe school objectives,” the policy update states.

“The board believes that reasonable use of surveillance cameras will help the district achieve its goals for campus security.

Source: Fairfield-Suisun board set to consider safety policy for schools

Updates of school safety plans on Dixon USD agenda – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Updates of school safety plans and two related matters, the approval of principals at Dixon High, and a policy regarding involuntary student transfers are on the agenda when Dixon Unified leaders meet tonight in Dixon.

By law, California school districts must approve school safety plans to make sure that schools are as prepared as possible for emergencies while maintaining safe and secure learning environments.

School safety plans must present clear policies that deal with hate crimes, acts of violence, their perpetrators. Additionally, school safety plans must include a discrimination and harassment policy.

Mark Monachello, the district’s information technology services director, will make the presentation.

His remarks will come six weeks after the mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Fla., where a former student, using a military-style assault rifle, shot and killed 14 students and three educators, which later prompted the national student-led march against gun violence last weekend in Washington, D.C., and in more than 850 cities, small and large, across the globe.

Source: Updates of school safety plans on Dixon Unified School District agenda

Fairfield-Suisun school board to hear request for $500,000 in security upgrade funds – Daily Republic

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By Daily Republic Staff

The Fairfield-Suisun School District facilities subcommittee is asking for a one-time augmentation of $500,000 for safety and security upgrades to the district’s campuses.

The request will be made at 6 p.m. Thursday during the Fairfield-Suisun School District’s governing board meeting at 2490 Hilborn Road.

The subcommittee also recommends adjustments to board policy that all classrooms are to remain locked at all times.

Board members will hear about increasing campus security through security cameras and evaluating and upgrading main campus entrances, fencing and gates; and upgrading door locks and revising district standards for types of locks in classrooms, offices, libraries, multipurpose rooms, gyms and other areas.

Source: Fairfield-Suisun school board to hear request for $500,000 in security upgrade funds

Vacaville Unified School District campuses host lockdown drill – The Reporter

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By Kimberly K. Fu

In a matter of minutes Thursday morning following an ominous-sounding siren’s wail, Vacaville High School was shut down tight — No noise, no movement, no nothing.

Call it a successful lockdown drill, honed after four years of preparations and re-evaluations.

“It’s just sad that we have to do this,” said Ed Santopadre, the school’s principal.

The safety drill was over in minutes.

Following the sirens, teachers’ heads briefly popped out of their classrooms before their doors slammed shut.

“They’re checking for kids,” the principal explained.

One staff member worriedly asked what to do with the students who were in the school’s stadium.

“Tell them to hide,” he advised her. “That’s what we tell them — If you can’t go back to a room, just hide. It’s Locks, Lights, Out of Sight.”

Source: Vacaville Unified School District campuses host lockdown drill

Dixon Unified School District to discuss using contraband dogs – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

The 2017-18 second interim budget, a Measure Q update, and the use of contraband dogs on district school grounds are on the agenda when Dixon Unified leaders meet tonight in Dixon.

By law, California school districts must submit two interim budget reports for the current fiscal year, usually by mid-December and mid-March, to let state Department of Education officials know that they can pay their bills.

The chief business officer, Melissa Mercado will tell the five-member governing board that the district can meet its financial obligations during the current academic year.

At the same time, the report essentially will be a snapshot of the rural eastern Solano County district as of Jan. 31.

Source: Dixon Unified School District to discuss using contraband dogs

Vacaville students take a stand for school safety – The Reporter

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By Kimberly K. Fu

As the clock struck 10 a.m. Wednesday, students all over the country, including in Vacaville, poured out of their classrooms and gathered for the National School Walkout at a designated area in memoriam of the 17 classmates and faculty killed in the recent Parkland school massacre.

For 17 minutes — one for each victim felled by a gunman’s bullets — they remained outdoors, sharing a moment of silence for those lost and pondering their role in how to make the world a better place.

At Will C. Wood High School, silence was golden.

Source: Vacaville students take a stand for school safety, remember fallen Parkland students

Travis Unified School District leaders to consider Safe School Plans – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Travis Unified leaders, when they meet tonight, will consider and likely approve Safe School Plans for all district campuses, a second interim 2017-18 budget report, and agree to “sunshine” a new wage-and-benefits contract for teachers next year.

By law, California public schools are required to have a Safe School Plan that includes multiple elements: mission and vision statements, a school profile, procedures for reporting child abuse, disaster procedures, ways to notify teachers of dangerous students, a policy on sexual harassment, a schoolwide dress code, safe entrances and exits procedures, ways to ensure a safe and orderly environment, and rules and procedures on school discipline.

The district operates eight campuses, including two in Vacaville, Cambridge and Foxboro elementaries; two elementaries, Travis and Scandia, on Travis Air Force Base; and Golden West Middle and Vanden High schools.

Source: Travis Unified School District leaders to consider Safe School Plans

Teachers Join Torlakson to Oppose Guns in Schools – Year 2018 (CA Dept of Education)

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State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today announced the release of an “Open Letter to President Trump” opposing efforts to arm teachers, calling for the elimination of military-style assault weapons from our communities, and providing increased access to mental health services.

The open letter to President Donald Trump was signed by 61 California Teachers of the Year, including Michael Hayden (2014) and Brian McDaniel (2018).

California Teachers of the Year are selected from among California’s 295,000 teachers each year through a rigorous process of applications, interviews, and classroom visits. They are considered the best of the best.

“As teachers, all of us prefer to focus on education policy, our classrooms, and our students, but we can no longer remain silent while students and educators are being murdered and injured across our nation,” said Torlakson, who was a high school science teacher and coach. “We must talk about guns.”

Source: Teachers Join Torlakson to Oppose Guns in Schools – Year 2018 (CA Dept of Education)

Updates in School Safety Plans – Year 2018 (CA Dept of Education)

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State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today that the California Department of Education is taking a new step to help ensure student safety by auditing comprehensive school safety plans that are required of all schools by Education Code 32280-32288. The state compliance audit requirement will begin in the 2018-2019 school year.

Local school districts must approve safety plans for all schools in its district by March 1 of each year. School safety plans are mandatory and help ensure that schools are as prepared as possible for emergencies and also maintain safe and secure learning environments.

“The safety of our children and education communities is our greatest responsibility,” Torlakson said. “When developing school safety plans, it is essential to reflect on lessons learned last year and to implement new and improved actions this year.”

For example, school safety plans must present clear policies to address hate crimes, acts of violence, and their perpetrators. Comprehensive school safety plans must include a discrimination and harassment policy.

Source: Updates in School Safety Plans – Year 2018 (CA Dept of Education)

Training for emergency response teaches Vacaville parents protocols – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Concern more than fear colored parent voices Tuesday night in Vacaville Unified’s main offices, where district leaders sponsored an emergency response training session for those with children in city public schools.

For the better part of 90 minutes, Jennifer Leonard, the district’s public information officer, led the presentation that focused on Standard Reunification Method protocols and the organization, planning and management of an Emergency Operations Center.

The training came nearly two weeks after a mass shooting in a Parkland, Fla., high school, where 14 students and three adults were killed by a 19-year-old former student who wielded an AR-15, a semi-automatic rifle.

Source: Training for emergency response teaches Vacaville parents protocols

Vacaville USD officials to host safety training sessions – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Vacaville Unified officials will host districtwide trainings that cast an eye on safety and emergencies, gatherings that will be held in the Educational Services Center, 401 Nut Tree Road.

From 4:30 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, officials will focus on the district’s Standard Reunification Method protocols and the organization, planning and management of an Emergency Operations Center.

At 5:30 p.m., the officials will host a parent training for emergency response.

The trainings come nearly two weeks after a mass shooting in a Parkland, Fla., high school, where 17 people, 14 students, and three adults were killed by a 19-year-old former student who wielded an AR-15, a semi-automatic rifle.

The shooting has prompted a national debate about access to military-style assault weapons, the sales of firearms and ammunition, school safety, mental illness, universal background checks, and the arming of classroom teachers.

Source: Vacaville Unified School District officials to host safety training sessions

Travis USD supe issues safety letter to parents – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Like other eastern Solano County school district superintendents, Pamela Conklin, who leads Travis Unified, has issued a letter to parents in the wake of the Feb. 14 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Fla., where a 19-year-old former student killed 17 people.

The two-page letter, posted Friday on the district’s website, www.travisusd.org, also comes as an after-Parkland surge of gun threats, tips and false alarms aimed at schools flooded school districts and police department nationwide, including a Feb. 16 incident at Dixon High, where a student casually, perhaps jokingly, mentioned shooting up the school’s annual Sweetheart Rally in late February. The student was suspended for five days.

In the first sentence, Conklin’s “Dear Parents and Community Members” letter alluded to the Florida mass shooting and parents’ concerns. And the second was an effort to reassure parents by letting them know about some measures school leaders take to keep the districts’ 5,500 students — including those at two Vacaville elementaries and at two elementaries on Travis Air Force Base — safe.

Source: Travis Unified School District supe issues safety letter to parents

Fairfield-Suisun USD leaders discuss safe school plans – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

A public hearing about the district’s comprehensive safe school plans and its likely approval, a resolution to support a $3 billion disbursement from state school bond funds, and an update about Early College High School are on the agenda when Fairfield-Suisun Unified leaders meet tonight in Fairfield.

Sheila McCabe, assistant superintendent of educational services, will lead the public hearing about the safe school plans for the district, Solano County’s largest with more than 21,500 students.

Afterward, the seven-member governing board will vote to approve or disapprove the plans for the district’s 30 campuses.

Source: Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District leaders discuss safe school plans

Vacaville USD leaders air thoughts, feelings about Florida school shooting – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Human trafficking prevention, the possible funding of teacher effectiveness programs at two charter schools, and a report about Cooper Elementary were on the agenda when Vacaville Unified leaders met Thursday night in Vacaville.

But what was on many people’s minds, including the trustees, district staff and the general public during the governing board meeting were the Feb. 14 murders of 17 students and staff members by a deeply troubled former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Fla., the nearly 20th U.S. school shooting since Jan. 1.

In her routine remarks at the meeting’s outset, Superintendent Jane Shamieh said “student safety and security” are “foremost” in the minds of district educators at all times.

Source: Vacaville Unified School District leaders air thoughts, feelings about Florida school shooting

Vacaville USD officials discuss human trafficking prevention – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Reporter headlines attest to the fact that awareness of human trafficking is on the rise and it is a local, national and global problem in need of a solution sooner rather than later.

Consider that a multi-agency human trafficking operation in late January in Fairfield yielded four arrests; Reporter columnists last month wrote about American Indian women and girls and foster children as being high risks for trafficking; a Sacramento man in mid-January was sentenced in Solano County Superior Court to three years in state prison for being involved in a human trafficking operation; and a Fairfield man suspected of trafficking a 16-year-old girl was arraigned Jan. 11 in Solano County Superior Court. All of these Reporter stories and opinion pieces were written during National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

So, in some ways, it was no surprise during Thursday’s Vacaville Unified governing board meeting when Kim Forrest, assistant superintendent of student services, and Ramiro Barron, director of student attendance and welfare, discussed Assembly Bill 1227, the Human Trafficking Prevention, Education, and Training Act, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last fall.

Source: Vacaville Unified School District officials discuss human trafficking prevention

Human trafficking prevention on Vacaville USD agenda – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Human trafficking prevention, the possible funding of teacher effectiveness programs at two charter schools, and a report about Cooper Elementary are on the agenda when Vacaville Unified leaders meet tonight in Vacaville.

Kim Forrest, assistant superintendent of student services, and Ramiro Barron, director of student attendance and welfare, will offer information about Assembly Bill 1227, the Human Trafficking Prevention, Education, and Training Act, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last fall.

Among the points they will make during their slide presentation are periodic instruction for middle and high school students about the nature of human trafficking; periodic staff training about human trafficking, including sexual abuse and how it can be prevented; a calendar of instruction dates and locations; required topics of instruction, including the nature of sexually transmitted diseases; parenting, adoption and abortion; the importance of prenatal care; information about sexual harassment, sexual assault and strategies to prevent them; and information about adolescent relationship abuse and intimate partner violence, including early warning signs.

Source: Human trafficking prevention on Vacaville Unified School District agenda

Annual School Safety Plan Update Reminder – Letters (CA Dept of Education)

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The California Department of Education (CDE) is committed to helping you and your schools become as prepared as possible for emergencies and to maintain safe and secure school environments year-round. This message includes reminders and new direction for enhancing comprehensive school safety plans and the planning process.

The safety of our children and education communities is our greatest responsibility. Thank you for all you do to make our schools safe, secure, and welcoming for all students, families, and educators. It is essential to reflect on accomplishments and lessons learned last year and to implement new and improved actions this year. It is also time to ensure that comprehensive school safety plans are revised, updated, and approved by March 1, 2018.

Source: Annual School Safety Plan Update Reminder – Letters (CA Dept of Education)

Trustees asked to revise SRO contract with Vallejo – Times Herald

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By John Glidden

Trustees will be asked to approve a second amendment to the School Resource Officer (SRO) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the city of Vallejo during Wednesday’s Vallejo City Unified School District Board of Education meeting.

Amendments to the original contract include: extension of the contract to 2022, addition of a third SRO, and revising the compensation scheme.

The district brought back the SRO program in late 2014, nearly seven years after the program was scrapped in 2008 due to budgetary issues.

Source: Trustees asked to revise SRO contract with Vallejo

Vacaville teens learn police use of force tactics – The Reporter

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By Kimberly K. Fu

In a matter of hours Monday, they’d fired Tasers, deployed their firearms, engaged in a vehicle chase and used batons to encourage compliance.

But more importantly, the Will C. Wood Service and Safety class students learned the whys behind use of force tactics and what it’s like to be a police officer and having to make a split second decision in a potentially deadly situation.

“What do you see? What was he saying? Did you feel like your safety was in jeopardy?” asked Fairfield police officer and firearms instructor Jimmie Williams of two teens following a simulation where a suicidal man unexpectedly turned his gun, which had been pointed at his head, on police.

Source: Vacaville teens learn police use of force tactics

Dixon Unified leaders face light agenda tonight – The Reporter

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Dixon Unified leaders face a relatively light agenda when they meet tonight in Dixon.

Superintendent Brian Dolan will lead an update about the ongoing process of planning and carrying out of the sixth-grade cohort’s transition to middle school.

He also will lead an update of the progress toward development of a school resource officer position, a suggestion made in July by Police Chief Robert E. Thompson.

At the time, during a trustee meeting, he noted that the rural, 3,500-student district was the only one in Solano without a school resource officer. Thompson told the five-member governing board that he had applied for federal funding that would pay for, either in full or part, the creation of the new department job.

Source: Dixon Unified leaders face light agenda tonight