Orange County Grand Jury
• 2017-2018
• Agency Response
Response to:
Laguna Beach Unified School District
Laguna Beach Unified School District Facilities Department*
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 8 findings
F2
The implementation of security measures for schools, in many cases, is limited by funding. Response to F.2.: The Laguna Beach Unified School District agrees with this finding. The extent to which our schools can implement the type and extent of security measures is often dependent on funding. \otimes
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
School districts should re-evaluate the lack of secure fencing on all school campuses and present a report to their respective boards by December 31, 2018, outlining their plans to make campuses more secure. (F.2, F.3) Response to R.2.: The recommendation has been implemented. The assessment of each school campus is performed an annual basis with local authorities and school site personnel. The identified fencing improvement measures are included within the annual Facilities Master Plan that is approved by the Board of Education. The assessment reports, once completed, are reviewed by the District Safety Committee and provided to the Board of Education for their consideration and direction to staff.
F3
Many Orange County school campuses were constructed to reflect an "open and inviting" atmosphere but are now faced with physical and philosophical security issues that challenge this thinking. Response to F.3.: The Laguna Beach Unified School District agrees with this finding. Of the four schools within our district, the one elementary school and one middle school can be considered to reflect an "open and inviting" atmosphere. One elementary school and the high school are considered to be a closed campus by means of fencing and building structures.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
School districts should implement procedures to ensure that all campuses maintain a complete, daily log (electronic or manual) of every visitor and volunteer entering and exiting the campus, excluding program events such as awards ceremonies or stage or musical productions. (F.4.) Response to R.3.: The recommendation has been implemented, the District implemented the Raptor Technologies school check-in system at the start of the 2017-2018 school year in September 2017. The check-in system maintains a complete electronic log of every visitor and volunteer entering and exiting the campus.
F4
While every Orange County school district reported the use of a campus visitor sign-in process, there is a lack of procedural consistency among school campuses. Response to F.4.: The Laguna Beach Unified School District disagrees wholly with this finding only as it relates to the District. Our district has procedural consistency among school campuses. School campus representatives from each campus serve on the District Safety Committee and regularly discuss the procedural visitor sign-in process at quarterly meetings to promote consistency in the operation of the system between school campuses. The District is not in a position to comment on whether other school districts within Orange County lack procedural consistency with their visitor sign-in processes.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
School districts should implement procedures to ensure that photo identification is required of all campus visitors and volunteers before a visitor's badge is issued. (F.4, F.5.) Response to R.4.: The recommendation has been implemented, the District implemented the Raptor Technologies school check-in system at the start of the 2017-2018 school year in September 2017. The school campuses require all visitors and volunteers to check-in using a valid driver's license that is scanned by the Raptor Technologies system and the photo of the person is printed on the visitor's pass that they wear to properly identify themselves to the campus.
F5
Many districts or school campuses do not require all teachers, staff, and volunteers to wear ID badges while on campus, making identification of authorized personnel difficult for substitute teachers, student teachers, visitors, volunteers, and first responders. Response to F.5.: The Laguna Beach Unified School District disagrees wholly with this finding only as it relates to the District. Teachers, staff, and volunteers are required to wear ID badges while on campus. The District is not in a position to comment on whether other school districts within Orange County require visitors, volunteers, and substitute teachers to wear ID badges while on school campuses.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
School districts should implement procedures to ensure that all faculty and staff are required to wear visible photo ID badges while on campus. (F.5.) Response to R.5.: The recommendation has been implemented, school campus faculty and staff are provided with a photo ID badge and are expected to visibly wear them.
F6
Currently, student ID badges, which could easily distinguish students from non-students of similar age, are not required to be worn by Orange County middle and high school students. Response to F.6.: The Laguna Beach Unified School District agrees with this finding as it pertains to its schools. The District is not in a position to comment on whether other school districts within Orange County require students to wear ID badges while on school campuses.
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
All school districts with middle or high school campuses should consider using student ID cards in a format to be worn as student ID badges while on campus. (F.6.) Response to R.6.: The recommendation requires further analysis by school site administrators as to the feasibility and enforcement of an ID badge requirement for students. The timeframe for an analysis is to be from the date of the publication of the grand jury report.
F7
Campus personnel and volunteers, while on duty outside the classroom, have an inconsistent usage or availability of communication devices for emergency situations. Response to F.7.: The Laguna Beach Unified School District disagrees wholly with this finding only as it relates to the District. Campus administrators and site supervisors have communication devices for emergency situations. The District uses a handheld two-way radio system consistent between school campuses that provides communication ability at the local site and also between all sites within the district by means of a designated emergency radio channel. Monthly district-wide radio checks are performed by the Facilities Department to practice emergency communication using the communication devices. The District is not in a position to comment on whether other school districts within Orange County have an inconsistent usage or availability of communication devices for emergency situations.
Related Recommendations (1)
R7
School districts should evaluate available communication devices and ensure that custodial and supervisory personnel, as well as safety resource officers, playground supervisors and coaches, have two-way radios or equivalent communication devices with them at all times, enabling instant two-way communication with the office. (F.7.) Response to R.7.: The recommendation has been implemented, two-way radio devices are used all times by custodial, supervisory personnel, playground supervisors, and Athletics to communicate at all times with the office. The two-way radios have an emergency channel providing open communication to all sites within the district.
F8
There is no documentation or reporting protocol within the districts of individual security incidents, making it difficult to track, analyze, and summarize such incidents. Response to F.8.: The Laguna Beach Unified School District disagrees wholly with this finding only as it relates to the District. All incidents are reported to the site administrators who regularly report and collaborate with school district staff and Laguna Beach Police Department to manage individual security incidents. The District is not in a position to comment on whether other school districts within Orange County have documentation or reporting protocol related to individual security incidents.
Related Recommendations (1)
R8
School districts should consider requiring that all campus incidents of unauthorized access be recorded, tracked, and reported to the district office on a quarterly basis. All districts should share these reports with the Orange County Department of Education. (F.8.) Response to R.8.: The recommendation requires further analysis utilizing the District Safety Committee and School Site Councils to determine the feasibility of the implementation. This timeframe shall not exceed six months from the date of publication of the grand jury report. School districts should evaluate requiring each school to perform a school security
F9
While every Orange County school develops a school safety plan, few schools have used an individual school security assessment to identify deficiencies or to develop the required plan. Response to F.9.: The Laguna Beach Unified School District disagrees wholly with this finding only as it relates to the District. The Comprehensive District & School Safety Plan includes the participation of Laguna Beach Police Department. The school campuses are evaluated regularly by the Police Department and the site operations consider the evaluation findings. Due to security concerns the evaluation findings are not published in the public safety plan. The District is not in a position to comment on whether other school districts within Orange County have used an individual school security assessment to identify deficiencies or to develop the required plan. RECOMMENDATIONS
Related Recommendations (1)
R9
assessment to evaluate their current school safety plan. (F.9) Response to R.9.: The recommendation has been implemented, school safety plans are evaluated on an annual basis by each site and district office in conjunction with the local police department. In addition, the District will be contracting with the Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center to conduct a security assessment at each site. The assessment of each school campus is tentatively planned to be performed during the Fall of 2018. Sincerely, Jeff Dixon Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Laguna Beach Unified School District
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.