Chtia-yorb Greg Plutko, Ed.D. Placentia-yorba Linda Superintendent Unified School District Board of Education*

Published: August 24, 2018 4 pages

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Findings and Recommendations 8 findings

Response to F.2.: The Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District agrees with this finding. The extent to which our school can implement the type and extent of security measures is often dependent on funding.

Related Recommendations (1)

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 by Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District. A Maintenance and Facilities team has walked every school in the District with a site administrator to assess fencing and gate needs. Two vendor contracts were submitted to the Board in June for review and approval. The contractor is in the process of repairing or adding fencing and gates to improve security.

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 Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District agrees with this finding. The schools within our district can be considered to reflect an "open and inviting" atmosphere.

Related Recommendations (1)

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 by Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District. The District has approved a service agreement with Raptor Technologies to provide a daily electronic check in system for visitors to campus. The School Access Management system has been implemented on all campuses and ready for use. School districts should implement procedures to ensure that photo identification is required

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 Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District agrees with this finding and has taken steps to establish consistent sign in procedures across all campuses. Preparing Every Student For Success Now And In The Future 2017-2018 Orange County Grand Jury Report Safer Schools - What Can We Do? Response of the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District August 27, 2018

Related Recommendations (1)

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 by Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District. Through the use of the School Access Management System provided by Raptor Technologies, the District has established procedures for visitors provide photo identification which is scanned against the Megan's Law list in all 50 states. School districts should implement procedures to ensure that all faculty and staff are required

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 Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District agrees with this finding and has taken steps to establish a badging system across all campuses.

Related Recommendations (1)

to wear visible photo ID badges while on campus. (F.5.) Response to R.5.: This recommendation is currently being considered and requires further analysis. The analysis should be completed by the end of December, 2018. 2017-2018 Orange County Grand Jury Report Safer Schools - What Can We Do? Response of the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District August 27, 2018

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 Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District partially agrees with this finding. Student ID badges are not worn by students, however, all secondary students in the Placentia- Yorba Linda Unified School Districts are issued a student identification card which they are required to have in their possession while on campus.

Related Recommendations (1)

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 will not be implemented because it is not warranted. Students currently carry a school issued identification at all times. ID badges are not necessary.

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 Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District partially agrees with this finding. As it pertains to our schools, all security personnel and site administrators carry radios which are used to communicate in emergency situations. Each radio is programmed to the Blue Channel frequency designed for communication with first responders. Volunteers do not have consistent access to communication devices.

Related Recommendations (1)

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 by the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District. All supervisory staff currently have two-way radios. Each radio has been programmed to access the Blue Channel frequency providing staff to first responders (fire, police, etc.) as needed.

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 Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District disagrees with this finding. As it pertains to our schools, school personnel use an incident reporting form to report security related incidences. They also use an accident reporting form in the event of an incident resulting in student or staff injury. Both forms are used for tracking such incidents.

Related Recommendations (1)

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.S.: The recommendation has been implemented by the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District. School personnel use an incident reporting form to report significant security related incidences.

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 Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District agrees with this finding. As it pertains to our schools, all schools submit and updated school safety plan. The school security assessment tool has been provided to site administrators as a resource tool. While all sites assess their campus security, they may use a different process to do so. 2017-2018 Orange County Grand Jury Report Safer Schools - What Can We Do? Response of the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District August 27, 2018 RECOMMENDATIONS

Related Recommendations (1)

School districts should evaluate requiring each school to perform a school security assessment to evaluate their current school safety plan. (F.9) Response to R.9.: The recommendation has been implemented by the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District. District staff has conducted site walks with school administration to conduct a school security assessment. In addition, several schools have conducted security assessments with local law enforcement. Sincerely. Richard McAlindin Executive Director, Instructional Support

* 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.