Orange County Grand Jury • 2017-2018 • Agency Response
Response to: Fullerton School District

Fullerton School District August 1, 2018 The Honorable Charles Margines Presiding Judge of the Superior Court*

Published: August 01, 2018 4 pages
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Findings and Recommendations 9 findings

F1
School safety and security are priorities in every school district in the Orange County public school system. Response to F.1.: The Fullerton School District agrees with this finding. We believe that providing a safe learning environment ensures the best academic outcome for our students. Throughout the Fullerton School District schools we have made safety and security a visible priority for our students, staff and community. We have dedicated resources that support this priority as evident in our staffing requirements, proposed facility improvements, staff training, and community partnerships with local law enforcement.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
School districts should explore all possible funding resources that may be available in order to implement desired security measures. (F.2.) Response to R.1.: The Fullerton School District will continue to explore all possible funding resources as we have done in the past. We will continue to prioritize and secure funds through annual budgeting and outside grants available through agencies such as FEMA and our insurance provider. The most recent efforts to secure outside funding was in 2018 with the implementation of a visitor management system, called Raptor. In years previously, we have received funding from FEMA allowing the District to equip all schools with emergency hand-held radios.
F2
The implementation of security measures for schools, in many cases, is limited by funding. Response to F.2.: The Fullerton 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. District Superintendent, Dr. Robert Pletka Ed.D. 1401 W. Valencia Drive, Fullerton, CA 92833 Proud Member of the Trustees: Beverly Berryman, Janny Meyer, Chris Thompson, Hilda Sugarman, Jeanette Vazquez ph 714.447.7400 • www.fullertonsd.org Fullerton Education Community
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.: This recommendation is in progress and we will continue to invest in our school fencing program. We are prioritizing fencing for schools based on assessments and parent requests for additional security at a specific school. We estimate that within the next five years all schools will have a single point of entry.
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 Fullerton School District agrees with this finding. The Fullerton School District has involved third-party security providers, law enforcement, and parents working to deliver a safe learning environment for our students.
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.: This recommendation has already been completed. The Fullerton School District utilizes the Raptor Visitor Management system which logs in all visitors that have checked into the school's office. This system provides a daily log of the visitor activity. Additionally, facility signs have been posted throughout our school campus directing individuals to the office for this purpose.
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 Fullerton School District is using a uniformed approach to ensure that all school sites have an effective and consistently applied visitor management system. Staff is provided with training, guidance materials, and facility signage that promote a uniformed approach within all twenty school sites.
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.: This recommendation has been completed. The Fullerton School District has implemented the visitor management system that requires photo identification for all visitors and volunteers. All visitors, who present an ID, will be issued a pictured badge indicating that they have been checked into the main office.
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 Fullerton School District agrees with this finding as it pertains to its schools? However, we will continue to improve upon our employee badge system both at the District-level and school site ensuring that staff and volunteers have been properly identified. We also encourage staff and parents who have observed an individual without a badge to escort the individual back to the office for proper sign-in/badge support.
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.: This recommendation has been implemented. The Fullerton School District requires all employees to wear their district-issued photo ID badge at all times while on district property.
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 Fullerton School District agrees with this findings. We do not have high school students, but may consider this appropriate for our three middle schools.
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 Fullerton School District does not currently require students to wear student IDs. We will evaluate the need for this type of program at the three middle schools within the Fullerton School District.
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 Fullerton School District agrees with this finding. All schools have available emergency radios, classroom phones, and strategically placed panic buttons that can be used to summon emergency personnel if necessary.
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 Fullerton School District has implemented two-way radios for these positions located throughout the campus. Office managers, custodians, playground supervisors, and coaches are issued radios for immediate emergency communication.
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 Fullerton School District agrees with this finding. The Fullerton School District requests that all suspicious activities be reported into the Superintendent's Office. We do not have a formal process of tracking or analyzing.
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.: This recommendation has not been implemented but will be considered for all Fullerton School Districts schools.
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 Fullerton School District has conducted assessments commonly referred to as Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTEDs) in all of our twenty schools starting in January 2013. We have continued to conduct these surveys as conditions have changed and when the community has requested. The primary focus of these surveys is to identify then prioritize facility improvements and staff best-practices. RECOMMENDATIONS
Related Recommendations (1)
R9
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.: This recommendation has already been completed and we will continue to revisit these original assessments sharing the findings with our local law enforcement and community members as appropriate. Sincerely, Beverly Berryman Board of Trustee, President CC:

* 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.