School Safety – Kindergarten through 12th Grade

There are no written San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools plans and procedures to Detect, Delay, and Deter intruders.

Not all schools across San Bernardino County have perimeter fencing encircling the school campus creating a single point of entry. (Photo 1)

Detect, Delay and Deter procedures were inconsistent between school districts and between schools within the same school district.

Visits to schools highlighted the need for an impartial new perspective to evaluate current Detect, Delay, and Deter elements across county schools.

Schools consistently lacked current technologies such as: motion-sensitive, high- definition, video cameras, electronic door alarms and other technologies associated with modern, monitored alarm systems.

Mental Health professionals to help in the early detection of troubled students were not on staff at most schools visited.

The distance between some school districts and the San Bernardino County Superintendent’s office inhibits frequent face-to-face meetings. 194 2018–2019 San Bernardino County Civil Grand Jury – School Safety – Kindergarten through 12th Grade

There is no single individual responsible for School Safety Plans in the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools office. There is no Director of School Safety reporting directly to the Superintendent.

There is no San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools safety staff, available to monitor safety programs at 33 districts and 550 schools across the County.

The CDE “Compliance Tool for Comprehensive School Safety Plan” does not contain guidance on how to Detect, Delay, and Deter intruders from entering schools.

Some Comprehensive School Safety Plans reviewed on school visits, did not cover all required elements in accordance with the CDE, “Compliance Tool for Comprehensive School Safety Plan”.

The framework in CDE Code, Section 35160.1 (b) provides great latitude to superintendents in their effort to create County-wide “Best Practices” for Detect, Delay, and Deter. RECOMMENDATIONS 19-29: Each District School Board and District Superintendent of Schools must ensure all school perimeters in their district are fenced to create a Single Point of Entry. The Single Point of Entry must be electronically locked and monitored. 19-30: The San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, with the collaboration of all 33 local superintendents, must establish a County written policies and procedures manual of Detect, Delay, and Deter “Best Practices” for dissemination to schools within the County. 19-31: Individual school principals and the school site councils must adopt Detect, Delay, and Deter “Best Practices” from the written policies,and procedures manual most appropriate to their school environment. 195 2018–2019 San Bernardino County Civil Grand Jury – School Safety – Kindergarten through 12th Grade 19-32: The San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools must take a more proactive leadership position by organizing a technological team to include students and staff from school districts. This team should be directed to research and define a video surveillance and door alarm system to meet the needs of schools across the County. 19-33: The San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, in collaboration with all 33 local superintendents, must act on the technological team’s recommendation, by researching the most efficient way to install these systems in all schools in San Bernardino County. 19-34: A clear communication chain of command must be established for each school. The chain of command must be included in the safe school plan. Schools must practice the chain of command during mandatory emergency drills. 19-35: The San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools must create an executive safety team to train all local district superintendents and school site councils in the correct use of the CDE, “Compliance Tool for Comprehensive School Safety Plan”. 19-36: Local school district superintendents must establish written procedures to review individual School Safety Plans in their district as mandated. 19-37: The County Superintendent of Schools must require local district superintendents to forward to the San Bernardino County Superintendent updated School Safety Plans for a compliance review as part of the requirement to “superintend” districts. 19-38: The San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools in cooperation with the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors must establish a School-Centered Mental Health program to provide all principals one (1) or more mental health professionals including a minimum of one (1) Psychiatric Social Worker for each school. 196 2018–2019 San Bernardino County Civil Grand Jury – School Safety – Kindergarten through 12th Grade 19-39: The County Board of Supervisors must provide funding for a Countywide School- Centered Mental Health program to help troubled students, on campus and in the surrounding communities. Board ofSupervisors funding is required to hire a sufficient school safety staff to oversee school safety issues across 33 districts and 550 plus public K-12 schools in the County. 19-40: The San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools must improve communication throughout the County, local school districts, and schools, by using professional online video conferencing software. All districts and schools in San Bernardino County should use the same software and be able to participate online. AGENCY RECOMMENDATIONS DUE DATE SB County Superintendent of Schools 19-29 through 19-40 8/27/2019 197 2018–2019 San Bernardino County Civil Grand Jury – School Safety – Kindergarten through 12th Grade THIS PAGE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK 198 2018–2019 San Bernardino County Civil Grand Jury – School Safety – Kindergarten through 12th Grade ATTACHMENT 1 199 2018–2019 San Bernardino County Civil Grand Jury – School Safety – Kindergarten through 12th Grade THIS PAGE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK 200 2018–2019 San Bernardino County Civil Grand Jury – School Safety – Kindergarten through 12th Grade 201 2018–2019 San Bernardino County Civil Grand Jury – School Safety – Kindergarten through 12th Grade 202 2018–2019 San Bernardino County Civil Grand Jury – School Safety – Kindergarten through 12th Grade ATTACHMENT 2 203 2018–2019 San Bernardino County Civil Grand Jury – School Safety – Kindergarten through 12th Grade THIS PAGE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK 204 2018–2019 San Bernardino County Civil Grand Jury – School Safety – Kindergarten through 12th Grade 205 2018–2019 San Bernardino County Civil Grand Jury – School Safety – Kindergarten through 12th Grade