Continuity…The Beginning of the Never-Ending Report Follow-up on the 2008-2009 Santa Cruz County

Recommendations 3

• R1

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  SVUSD and SVPD should provide the Grand Jury with an update on the status of reinstating a School Resource Officer to the high school campus. Response: Scotts Valley Police Department – AGREE Has not yet been implemented but will be implemented in the future. The Scotts Valley Police Department remains committed to reinstating a School Resource Officer (SRO) at Scotts Valley High School as soon as staffing allows. Unfortunately, we have lost one officer to another organization and are still understaffed by two positions. Recruitment, academy and field training for one new officer can take a year to complete, thus delaying a return to full staffing. Once training is complete and we have returned to full staffing, which should take approximately 1 to 2 years, we will dedicate an officer to Scotts Valley High School. Response: Scotts Valley Unified School District At the time of the district’s initial response, the district had set aside funds for an SRO, but the Scotts Valley Police Department had no personnel to provide. This year, because of the state funding crisis, the district no longer has funding for an SRO, as all funds are needed to maintain basic core programs. If and when funds again become available, and if the SVPD is able to provide an SRO, the district intends to fund a partial SRO position at the high school.
• R2

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  SVUSD should provide the Grand Jury with status reports on the analyses associated with Recommendations 9 and 12. 194 ∫ Santa Cruz County Grand Jury Final Report 2009-2010 Response: Scotts Valley Unified School District Response to Recommendation #9: An advisory committee was convened during the 2009- 10 school year by a high school counselor to investigate prevention and intervention options for students. The committee included high school staff involved with alcohol/drug abuse education, students, community members and law enforcement representatives who participated in defining a prevention/intervention strategy for the school, including parent programs and programs for students. This committee was instrumental in supporting the district’s participation in the Reduce Alcohol Abuse Program (RAAP) federal grant described below, a grant built upon the resources and participation of the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, Youth Services, North County high schools and adult education programs. Alcohol/drug abuse prevention continues to be part of the ninth grade health curriculum for all students with additional education, prevention and intervention as described below. Response to Recommendation #12: As one result of the RAAP grant, a student group, collaborating with Friday Night Live, will be arranging programs for district students. In addition, also as a result of the RAAP grant, Project Success will be providing prevention, intervention and parent programs. Project Success includes three components: 1) Twenty hours per week of counseling services are provided through Santa Cruz Community Counseling Program (Youth Services) onsite. All sophomores will participate in a small- group scripted curriculum (7 Challenges) for ten weeks focusing on resiliency and problem solving. 2) Students needing intervention will receive additional individualized services of the Youth Services counselor as needed. 3) The program will also provide parent events annually, to be determined by the committee. The intent is to ensure that students have the skills and strategies to make good choices for themselves and avoid drug and alcohol abuse. Section 2: For Everything Else There’s CAL-Card Synopsis Santa Cruz County departments rely on a centralized purchasing system to acquire almost $30 million in goods and services to sustain County functions. The processing of purchases costs the County in excess of $500,000 annually in administrative costs. These costs are allocated to individual departments based on the number of purchase orders processed for that department. Other purchasing options are available, including CAL-Card, a Visa card offered by U.S. Bank through a contract with the State of California. The Grand Jury investigated the benefits and drawbacks to using the CAL-Card system to encourage and maximize savings. Current Findings
• R8

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  were inconsistent, with PVUSD responding that the recommendation “Has Been Implemented” but without a description of the implementation, and the SCCOE responding that the recommendation “Has Not Yet Been Implemented But Will Be Implemented in the Future” without providing a timeframe for the implementation. 2008-2009 Recommendation Respondent 2008-2009 Response 8 PVUSD and the SCCOE should discuss PVUSD Has been implemented the SERP process and clarify the roles of SCCOE Has not yet been each agency prior to, during, and after implemented but will be implementation. implemented in the future Current Recommendation