Orange County Grand Jury
• 2010-2011
• Agency Response
Huntington Beach City School District*
⚠️ Aviso de traducción: Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 7 findings
F1
With respect to reported constraints on emergency planning and preparation, over half of the schools and almost three quarters of districts identified either limited time or funds. The Huntington Beach City School District agrees with this finding. With limited state funds available and the amount of other responsibilities for classroom teachers and districts as a whole, both time and funds present a challenge in regards to emergency preparation.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Those districts which have yet to identify disaster grant opportunities, especially from governmental agencies, investigate the availability of potential resources. Forming inter-district collaborative, learning from districts in the county that have been successful, pooling resources, and asking for consultation from the Orange County Superintendent of Schools/OCDE may help in these efforts. The Huntington Beach City School District has not received grants for emergency preparedness. In the future, Huntington Beach City School District shall implement this 観火 戸場 recommendation by identifying all potential grant opportunities, as well as the potential of pooling resources and consultation.
F2
Six (of 17) school districts have managed to apply for and receive relatively large grants from government agencies to greatly enhance their emergency planning efforts, while others have not. The Huntington Beach City School District agrees with this finding. Huntington Beach City School District feels districts should seek grant funding; however, these are very competitive grants that are, therefore, difficult to obtain.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
Districts review their plans, and the plans specific to each of their campuses, with respect to emergencies or potential disaster situations they have not anticipated. The Huntington Beach City School District is currently implementing this recommendation. Each district site has a safe school plan that is annually reviewed. Input on both potential situations and responses are given from parents and staff.
F3
Some schools anticipate responding to only a few emergency situations (e.g. earthquake and fire), while others have developed plans to respond to over a dozen different threatening situations. The Huntington Beach City School District agrees with this finding. The Huntington Beach City School District has developed responses for the following emergency situations: fire, earthquake, bomb threat, tsunami, intruder on campus, bomb threat, and evacuations due to other emergency situations.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Districts review their level of compliance with various existing codes, regulations, and liability insurance that pertain to emergency preparedness in public schools. The Huntington Beach City School District has implemented this recommendation. Each school has developed their school safety plan which complies with existing codes. The District has ensured it has sufficient liability insurance.
F4
School districts develop plans with respect to a number of different but overlapping regulations and standards, including those required by the county, state, and the federal government. . . The Huntington Beach City School District agrees with this finding. School districts are required to follow the regulations in Education Code, state and federal emergency management standards, the Standardized Emergency Management System, and the National Incident Management System among others.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
Districts review their plans, and the plans specific to each of their campuses, to ascertain whether the special medical and/or prescription medication needs of all students are adequately anticipated, especially during an extended disaster situation. The Huntington Beach City School District will be implementing this recommendation as each site reviews and updates their school safety plan for the 2011/12 school year.
F5
Some schools reported they have not adequately anticipated the needs of students taking prescription medications, or with specialized medical needs, in the event of some emergencies, such as an extended lockdown. The Huntington Beach City School District agrees that this issue and others need to be ---- addressed. The District continues to modify plans as needs arise and as plans are updated.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
District survey their campuses with respect to the needs of non- or limited-English speaking parents and guardians, and develop outlines or summaries of critical emergency planning information in Spanish, Vietnamese, and other threshold languages prevalent in their local communities. The Huntington Beach City School District will move forward with this recommendation with further analysis of the parents and languages spoken in the homes of each of our school communities. After analysis, the District will develop a summary of critical information in the event of an emergency for parents in their native language.
F6
School districts are in communication with a variety of local and county departments, agencies, and systems to help them prepare for and respond to disasters or emergencies; not all districts access the same resources. The Huntington Beach City School District agrees with this finding. Districts utilize sources that can provide support specifically for their district. With different sizes, different configurations and different needs, each district attempts to align support agencies with their specific needs.
No recommendations for this finding
F7
Few schools have plans or emergency information in languages other than English. The Huntington Beach City School District agrees with this finding.
No recommendations for this finding
* 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.