13 responses to findings and recommendations
F3
(a) Grand Jury: The Campus Supervisor Study, to evaluate staffing levels, has not been accomplished. Partial Disagreement. The staffing for campus supervisors was examined after the 2004-2005 Grand Jury report and some changes were made. A written report was not done.
Response: Agree
Score: +1
The Superintendent and Board concur that it would be desirable to have a separate, private room devoted exclusively to student health care at St. Helena High School, but only if such a room can be continuously monitored by staff. A room offering privacy is available in the library, but it is in a relatively remote location and would require diverting staff from other duties to monitor the sick student(s). The District has weighed this option and concluded that, while student privacy might be enhanced, there would be an unacceptable increased risk to student safety should an acute medical emerg...
R3
(a) Grand Jury: NVUSD needs to conduct its Campus Supervisor Study to evaluate staffing levels. The district will conduct an additional Campus Supervisor staffing analysis by no later than February 1, 2007, which will address all supervision issues including in-house detention centers, in the context of overall budgetary needs.
Response: Unknown
Score: 0
The Superintendent and Board concur that it would be desirable to have a separate, private room devoted exclusively to student health care at St. Helena High School, but only if such a room can be continuously monitored by staff. A room offering privacy is available in the library, but it is in a relatively remote location and would require diverting staff from other duties to monitor the sick student(s). The District has weighed this option and concluded that, while student privacy might be enhanced, there would be an unacceptable increased risk to student safety should an acute medical emerg...
F4
Grand Jury: Security cameras cannot take the place of sufficient SROs, Campus Supervisors, and Dean staffing, and are not the solution to added supervision needs. Partial Disagreement. While we agree that security cameras cannot take the place of SRO's, Campus Supervisors, and Deans, we believe that they do provide a valuable, cost-effective tool in supervising our campuses, particularly during those time periods in which people are not as prevalent (nights, weekends, and vacations). 8/22/2006 N...
Response: Agree
Score: +1
The Superintendent and Board agree with the finding and concur with the recommendation. The District currently contracts with a nurse to provide annual mandatory grade level health screenings for hearing, vision, and scoliosis. This nurse has agreed to an expansion of the contract to include the annual training of school site office staff in the proper administration of medications and the proper documentation, storage, and disposal of medication and sharps. The first of these trainings will be scheduled for late October/early November of 2006. The District's Director of Health and Safety will...
R4
Grand Jury: Increase Campus Supervisor staffing on each middle and high school campus, rather than plan to obtain security cameras and monitors sometime in the future. The recommendation will not be implemented because it is not reasonable. While the district continually monitors student behavior and is aware of changes and developments, we will meet with school principals by no later than February 1, 2007 for the express purpose of determining if additional supervisors are needed as indicated a...
Response: Will Implement
Score: +1
The District will contract with a licensed nurse to perform the required staff training and annual medical safety review.
Response: The Superintendent and Board agree with the finding and concur with the recommendation. The District currently contracts with a nurse to provide annual mandatory grade level health screenings for hearing, vision, and scoliosis. This nurse has agreed to an expansion of the contract to include the annual training of school site office staff in the proper administration of medications and the proper documentation, storage, and disposal of medication and sharps. The ...
F5
Grand Jury: The High School Dean position does not need added teaching or supervising duties and responsibilities. Instead the huge role of the Dean warrants added supportive help with full time SRO and added Campus Supervisor hours. Partial Disagreement. While we agree that supportive help can be invaluable to the role and function of the Dean there are many successful high schools operating throughout the state and nation that have found different ways of deploying administrative staff. The di...
Response: Agree
Score: +1
The Superintendent and Board agree with the finding and concur with the recommendation. The Grand Jury is correct in pointing out that records of staff certification in CPR and first aid were inconsistent from school to school. To rectify this, the District's Director of Health and Safety has established a District-wide system for arranging annual certification training, for documenting those taking the training, and for alerting staff when certification renewal is due. In August 2006, 37 staff attended CPR, first aid, and bloodborne pathogen training. A tracking database has been established ...
R5
(a) Grand Jury: To help achieve more staffing stability in the High School Dean position, NVUSD can provide added support, via increased Campus Supervisors and SRO hours per secondary school, to assist the Dean managing student needs and behaviors. Please see the responses to Recommendations 2 (a), 2 (b), 3 (a), and 3 (b).
Response: Unknown
Score: 0
The Superintendent and Board agree with the finding and concur with the recommendation. The Grand Jury is correct in pointing out that records of staff certification in CPR and first aid were inconsistent from school to school. To rectify this, the District's Director of Health and Safety has established a District-wide system for arranging annual certification training, for documenting those taking the training, and for alerting staff when certification renewal is due. In August 2006, 37 staff attended CPR, first aid, and bloodborne pathogen training. A tracking database has been established ...
F6
Grand Jury: The District's Fire Inspection Control Log is inadequate to identify which schools require re-inspections and which are "cleared". The inadequate procedures do not enable district staff to ensure the timely fire inspection clearance of each school, creating unsafe conditions for students and staff. Partial Disagreement. Though the control log maintained at the Maintenance Office did not always reflect what was actually happening, we do believe as evidenced by a recent report from the...
Response: Agree
Score: +1
The Superintendent and Board agree with the finding and concur with the recommendation. To address these concerns, the Food Services Director and Chief Business Official have performed a systematic review of the District's food preparation, transportation, and serving processes. As a result of this review, they have developed specifications and made a recommendation to the Board of Trustees to approve the purchase a new food transport van with a lift gate of sufficient size and capacity for loading and unloading hot and cold food carts. They will also recommend purchase of at least one, and po...
R6
Grand Jury: The NVUSD needs to redesign and implement a functional tracking system for school fire inspections; and to establish a system of checks and balance to assure accountability and compliance. This recommendation has been partially implemented, and will be completed by February 1, 2007. We will work to improve our system of recording and follow-through. At this time we are developing a system that will automatically alert someone in the office that a re-inspection has not occurred. We in...
Response: Will Implement
Score: +1
SHUSD needs to provide sufficient professional transportation vehicles to distribute prepared foods to the receiving school kitchens; and needs backup warming unit(s) for times of impaired equipment.
Response: The Superintendent and Board agree with the finding and concur with the recommendation. To address these concerns, the Food Services Director and Chief Business Official have performed a systematic review of the District's food preparation, transportation, and serving processes. As a result of this review, they have developed specifications and made a recommendation to the Board of Trus...
F7
Grand Jury: Aging school alarm systems result in some of the emergency alarms being inoperable or inaudible. Staff reports an inadequate alert system for these areas so that students and teachers can be made aware of both real emergencies and school drills. Disagreement. We believe that our alert systems are adequate to ensure that students and teachers can be made aware of both emergencies and drills. However, we will continually work to upgrade those systems.
Response: Agree
Score: +1
The Superintendent and Board are in partial disagreement with the finding and recommendation. We agree with the Grand Jury Report (p. 38) that "the Middle School's kitchen is very small." The kitchen would indeed be too small to adequately serve a school of this size as a food preparation facility, but it is not used as such. Food is prepared offsite (see
R7
(a) <i>Grand Jury:</i> NVUSD must budget for repair or replacement of defective alarms. This recommendation will be implemented over time as resources are available and need dictates. NVUSD expended in excess of $118,000 to test and repair fire alarm systems throughout the district in 2005-06. We have budgeted similar dollars for 2006-07. We have also included in 2006-07 the replacement of fire alarm systems at Browns Valley Elementary School, Alta Heights Elementary School and are scheduling th...
Response: Unknown
Score: 0
The Superintendent and Board are in partial disagreement with the finding and recommendation. We agree with the Grand Jury Report (p. 38) that "the Middle School's kitchen is very small." The kitchen would indeed be too small to adequately serve a school of this size as a food preparation facility, but it is not used as such. Food is prepared offsite (see
F8
Grand Jury: District procedures lack supervisory oversight and management to assure that each school has received the required SEMS training. We are in agreement with the finding. While we are pleased at the progress that we have made in providing the required training to most school sites, including the non-targeted schools and the district office, we acknowledge that not all the training was completed last year as planned. We also agree that oversight of this process will be critical district ...
Response: Agree
Score: +1
The Superintendent and Board agree with the finding and concur with the recommendations. Fire safety concerns are addressed elsewhere in this Response (see
F9
Grand Jury: The District's current Emergency Disaster Drill Control Log does not document each school's required completed drills, and does not enable the District to oversee, manage and hold the school's accountable for mandated drills. Agreement. We believe that our control system can be improved. <b>Recommendation 9</b> The district must review and revise its tracking procedures to document Grand Jury: emergency/disaster drills, and ensure regulatory mandated drills are accomplished. The reco...
Response: Agree
Score: +1
Appropriate attention to safety is missing within SHUSD, as evidenced by the lack of implementation of district policies, the noted safety hazards on the school campuses and the High School's poor Fire Inspection record. Recommendation 9 (a): SHUSD will establish and implement a comprehensive district wide safety plan. Response: The Superintendent and Board agree with the finding and concur with the recommendation. The District acknowledges the need to update its comprehensive District-wide safety plan, which was initially established and implemented in 2000. As a first step in this process, t...
R9
Grand Jury: The district must review and revise its tracking procedures to document emergency/disaster drills, and ensure regulatory mandated drills are accomplished. The recommendation will be implemented by district staff as described above and with the support of Project Prepared through the Napa County Office of Education by no later than March 31, 2007.
Response: Unknown
Score: 0
The Superintendent and Board agree with the finding and concur with the recommendation. The District acknowledges the need to update its comprehensive District-wide safety plan, which was initially established and implemented in 2000. As a first step in this process, the Superintendent solicited a broad representation of stakeholder groups and convened a District-wide school safety committee on Sept. 1, 2006. The meeting was attended by 26 people, including District administrators, teachers, and classified staff. A broad cross-section of the community was represented as well, including parents...