Orange County Grand Jury
• 2010-2011
• Agency Response
Response to:
Los Alamitos Unified School District
Orange County Grand Jury Report Orange County Public Schools:*
⚠️ 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 schools and almost three quarters of districts identified either limited time or funds. · S 0 The Los Alamitos Unified School District agrees with this finding. If school districts had more personnel and resources, districts would be able to move forward with emergency management planning. At present, limited state funds are available and a federal grant program to support emergency management planning will end in Fiscal Year 2012.
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 collaboratives, 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 Los Alamitos Unified School District has not received grants for emergency preparedness. In the future, our district intends to implement Recommendation 1 by identifying disaster grant opportunities and investigating the availability of potential resources. By the end of the 2011-12 school year, the Los Alamitos Unified School District will identify 5 grant opportunities for which we would be eligible.
F2
Six (of 17) school districts have managed to apply for and receive relatively large grants from governmental agencies to greatly enhance their emergency planning efforts, while others have not. The Los Alamitos Unified School District agrees that school districts should seek grant funding. The existing federal grant program will be phasing out in 2012 and other grant programs will need to be identified.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
Districts review their plans, and the plans specific to each of their campuses, with respect to emergencies or possible disaster situations they have not anticipated. Each of our school sites has a written safe school plan drafted and submitted by October 31 of each year. The plan is reviewed each year and updated annually.
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 Los Alamitos Unified School District agrees with this finding. Our school district has developed information for the following emergency situations: Earthquake, fire, explosion, plane crash, armed student/campus shooting, bomb threat, flood, heavy rain or tsunami, gang fight/riot, hazardous material spill, hostage, intruder on campus, kidnapping, suicide. Board of Education: Jeffrey Barke • David Boyer • Megan Cutuli • Diana D. Hill • Karen Russell
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Districts review their level of compliance with various existing codes, regulations, and liability insurance issues that pertain to emergency preparedness in public schools. The Los Alamitos Unified School District has implemented this recommendation by developing a school safety plan for each of its schools and working with federal, state and local emergency management agencies. The school district has sufficient liability insurance with respect to emergency preparedness.
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 Los Alamitos Unified School District agrees with this finding. School districts have developed school safety plans under the Education Code. School districts are also required to comply with state and federal emergency management standards, Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS) and National Incident Management System (NIMS). Efforts should be made to make these requirements consistent with each other.
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 Los Alamitos Unified School District has developed a plan in which all students who require medication are identified. Medications are placed in a way that anticipates a disaster situation and are easily accessible. Student's names and medication orders are identifiable.
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 Los Alamitos Unified School District agrees that this issue should be addressed and the Los Alamitos Unified School District is focusing on how to meet all students' needs during an emergency.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
Districts 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 Los Alamitos Unified School District is currently surveying our campuses with respect to the needs of non or limited English speaking parents and guardians, which will be completed by the end of the 2011-12 school year. Upon the completion of campus surveys, The Los Alamitos Unified School District will work on developing a summary of critical emergency planning information in the languages prevalent in the community. • . •
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 Los Alamitos Unified School District agrees the different districts may access different resources. It is our understanding that different districts communicate in a variety of ways with first responders, local agencies, and other agencies to support matters of emergency management.
No recommendations for this finding
F7
Few schools have plans or emergency preparation information available in languages other than English. Our district has not prepared emergency information in languages other than English, but it is our intention to do so in the near future.
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.