School safety is of paramount importance to everyone, and it was the highlight of Thursday’s Burbank Unified School District two-hour, 49-miniute meeting at City Hall.
In March, Burbank High saw an intruder enter the campus and then sexually assaulted several students. That person was arrested.
A 100 Day School Safety Plan was presented by Dr. Matt Hill, the Superintendent, said, “the plan is an ongoing work and that this is still a dialogue.”
Hill also said, “more closed facilities help keep students safe and we want the community to talk to us and engage with us.”
The immediate changes include:
1) There have been safety town hall meetings to solicit suggestions.
2) Additional safety walks at each campus.
3) Remind the site staff to ensure student identifications are consistently checked and that reminders will be ongoing.
4) Reminders will be sent from principals to students regarding reporting mechanisms and that if you “see something, say something.”
5) Ensuring gates and doors are closed and or locked according to the site safety plan and that reminders are ongoing.
6) Childcare and staff have been retrained on safety.
Also, this month there will be a principals’ retreat and they will review safety scenarios and protocols.
Here are some additional summer and fall changes.
1) Back to school: A program will be implemented that will train staff and students regarding intruders, reporting and safety.
2) There will be a review of check-in and check-out systems.
3) Pilot at Burbank High and Burroughs High students’ identification checking software.
4) Upgrade facilities, fences, entrances and gates.
5) Review the possibility of reducing the numbers of ingress and egress options.
6) Will move all core classes onto Burroughs to limit the number of students moving across the street during passing periods.
7) Require and enforce that all staff wear identification outside the classroom or office.
8) Increase the number of cameras on campuses (Burroughs will be completed over the summer).
9) Review the joint use agreement from a safety perspective (mayor, vice mayor, board president and vice president will conduct a safety walk on June 8.)
10) Implement an anonymous Google reporting form at each school site.
11) Implement a clear bag policy at major events (homecoming, prom, and other school events).
12) Continue to build and enhance school climate and safety protocols.
13) Continue annual training for students and staff.
14) Long-term facilities master plan will include safety upgrades with the plan completion is expected by December 2023.
A slide presentation of a three-year data was presented, and it looked at unwanted touching, inappropriate sexual comments, obscene acts and sexual assault off campus.
In 2020-2021, there was no unwanted touching reported, no inappropriate sexual comments, no obscene acts and no sexual assaults off campus.
In 2021-2022, there were five unwanted touching reported, five inappropriate sexual comments, one obscene act, and no sexual assaults off campus.
In 2022-2023, there were two unwanted touching, one inappropriate sexual comments, no obscene acts, and five sexual assaults off campus.
All totaled, there were eight informal Title IX investigations (student versus student) reported.
#1 and #2 are meaningless. The suggestions made by concerned parents are not followed up on, or ignored, and “safety walks” do nothing to improve the issues…
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