Surveillance camera upgrades, photo identification and GPS systems among recommendations to make campus safer
July
1, 2014
Red
Bluff Daily News
By
Andre Byik
RED BLUFF >> The Tehama County 2013-2014 grand jury commended safety measures
taken at Red Bluff Union High School that include a full-time school resource
police officer, active shooter drills and increased gang awareness, and
supplied additional recommendations to make the 1,600-student campus safer.
The grand jury decided to
review safety measures at the high school because of violence that has struck
schools across the U.S. and the 2013 death of Marysa Nichols, a 14-year-old
charter school student found slain in a dry creek area behind Red Bluff High
School's baseball field, according to its report released Friday.
The grand jury found that the
access to that creek area, which recently was heavily cleared of vegetation by
a crew of volunteers headed by the Cleaner, Greener Red Bluff group, has been
more tightly secured and had its fence reinforced.
The grand jury also noted that
new locks allow classroom doors to be locked from the inside instead of
outside, and that there is a "stronger adult presence, including
maintenance personnel, monitoring the activities on campus."
During interviews, according to
the grand jury's report, it was learned that the school's previous on-campus
police officer, now-detective Aaron Murray, filed 191 reports of gang activity
that resulted in 66 citations and 55 arrests. The grand jury applauded school
and law enforcement officials for their efforts in raising awareness of gang
activity, and recommended that the high school's administration seek additional
grants to "enhance campus security and create a five-year implementation
plan."
The grand jury report comes on
the heels of a memorandum written by Joe Harrop, the Red Bluff Joint Union High
School District's interim superintendent, which questioned the value of the
high school's school resource officer.
The high school district
contributed about $68,000 toward the on-campus officer's salary, benefits and
related computer software in the district's 2013-2014 fiscal year, according to
the memo, The district also estimates about $1.2 million in deficit spending in
the coming year.
"Whether or not an SRO on
campus is worth that amount is subject to debate. If we can get one who will
interact with students, establish rapport with them, and be out and around at
passing times and when students come to or leave school, the SRO could be a
valuable asset," Harrop wrote in the memo, which was acknowledged by the
district's board of trustees at its meeting June 17, and spurred a
full-throated defense of the school police officer position by Red Bluff Police
Chief Paul Nanfito.
"The consensus is that
this year's SRO was not worth what we paid for, and the Police Department has
been informed about our concerns," Harrop said.
As it stands, the high school
district has budgeted for a school resource officer for the coming school year.
In additional findings, the
grand jury noted that the high school has about 50 surveillance cameras that
are monitored by the school's resource officer, but that they do not
"adequately monitor the entire campus," and are not connected to the
Red Bluff Police Department. The grand jury recommended that the school should
buy and upgrade the surveillance system as funds allow, and connect the cameras
to the police department.
Other grand jury
recommendations included evaluating whether Red Bluff High School could become
a closed campus, implementing photo identification for school personnel, and
installing GPS tracking systems on school buses by the 2015-2016 school year.
"In the event that a
driver is unable to communicate with his/her dispatcher, administration would
be able to track down the location of the bus," the grand jury report
said.
The grand jury requested a
response to its recommendations from the Tehama County Department of Education
and Red Bluff Joint Union High School District superintendent.
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