SANTA CRUZ >> A new threat-assessment plan for Santa Cruz County schools lacks guidelines for rehearsing campus-safety tactics during threats of violence, the Santa Cruz County Civil Grand Jury reported Thursday.
The grand jury has legal authority to examine special districts, and city and county governments; its findings are meant to improve government operations.
“The threat of violence in our schools is a tragic modern reality,” according to the report, “Threat Assessment in Our Public Schools.” “We can no longer assume that our schools are safe havens for the most innocent members of our society.”
Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office has increased patrols at more than 20 schools in the unincorporated Santa Cruz County after a Feb. 14 shooting killed 17 people at a Parkland, Florida, high school. The shooting also invigorated dialogue among education administrators and law enforcement officials for active shooter and crisis response at schools across the U.S.
Thursday’s findings follow last year’s grand jury recommendations for county education leaders to impose consistent response and communication methods to address a threat of violence.
In response, Santa Cruz County Office of Education and the Sheriff’s Office formed the School Safety Partnership Team and drafted a Countywide Threat Assessment Plan . The interagency team will meet quarterly to monitor the plan’s implementation and evolution. The threat-assessment plan charts the flow of information in an emergency, starting with a report to a school principal. School leaders must evaluate whether the threat is or isn’t substantive. A threat is an expression of intent to harm someone, according to the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP).
Thursday’s report followed up claims last year that “although all local school districts have the comprehensive school safety plans mandated by law, there is a lack of consistency in those plans and little focus on the type of comprehensive and sophisticated threat assessment that today’s world requires.”
The grand jury called on schools and law enforcement to develop a unified plan that prepares all school districts to assess targeted violence.
The Sheriff’s Office and Office of Education did not immediately respond to comment Thursday.
Local schools have had threats, some that were not credible, the last 12 months.
In February, an investigation found no credible threat to Soquel High School after a Snapchat social media post warned of an “SHS” student planning to bring a gun to school.
Santa Cruz City Schools also have responded to threats, going on alert or being locked down, the last 12 months after a student ransacked a classroom and, in another case, school officials found a rifle on campus.
Branciforte Middle School was locked down by Santa Cruz police in October after a rifle was found in a bag on campus.
The disassembled gun was left in a trash bag, Santa Cruz City Schools Superintendent Kris Munro previously said. No one was hurt and no other weapons were found at the school.
In February, a Bay View Elementary School fifth-grader had an outburst, throwing papers, books and displays across a classroom, where he barricaded himself after the class was evacuated, police said. The disruption did not require the school to be locked down and was settled in 15 minutes, Santa Cruz Police Chief Andy Mills has said.
Thursday’s report urges school and law enforcement leaders to ensure both agencies have “up-to-date resources and training in threat response, assessment and management.”
“The (Office of Education) should mandate rehearsals of the threat-assessment process in every school district,” according to the report.
April 12, 2018
Santa Cruz Sentinel
By Michael Todd
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