LCUSD officials vow to keep campuses safe as plans for school shooting discussions evolve
School safety is a front-of-mind concern among La Cañada school, city, and public safety officials, who in days leading up to last week’s Parkland, Fla., school shooting — and in the wake of it — have been working on plans to keep campuses safe.
La Cañada Unified School District Governing Board members were reviewing campus safety plans and calling for annual review of teacher training around active shooter scenarios at a Feb. 13 board meeting. So when news broke the following day that 17 people had been killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the exact same scenario, officials sprang into action.
LCUSD Supt. Wendy Sinnette reported the morning after the incident that La Cañada High School administrators had been briefed and counselors were making themselves available to talk to students.
In an email sent to the La Cañada Unified School community the morning of Feb. 15, Sinnette assured families district staff would continue to attend training sessions and workshops centered around maintaining a coordinated emergency response and communicate regularly with the sheriff’s department to monitor campuses and conduct safety drills.
“Our goal with all of these current and future efforts is to protect the safety of our school campuses, which house our precious students and educational professionals,” Sinnette said in the email. “You have my full commitment nothing is more important and that our efforts and actions here will match our community’s high expectations.”
That same morning, Sinnette joined La Cañada city, school and safety officials in a regular Joint Use Committee meeting, where members discussed hosting forums for parents, students and the community at large. Formal recommendations were put on the agenda for the group’s March 22 meeting.
“The sheriff’s department does a great job training the staff, and that’s an ongoing thing and we appreciate that,” said committee chair and school board member Dan Jeffries. “But we’ve never really focused on training the kids.”
Eric Matejka, a Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station deputy who works closely with La Cañada schools, said he regularly conducts trainings for teachers but isn’t generally asked to talk directly to students. On Dec. 8, Matejka delivered a school shooting response presentation to students of La Cañada’s Hillside School and Learning Center at the request of administrators there.
“The thinking was it can happen anywhere,” said Hillside Executive Director Bob Frank. “It doesn’t ever hurt to arm students with a little more knowledge about what to do if something comes up.”
Students, who were given parental permission to attend the talk, learned more about what to do before and in the event of a dangerous situation. Frank said the hope is that by including kids in the training, the school’s response in the event of an unexpected assault will be streamlined.
“From our standpoint, if they have somewhat of an understanding of why we’re asking them to do certain things, they’re more likely to do it,” he added. “I would recommend [the talk] to any of the schools.”
Speaking at the Feb. 15 Joint Use Committee meeting, La Cañada Mayor Pro Tem Terry Walker said it may be beneficial for the entire community to hear about what’s being done proactively to keep schools safe. School board member Ellen Multari agreed.
“It’s time to put thoughts and prayers into action,” Multari said. “We’ve been waiting and waiting for our legislature, at either the state or the national level, to do something, and they’re not. So let’s start here.”
Twitter: @SaraCardine
