IRVINE : Schools to Consider Anti-Violence Ideas

The school board tonight is scheduled to review cost estimates for a series of task force recommendations aimed at improving school safety and reducing youth violence.

The dozens of recommendations were suggested earlier this year by the Safe Community Task Force, a group made up of representatives of the city and the Irvine Unified School District.

District officials are expected to provide the board with a cost breakdown and timetable for each recommendation.

The board will then decided which suggestions to proceed with immediately and which ones to set aside.

“One reason we want the figures is so we can see which would be the most successful,” said Trustee Greg Smith. “There might be something successful in two or three years, but it might not have the same impact as something short-range.”

Smith said he’d like to see the board move ahead with plans to add nonviolent conflict resolution training as well as “ethics and values” studies to the district’s curriculum.

Already, the school board has decided to increase the number of campus security officials at district high schools and begin staffing security “supervisors” at middle schools.

Smith said the district is now in the process of hiring the new supervisors.