School Board Votes to Form Safety Panel

The Simi Valley school board on Wednesday voted to form an executive-level committee of administrators and city leaders to come up with quick steps to ensure that campuses are safe.

The panel of school board members, administrators and top-level city officials was formed in response to the fatal stabbing of a student at Valley View Junior High School three weeks ago.

The move came at the urging of board member Doug Crosse, who has complained that a 40-member school safety task force will take two or three months to develop a list of recommendations.

“The community is not only deserving of more, it is demanding more,” Crosse said.

Glenn Woodbury, who has formed a parents group to combat violence, told the board that his group would help the new panel.

“We’re in a crisis mode right now in Simi Valley,” he said. “We need to form a crisis team to address this problem.”

Board member Diane Collins, who will serve on the new committee, said that in addition to developing new safety strategies, the city and school district need better communication. For example, she said, she does not understand the role of the new police guards assigned to school campuses.

“I don’t see any control over what’s going on,” Collins said.

Supt. Mary Beth Wolford argued that the district has taken sufficient steps in response to the slaying of 14-year-old Chad Hubbard at the hands of a 13-year-old classmate.

Every school is reviewing its safety plans, and district administrators recently met with experts from the National Safety Council to discuss ways to increase campus security, Wolford said.