Report Calls for Expanding School Safety Programs : Security: Child advocacy group says districts should make better use of existing services and law enforcement partnerships.

Even when Los Angeles city schools have police protection, conflict resolution programs and active parent groups, campuses need to make better use of such resources if they are to remain safe, according to the results of a study released Wednesday.

Conducted by a nonprofit child advocacy group, the study urges school districts to expand partnerships with local law enforcement agencies, continue training staff members in violence prevention and increase counseling and social services for students.

“At first we were prepared to propose legislation,” said Jayne Murphy Shapiro, president of Kids Safe, a nationwide nonprofit based in Granada Hills that sponsored the study. “But then we learned that we should make better use of our existing resources.”

After the Colorado school massacre last April, the nonpartisan group appointed a five-member task force in Los Angeles to hold hearings on school safety and consult 200 administrators, teachers, parents, students, psychologists, police officers and community activists.

“We have to do a better job at working together,” said Shapiro, who plans to announce her candidacy for the state Assembly in a few weeks.

In a first round of mailings, about 10,000 copies of the report were sent Wednesday to the governor, state legislators and members of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education, among others. Eventually, Shapiro said, every school in the state will receive the report.

School officials and political leaders said they had not yet seen the report but would review it. “The governor takes this issue very seriously,” said Hilary McLean, a spokeswoman for Gov. Gray Davis.

After the Columbine High School shooting, Davis allocated $42.5 million for school counselors, another $42.5 million for grants to purchase metal detectors, fences and other security items, and $15 million for county offices of education to review school safety plans.

“We certainly agree with the goal of making schools safer,” McLean said.

One way to make schools safer is to eliminate dark, secluded and unsupervised areas on campuses, the study found. Several teachers said they feel unsafe in classroom bungalows, near chained fences and far from the main office.

“They have no protection if something should happen,” said Shapiro. Schools, she added, can prevent danger by increasing supervision.

Besides increasing security personnel, the report recommended, schools should adopt uniforms and hire bicycle patrol officers.