The City Council and School Board made good on their pledge to do whatever it takes to keep Hermosa Beach schools safe at last Wednesday’s joint School Board and City Council meeting.
“Out of tragedy can come really positive things starting at the top with us having a joint meeting right after the Sandy Hook tragedy where we had a chance to come together to talk about children’s safety,” said Superintendent Patricia Escalante of the Hermosa Beach City School District. “Which is the number one issue on everyone’s mind – that children in Hermosa Beach are as safe as possible.”
In less than five minutes, 20 children and six adult staff members were killed last December at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut after Adam Lanza, 20, opened fire in the school.
Prompted by the Sandy Hook incident, the council and school board convened together for the first time since late January to discuss the next step in a district-wide school safety plan. City and district leaders made recommendations largely based on a report that was recently issued from the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities, as well as information derived from a Sandy Hook Advisory Commission report that was released March 18. Through the prism of these reports, the district analyzed and audited its two schools’ current emergency plan and school safety policies.
The recommendations are that the two schools, Valley and View, need to make detailed changes based on the specific school’s layouts. The audit showed that classroom doors should be reconfigured so that teachers can lock them from the inside. Both schools also need a tighter perimeter lock-down including more secure gates and better visitor sign-ins as well as more visibility around the campus for both teachers and administration, according to local officials. It was also recommended that the schools provide first responders, including the fire and police department as well as local lifeguards, with detailed maps of the campuses.
“Findings were also being offered to the board and council based on the fact that the Sandy Hook Commission report found that in emergency real time high-fidelity data is critical for first responders so they can enhance the situational awareness and establish a bigger picture during a multi-jurisdictional response,” said Escalante about the need for responders to have knowledge of the campus layout.
The school board also suggested that all first responders, including life guards, annually conduct a walk through of HBCSD schools as well as local private school Our Lady of Guadalupe. Enhanced security cameras and an upgraded WiFi system will be explored, as well as a review of cell phone coverage on the campuses.
“The Sandy Hook commission found effective training of staff on resources provides the most timely mechanism for resisting a threat to schools based on a human actor,” said Escalante. “That includes all adults… everyone plays a critical role in the time of an emergency and we must double our efforts against those who might pose a threat.”
The audit recommended that all employees, including maintenance workers, wear badges in a visible place at all times.
“All visitors must sign in at the office, which is a big challenge,” said Escalante. “It sounds simplistic but there’s an air of comfort on our campuses and people think that just because they’re there that they belong – we have to have a culture change.”
A Hermosa Beach audit committee that included the city manager, school principals, and other school representatives devised the plan. The committee also suggested investigating providing additional mental health support and the use of best practices for bullying and threat prevention.
“We meet with unbelievable support from our police department,” Escalante said. “They’ve never made us feel like we shouldn’t call them. Nobody can make an assumption anymore that things are just play.”
The HBPD, in conjunction with other first responders, plan active shooter simulations on the district sites in the upcoming months that will include using paintball ammunitions to reveal who was actually shot during the exercises.
“It was a very collaborative effort,” City Manager Tom Bakaly said. “I think we have a good plan for moving forward. It’s very thorough – we looked at every nook and cranny.”
Hermosa Beach Fire Department Chief David Lantzer said that the fire department had to find a balance between security and safety.
“In locking the doors, the issue for us is to make sure we have some sort of panic hardware so when they need to evacuate out of a classroom they can without a key or maneuver lock,” said Lantzer. “Fire safety is a statutory legal requirement, where security is not. It’s up to the school what level of security they want to achieve, but they have to maintain compliance with fire safety.”
HBPD Captain Steve Johnson added that the police department takes a multi-step approach in educating their officers in disaster response and is continually training for every possible scenario.
“It’s going to be an ongoing issue, the day we stop is the day we stop,” Johnson said. “We have to keep pushing in this area.”
“I think this is of paramount importance,” Mayor Kit Bobko said. “Ultimately in a mass causality or active shooter scenario… they happen very quickly and will happen before Johnson or anyone can get there. The first responder is not the police – the first responder is the teacher, and they have to have a plan and have to have some training.”
He added that deaths due to fires are minimal because schools practice fire drills, and that it should be the same with lockdown procedures.
“We live in a day and age where I believe we will have to have these kinds of drills for kids. It’s uncomfortable but it’s just the truth,” Bobko said. “We have to accept that those teachers are teachers but for those few minutes of that horrible day they will be the only people who will be able to save [student’s] lives… Unfortunately the world around them has changed and they are now in the position where this is their job.”
School board member Lisa Claypoole added that even discussing these types of changes is moving in the right direction.
“Since Columbine, lockdown drills are done on a regular basis,” Escalante said. “But who statistically are the shooters? They are not adults. They are kids from their community, from their own schools… 85 percent are children between the ages of middle school to high school… It’s not the one we want to pretend it is, this masked man. One of the hardest things, when you lockdown and there’s a knock at your door – what do you do? It’s the moral dilemma of your life. Do you open that door, because that kid could be on the other side of it – that kid could be the shooter.”
Escalante added that as a safety precaution all external doors on both campuses have been locked to minimize access.
“They were open for the convenience of adults, not the safety of children,” she said.
School board member and kindergarten teacher Pattie Ackerman went through a lockdown a month after Sandy Hook after a police incident occurred nearby.
“I can tell you there’s no feeling like the phone ringing from your principal at 12:35 when school ended at 12:30 saying that you’re on lockdown and you don’t have a choice. You shut that door and you lock it,” Ackerman said. “I had five students left and my assistant. We went to the back of the room behind my desk on the floor and there we stayed for an hour or an hour and a half. There were lots of lessons learned that day. Cell phones were critical. All my parents have my cell phone and they were texting me, ‘Do you have my child?’ because they didn’t know, the campus is on lockdown. [I was] able to comfort them and say ‘Yes, your son or daughter is with me and we’re fine and we’re watching videos on my computer.’ There wasn’t a shooter on campus, there was a home invasion robbery with weapons in the neighborhood – but cell phone usage is critical and to be able to have that training is critical as well so teachers know what to do.”
During that day’s lockdown she also realized that every classroom needs to have a port a potty as well as food and water.
“I didn’t tell them there’s an active shooter on campus,” Ackerman said. “I said, ‘It’s Ms Patty’s job to keep you safe, and right now the safest place for you to be is in the back of the classroom on the floor.’ They went and didn’t ask any questions. I figured it was up to the parents to determine what their child could handle at that point. I’m not saying it’s the right answer, but I felt it was the best answer at the time.”
Johnson suggested that the best way to communicate during situations like that is to keep it simple. He suggested every teacher should have access to a walkie talkie. He also said that educating teachers, parents, students and the first responders is an ongoing process.
“The police and fire both jumped in with both feet first,” said school board member Jack Burns. “This whole process has been a series of steps we have to take, and it’s not something that’s common day for any of us…We have 1,400 children, not to mention 100 employees, in two footprints that are our community members. It’s our responsibility as elected officials to make these places safe.” ER
