by Garth Meyer
A reconvened 32-member “Ensuring Safety Proactively Task Force” at Redondo Unified School District has made recommendations for changes to district buildings.
Superintendent Nicole Wesley gave a report to the school board on June 13. The previously-formed committee went on hold during the pandemic.
Its members – made up of teachers, administrators, a board member, students, parents, and representatives of Redondo Beach Police Department and Fire Department, met in three working sessions this year.
Divided into four subcommittees, the Entrance & Exits Evaluation group talked about adding more locked doors and buzzer systems, which Supt. Wesley noted, would require the district to pass a bond to fund it.
“There’s definitely some interest there,” she said.
The buzzers would enable administrative assistants at each school site to buzz people in “so that doors aren’t necessarily unlocked.”
For Adams and Parras middle schools, ideas for their differing configurations included putting a door with a buzzer system at the end of entrance hallways. Also, panic buttons could be added to the front offices of district schools, which summon police.
“All of (these) are great ideas,” Wesley said to the school board.
“Systems are in place now, but there’s a desire to put in a more simplified system,” Dan Elder, board representative on the task force, said of school entryways.
The task force’s Safety Communications subcommittee created an information magnet to be mailed to district families with a “See Something, Say Something” phone number to call.
The Crisis Communications subcommittee put forth ideas such as the district sending text alerts only in the case of emergency; and to add training for students and staff about the difference between a shelter-in-place order, and a lockdown.
The Cyber Safety & Digital Citizenship group suggested digital citizenship lessons next school year for all levels. This would include how to recognize suspicious e-mail, and suspicious people on social networks.
“There is a big, bad world out there; we need to know how to be safe interacting with it in an age-appropriate way,” said Elder.
Wesley noted that most of these ideas will be action items for the school board to consider, starting in the fall.
“As the world changes and the threat evolves, we’ve had to do this again,” Elder said.
Some subcommittees made site visits as part of their work. ER
