Santa Paula Elementary School District Superintendent Dr. F. Paul Chounet gave school board members an update on school safety at their regular meeting February 12.
Chounet said they had been working on campus safety since July. “The idea of school site security, safety and emergency preparedness is something that we started doing last year,” he said.
A number of things have taken place since last July at the various school sites, including replacement of water and food for the emergency bins, reinstituted custodian site based training and safe school training for the district leadership with police.
Because of events at schools in other states in recent months, Dr. Chounet said he met with City Manager Jaime Fontes in December to discuss ways the school district and the city can cooperate on school safety and security. He added they’re looking into improving site security, and have been getting pricing information for the improvements.
The district has ordered fencing for Bedell School, which is now open to outside access. That contract will go to the board at next month’s meeting.
The district has a new phone system, which Dr. Chounet said hasn’t worked as it should, but he noted they’re working to fix the bugs.
He said the Police Department recommended that schools have only one access and exit point at the schools. “It’s going to be a little challenging for the parents, but for security it’s necessary.”
