Board Members Present:
Ms. Julie Korenstein, Chairperson
Mr. David Tokofsky
Ms. Caprice Young

Staff Present:
Mr. Dan Isaacs, Assistant Superintendent, School Operations Division
Dr. Evangelina Stockwell, Assistant Superintendent, Office of Intergroup Relations
Mr. Bill Panos, Director, Environmental Health and Safety Branch
Chief Wesley Mitchell, School Police
Ms. Jeri Durham, Administrator, School Operations

Mr. Isaacs introduced Heather Daims, Principal of Fairfax High School. Ms. Daims introduced Ralph Lemus, Plant Manager and Jeong Kim, Student Body President.

Ms. Daims highlighted the School Safety Plan at Fairfax High School, and spoke about the Bathroom Cleanliness program. A survey was conducted and both staff and students stated that the conditions of the bathroom was a priority. The most difficult task in implementing safety and cleanliness is making students realize their responsibilities. Ms. Daims invited the committee members to a School Beautification Day on April 29, where students, parents, and community, not only will beautify the exterior of the school, but will paint and thoroughly clean bathrooms.

Mr. Lemus spoke on the earthquake safety storage bin at Fairfax High School. With donations from various businesses, it is very well equipped. Ms. Jeong Kim spoke on overall safety at Fairfax High School, how various groups, organizations and staff help secure school safety, and the formation of a new student organization - STOP (Students Together Organizing Peace).

INTEGRATED SAFE SCHOOL PLANS

Mr. Isaacs introduced Martin Galindo, Willie Crittendon, and Maria Wales, Operations Administrators, who are visiting schools on a daily basis looking at the safety plans, checking out the individual campuses, and providing support to the administration and staff.

Jeri Durham updated the Committee Members on the School Safety Plans. The submission of these plans from school sites were due at the end of October. Every school in the District has submitted a plan. Staff reviewed the plans to see if they are complete and if all the required components are included; only 50 schools had incomplete plans. The District is several years ahead of other school districts in requiring safe school plans.

EARTHQUAKE PREPAREDNESS: PART OF THE SAFE SCHOOL PLAN

Pete Anderson, Director of Emergency Services, gave an overview of the District's Earthquake Emergency Preparedness Program. The unit is adopting a standardized emergency management system used by law enforcement and fire departments, allowing district personnel to handle emergencies in an organized way. The unit has produced a video which features presentations on search and rescue operations, standardized emergency management system, first-aid, working with the media, drills, radio communication, hazard mitigation, supplies, and other issues.

Mr. Anderson was requested to report to the Board after the Annual County Office of Emergency System meeting in October, and the annual exercises in January. Mr. Anderson responded to questions from committee members on teacher training.

Speaker
Bev Cook from United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) spoke on teacher training in emergencies.

CANINE COMMITTEE UPDATE

Richard Page, Assistant Chief, School Police updated the committee on the Canine Committee. At the last School Safety meeting, School Police Department presented a proposal to form a Canine Committee to review the use of canines within the District. A committee has been selected and the first meeting is scheduled for next week. Assistant Chief Page will report back to the School Safety Committee after that meeting.

Two other high schools have requested to participate in the pilot canine program. Since there has not been an evaluation on the program from the vendor or from the schools currently participating in the program, the School Police is not recommending further expansion of the program at this time.

FOOD DONATION PROGRAM

Mr. Orlando Griego, Branch Director, Food Services Branch, gave an overview of the District's Food Donation Program that started in 1988. In an effort to avoid discarding food, the Board of Education has decided to make that food available to non-profit charitable organizations. Currently, there are 11 schools and 7 charitable organizations participating.

Speaker
Michael Gersick spoke on the Food Donation Program.

SCHOOL DISTRICT CRIME STATISTICS

Assistant Chief Page reported on the District's crime statistics and compared it with other school districts in the state. The report is the fourth annual report which includes crime data from all school districts in the state and indicates varying trends of school crimes. In the future, the school site personnel will be responsible for generating crime incident data rather than relying on data reported by the School Police Department. This change in data collection may impact the numbers of crimes currently being reported.

Speaker
Bev Cook of UTLA expressed concern on school crimes.

SELECTION OF AB 939 TECHNICAL SERVICES CONTRACT

Bill Panos updated the Committee on Assembly Bill 939, Technical Services Contract. At the previous meeting of the School Safety and Campus Environment Committee, Board Members raised concerns regarding the request for proposal (RFP) for the technical services contract.
Mr. Panos reviewed a document listing Board Members' concerns and the response from staff. He noted that the Food Services Composting and Donation Program is part of the recycling portion of the RFP that was sent out on this contract. The RFP for the recycling contract was extended from February 28 to March 13.

Speaker
Debbie Dodson, representing Tetra Pak, expressed concern on the Board's policies.

The Board Members expressed their concerns on the response from firms to the RFP and requested an assessment on the RFP's before entering into a contract.

DIESEL FUEL REPLACEMENT

Mr. Panos updated the Committee on a new program, not yet implemented, regarding diesel fuel vehicle replacement, which was presented at the Facilities Committee meeting. Currently, the District operates a total of 2200 buses, vans, and other fleet vehicles, including 787 full size diesel powered school buses, and an additional 448 buses operated by outside contractors.

BRIEFING ON ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR JEFFERSON MIDDLE SCHOOL

Mr. Panos gave an overview of the EHS new site investigation capabilities by reviewing the properties at Jefferson New Middle School. He advised the Board Members that the reforms include better capabilities, contractors, technology and a new process. Mr. Panos provided a brief history of the property and reported on adjacent properties, geology and hydrogeology, environmental issues, investigative methods, the current status of investigations, and work to be done. Health risk assessment of the site indicates concentrations of volatile organic compounds detected at school are below cancer risk levels, and have identified the source of hexavalent chromium in groundwater to be the Hard Chrome Products Site.

Speakers

George Buzzetti commented on safety issues.

Bev Cook of UTLA commented on safety plans and the report on Jefferson New Middle School.

Patricia McPherson commented on environmental issues on the development of Playa Vista by Playa Capital Inc.

Kathy Knight commented on environmental issues on the Playa Vista School Site.

Gene Krischer commented on a the Playa Vista School Site.

Ms. Korenstein requested staff to look into the environmental issues raised by the above speakers, bring this issue back to the Committee, and reschedule the June 8, School Safety meeting.

Mr. Tokofsky requested additional information regarding the four acres donated to the District at Playa Vista and information whether the site is sufficient to accommodate students from K-12, the developer fees issue, information whether there is an agreement with the Real Estate Branch accepting or exchanging the four acres, who did the environmental studies, and if there was an environmental assessment done on the four acres. He also requested information on the expansion of the Los Angeles and Burbank Airports.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 12:60 p.m.