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Chico Unified School District

EVERY STUDENT, EVERY DAY

Chico Unified School District

EVERY STUDENT, EVERY DAY

Click here for the District's Safety and Security Program.

During the District Wide Facilities Master planning process many comments concerning school safety and security were received by the Chico Unified School District Facilities Department. As part of Phase I – Quick Start projects funds totaling approximately $3,000,000.00 were set aside for the most critical of concerns. The D.I.R.T. (District’s Incident Response Team), whose purpose is to review all concerns of safety and security of students, was invited to participate in determining the needs on each campus. In addition, school site

administration reviewed each site in the District for safety and security concerns. The District Office staff reviewed the Administrative Office Campus and the District Corp Yard was reviewed by the District Facilities and others from the site. An internet survey was prepared and all sites were asked to participate.

Over 290 responses were received from the survey. The survey contained these questions:

  • At what school do you work?
  • How do you get to work?
  • Do you have safety concerns when entering or leaving a school campus?
  • How often are you on campus on non-school hours?
  • Do you feel comfortable on campus during non-school hours?
  • Do you believe that your school is safe and secure during school?
  • What is you biggest safety and security concern during the school day?
  • What do you feel would be the best addition to the school that would improve safety and security?

    Overall the top concerns voiced in the survey were:

  • Homeless and other unauthorized use of school grounds before and after school and on weekends including rood access
  • Traffic problems especially at pick-up and drop-off times
  • Poor exterior lighting
  • The large number of entrances to the school campuses

The survey results are contained in the body of this report in both written and graphical format.

Individual School Site Council’s reviewed each site. The meeting attendance varied, but generally the Principal of the school, custodial staff, the District facilities department, and community members listened to the purpose of the meeting, gave input and participated in the discussion. These discussions lead to the creation of a general plan for each site indicating potential projects to improve school safety and security. Each school site council was also asked to prioritize the various projects.

The school site general safety and security plans are contained in the body of this report.

The school sites generated a number of good results, far exceeding the budgetary limits set by the facilities master plan. A meeting was held with

D.I.R.T. to review and set overall District priorities. D.I.R.T. asked for additional information on the cost and priority of each project. The committee also agreed that schools with improvement projects in the 2nd and 3rd phase should be excluded because the safety concerns could be addressed as part of the bigger improvement projects

A rough order of magnitude cost estimate for each site in phase 4 and above in the master plan was prepared and presented at the next D.I.R.T. meeting.

  • D.I.R.T.reviewed the documentation and created a list of the top 6 priorities.
  1. Purchase and install Door Lock Blocks for all exterior doors to classrooms in every school facility on every campus
  2. Purchase and install Window Coverings for all windows of classrooms in every school facility on campuses that do not currently have window coverings
  3. Design, purchase and install clear school identification and directional signage to school administration on those campuses without such signage
  4. Design, purchase and install gates and fences (maximum height 6 feet) at campuses where indicated on school site priority maps, to improve a single point of entry to a campus “during school hours” concept. The single point of entry should be located at the administration building.
  5. Purchase and install surveillance cameras and security lighting where indicated on school site priority maps
  6. Design and install speed bumps, cross walks and other stripping as indicated on the school site priority maps. Where possible, work with the City of Chico to coordinate design and installation expenses

The District Facilities Department will move forward with implementing the priorities. The D.I.R.T also requested the Facilities Department to evaluate some of the school map’s project scope before implementation, which were disproportionate in scale to the others schools, to insure equity across the District.