(KTLA-TV) |
LOS ANGELES -- When you send your child off to school, you're trusting that teachers and school administrators will know what to do in an emergency. California law actually requires that most schools have a safety plan in place that deals with everything from a kid bringing a gun to school to wildfires.
The law was originally pushed by some Los Angeles area teachers who took a look around at their own school safety plans and weren't impressed. They decided that a law was needed to compel schools to do a better job of planning.
As a lobbyist for the local teachers union, attorney Rick Schwab, helped write the legislation.
"The whole idea of it is when... an urgent situation comes up, people will not panic. They'll know a game plan," Schwab said.
But officials with the California Department of Education say when they do reviews, they find many schools around the state are ignoring the law.
"We're finding anywhere between 25 and 30 percent of sites reviewed do not have a viable plan," said Stephanie Papas, who works in the Safe and Healthy Kids Office at the California Department of Education.
When KTLA did spot checks at several Southern California schools, we found that most schools appeared to have plans that met state standards. But keeping with the numbers, the fourth school we stopped at seemed to have problems. Gardena High School gave us a safety plan that was largely incomplete. Areas that should have listed which teachers were assigned what roles in an emergency were blank. Spaces for emergency phone numbers, including one for poison control, were blank.
The response from the school? Blank. The school ignored several phone messages and no one would come out and talk to us about the plan when KTLA showed up in person.
Bob Spears, Los Angeles Unified School District's Director of Emergency Services, was much more forthcoming.
"I'm confident they'll have a good plan in place for the student," Spears said.
Spears said Gardena High School actually has a plan that meets state standards. The new principal and other administrators apparently just didn't know it. He said it's a training issue, and he's addressed it.
Spears also took KTLA to the Edward Roybal Learning Center to show us an example of the extensive collection of emergency supplies that he says are in place at all LAUSD campuses. In addition to medical supplies, he showed us where the school stores a three day supply of water for all students and adults on campus.
You can do your own spot checks on your child's school. The law requires that the plan be readily available for anyone to review upon request.
As for the law, there is a movement to put more teeth into it. The current law allows for a $2,000 fine for schools that don't have proper plans in place, but it relies on school districts and county education boards to report schools that violate the law to the state. However, in all the years she's been running the program, Stephanie Papas says no school district or school board has ever turned in a school for violating the law.
If you make any interesting finds during your spot checks, please shoot us an e-mail at cyost@tribune.com.
The law was originally pushed by some Los Angeles area teachers who took a look around at their own school safety plans and weren't impressed. They decided that a law was needed to compel schools to do a better job of planning.
As a lobbyist for the local teachers union, attorney Rick Schwab, helped write the legislation.
"The whole idea of it is when... an urgent situation comes up, people will not panic. They'll know a game plan," Schwab said.
But officials with the California Department of Education say when they do reviews, they find many schools around the state are ignoring the law.
"We're finding anywhere between 25 and 30 percent of sites reviewed do not have a viable plan," said Stephanie Papas, who works in the Safe and Healthy Kids Office at the California Department of Education.
When KTLA did spot checks at several Southern California schools, we found that most schools appeared to have plans that met state standards. But keeping with the numbers, the fourth school we stopped at seemed to have problems. Gardena High School gave us a safety plan that was largely incomplete. Areas that should have listed which teachers were assigned what roles in an emergency were blank. Spaces for emergency phone numbers, including one for poison control, were blank.
The response from the school? Blank. The school ignored several phone messages and no one would come out and talk to us about the plan when KTLA showed up in person.
Bob Spears, Los Angeles Unified School District's Director of Emergency Services, was much more forthcoming.
"I'm confident they'll have a good plan in place for the student," Spears said.
Spears said Gardena High School actually has a plan that meets state standards. The new principal and other administrators apparently just didn't know it. He said it's a training issue, and he's addressed it.
Spears also took KTLA to the Edward Roybal Learning Center to show us an example of the extensive collection of emergency supplies that he says are in place at all LAUSD campuses. In addition to medical supplies, he showed us where the school stores a three day supply of water for all students and adults on campus.
You can do your own spot checks on your child's school. The law requires that the plan be readily available for anyone to review upon request.
As for the law, there is a movement to put more teeth into it. The current law allows for a $2,000 fine for schools that don't have proper plans in place, but it relies on school districts and county education boards to report schools that violate the law to the state. However, in all the years she's been running the program, Stephanie Papas says no school district or school board has ever turned in a school for violating the law.
If you make any interesting finds during your spot checks, please shoot us an e-mail at cyost@tribune.com.
