Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/222666
8A Daily News – Thursday, December 5, 2013 School safety at Red Bluff High School As the one year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shootings draws near, I find myself in many conversations about school safety. Last year several representatives from law enforcement, emergency response teams, social services and school districts met at a Safety Summit sponsored by the Tehama County Office of Education. It was a productive meeting that provided the opportunity for an interagency approach to safety in our county and I look forward to the next Safety Summit in January. At Red Bluff Joint Union High School District, we continue to focus on safety and have made some measurable gains in providing a safe learning environment for our students and staff. Some of the highlights are the following: Drills and Training: Last April during a professional development day, law enforcement and emergency response agencies conducted an "active shooter" drill on our campus. This provided for our staff to experience different possible scenarios, practice their responses and give feedback to administration. At the beginning of this school year, staff was pro- vided training on the new have to go out of their protocol for their room to lock the door. We response to an "active have just completed shooter" situation. It is installing LockBlok on important for us to be pre- classroom doors. Lockpared and to practice Blok devices will allow the classroom often. We condoors to be tinue to conduct secured from the monthly drills inside. and debrief We have after to identify increased our areas for camera coverage improvement. of our campuses Our district in the last year. safety commitThis has providtee has met this ed us with the year to review ability to see the safety plans areas that were for individual previously diffischool sites. Lisa cult to view and Our safety has helped us in plans and numerous vandetailed maps dalism and disciof our schools are communicated with pline situations. The creek area has the county agencies that would respond to any always been off limits to emergency we might have our students even though it is a popular pathway in our district. Facilities: A district and hang- out spot. There team has completed an was an area in the fence audit of our facilities with line behind our football the goal of developing a field that had been dug 3-5-10 year facilities plan out allowing student to that supports the Board of crawl under if they so Trustees strategic goals. desired. That area has One of the focus areas for been filled with concrete. this audit was safety. Last year a teacher was Rooms were checked for hired to supervise the appropriate window cov- fence line and sports erings/tinting and other fields during lunch. Staffing: We continue safety concerns. One concern of our staff was that to fund a full time School doors locked from the Resource Officer and outside. In case of an have moved his office to emergency, they would be more visible in our Escobar main office at Red Bluff High School. We have updated his technology and he now has a large screen television screen to monitor the cameras on campus. In addition, we purchased software for him to be able to write reports at our school site rather than having to return to the police department. That means he remains on our campus full time. We have also created a job description for a full time campus safety/intervention to monitor the campus during the day. We will be advertising and hiring for that position soon. Parking Lot: In 2009, the safety committee set a goal to improve the fencing of the parking lot to increase the safety for pedestrians and drivers. This was accomplished this fall. In addition, our Dean of Students is working with a group of students and staff to update the parking lot policies to increase the safety of those who use the parking lot. Student Safety: All students attended an AntiBullying assembly at the beginning of the year. There is an anonymous Bully Reporting Link on our website. Our staff takes bullying and harassment very seriously. We have updated our district policy on bullying to include cyberbullying. There has been an increase in gang activity in our community. Last summer, our principal, Dean of Students, the School Resource Teacher and a teacher from our Salisbury campus were sent to a conference in Los Angeles on gangs. Our staff looks for indications of gang activity in posturing, clothing and graffiti in order to work with students to identify ways to connect and belong to school in a positive way. At Salisbury, there is an agreement to keep gang activity outside the school. Staff keeps a close watch and immediately deals with students that break that agreement. We will continue to expand our approach to positively impact students that are drawn to gang activity. We have established a contract with Interquest Detection Canines this year in order to establish an expectation of a drug/alcohol/weapon free campus. Not only will this partnership serve as a deterrent, it will help us identify students that need support to make better choices regarding drugs/alcohol/weapons. Truancy: Our district is part of an interagency group led by Judge Matt McGlynn in addressing the serious problem of truancy. We have met several times to develop guidelines for our county in dealing with our very serious truancy problem. We now have access to a full time School Attendance Review Board officer (SARB) and a juvenile judge that is passionate about supporting districts and families in getting students to school. Our Dean of Students will be joining McGlynn and others at a truancy conference in Anaheim next week to develop additional strategies regarding truancy. Students are safest at school during the day and they miss out on learning when they are not there. Again, these are just a few of the highlights of how we are addressing safety in our district. It is an ongoing process and a high priority for our district. I feel very fortunate to have a competent district safety committee and many experts in our county that are ready and willing to collaborate with the goal of increasing safety for our students and staff. Lisa Escobar is superintendent of the Red Bluff Joint Union High School District. Create a better retirement plan By Jennifer Cooper Social Security Manager in Redding Another New Year is just around the corner, offering a new opportunity to improve your life in any number of ways with a wise New Year's resolution or two. (No doubt, for most of us the possibilities are endless.) But one good idea for many might be creating (or updating) a long-term financial plan. According to a 2013 survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, "the percentage of workers confident about having enough money for a comfortable retirement is essentially unchanged from the record lows observed in 2011." Only 13 percent are very confident of being able to afford a comfortable retirement, while 28 percent are not at all confident. If you are among those with lower financial confidence and you haven't started to save for retirement already, now is the time to begin — no matter what your age. If retirement is near, you'll want to jump into the fast lane right away. If you're younger and retirement seems a lifetime away, it's still in your best interest to begin saving now, as compound interest will work to your advantage. Experts agree that saving when you're young will make a world of difference when the time comes to draw on your retirement savings. Don't take our word for it. You can check out the numbers yourself. A great place to start figuring out how much you will need for retirement is to learn how much you could expect from Social Security. You can do that in minutes with Social Security's online Retirement Estimator. The Retirement Estimator offers an instant and personalized estimate of your future Social Security retirement benefits based on your earnings record. Try it out at www.socialsecurity.gov /estimator. We encourage saving for retirement, but there are reasons to save for every stage of life. A great place to go for help is w w w. m y m o n e y. g o v. MyMoney.gov is the government's website dedicated to teaching Americans the basics about financial education. Whether you are planning to buy a home, balancing your checkbook, or investing in your 401(k) plan, the resources on www.mymoney.gov can help you. Another excellent resource is the Ballpark E$timator at www.choosetosave.org/ ballpark. This online tool takes complicated issues, like projected Social Security benefits and earnings assumptions on savings, and turns them into language and numbers that are easy to understand. So turn over a new financial page in your life with the start of a new year, and get started at www.socialsecurity.gov.