Berkeley Schools Invest in Safety Training, Facility Upgrades

BERKELEY, Calif. — On the advice of two separate consulting firms, the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) school board has voted to invest $2 million in a variety of school safety initiatives.

Edu-Safe Associates and Dimensions Unlimited were hired by the district at a cost of $70,000, and conducted thorough assessments of each school. Their individual reports recommended new classroom door locks, armed intruder training, which prepares teachers and administrators to respond to classroom breaches, and other measures for better preparation in the event of school violence.

Each also noted broad deficiencies in the schools’ public address systems. “Every principal at each site visited in BUSD advised that their public address, warning and campus-wide communication systems were either nonexistent, not operating or deficient in some way,” said the report from Dimensions Unlimited. “Administrators demonstrated that they could not cover the entire site with an emergency alert, a warning, or vital response information.”

The consulting firms also recommended the placement of police officers in each of the district’s 20 schools. However, the board declined, as the cost for such a program was estimated at $200,000 per school annually. Berkeley High School already has a full time police officer stationed on the campus, and staff at other schools have been trained to de-escalate instances of student violence.

Proposals to install surveillance cameras throughout the schools were met with concerns as well. Though board members supported the use of surveillance, they expressed reservations about the potential use of live video feed during an incident. Nine district schools already use this technology, but it will not be expanded until the board outlines a clear privacy policy.

Though violence within Berkeley schools is rare, incidents were reported in 2011. In February and March of that year several students brought guns on the school campus, and in one case a gun was fired but did not result in any injuries. However, threats such as robberies and reports of gunshots still originate within the surrounding community, causing schools to be put on lockdown several times a year. This was also reflected in the Edu-Safe report, which stated, “Just as in most school districts, the schools in Berkeley are microcosms of the communities in which they exist. All of the advantages and disadvantages of the community are reflected on the various school campuses.”

The initiatives are being funded through a variety of sources. Bond measures AA, H and I will support the bulk of the efforts at roughly $1,322,000. Fifteen thousand will also come from the district’s general fund. According to Lew Jones, director of facilities for the BUSD, recommended safety improvements will likely be completed before classes begin in the fall of 2015.