On October 11, 2022, the City Council appropriated $66,000 to fund the professional services agreement for the comprehensive school safety assessment
By Barbara Burke
Special to The Malibu Times
“Parents feel a sense of urgency with regard to addressing school safety in Malibu schools,” said Kevin Keegan, president of the Malibu High School Parent Teacher Association and the Middle School Parent Teacher Student Association. “In our opinion, complacency is dangerous and the perception that school safety is not being prioritized is unsettling.”
Keegan noted that although the PTSA had been assured by the City of Malibu and the Santa Monica Malibu School District that it would be provided with a summary of a recently funded private study assessing school safety in Malibu schools before school commenced, to date, the summary still has not been provided.
According to a July 18, 2022, staff report by Joseph D. Toney, assistant city manager for the City of Malibu, the City Council created a school safety ad hoc committee composed of then Mayor Paul Grisanti and Councilmember Bruce Silverstein. Toney’s staff report also stated that the city “issued a request for proposals on July 15, 2022, in partnership with the district and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department seeking qualified firms with broad subject matter expertise and experience in kindergarten through 12th grade to conduct a comprehensive and holistic safety assessment.” The report further noted that the assessment “will extend beyond physical security and safety procedures to include a review and analysis of behavioral health programs, policies and procedures as well.” Requests for proposals were due by Aug. 5, 2022.
In seeking such expertise, the city requested a comprehensive on-site physical security assessment of all four public schools in Malibu and private schools. The review would address “exterior and interior of school building, existing school security personnel, perimeter controls, security cameras, locking systems, building access and bell, clock and public address systems,” as well as an assessment of existing safety and emergency programs and policies, and procedures for both day school activities and after school activities, including use by outside agencies.”
Toney’s report also noted that the sheriff would provide the school district a liaison sergeant to help address school safety needs and the sergeant “will oversee the Juvenile Intervention Team and produce new ideas and strategies for the team.” The report noted that the sergeant was tasked with considering and reviewing programs and ideas pertaining to drug recognition for teachers and parents, diversion programs, lockdown procedures for staff, lockdown drills, emergency plan terminology, site security walkthroughs, evacuation plans, reunification procedures, threat assessments, and active shooter training in schools.”
Toney noted that the ad hoc committee discussed with SMMUSD representatives the possibility of adding “additional unarmed campus security officers to Malibu campuses as soon as possible.” Such officers are, according to Toney’s report, a union-protected employee class. The report stated that SMMUSD stated that it did not have a current list of eligible applicants to hire from and that recruitment needed to occur. Although a request for proposals was contemplated seeking a private security service, the ad hoc committee decided to issue a request for qualifications to develop a list of quality security firms and, upon doing so, to engage such a firm.
The request for proposals sought an internal and confidential written report inclusive of “detailed findings, a gap analysis, prioritized list of recommendations based on the assessment and a summary presentation, as well as a summary report that can be shared with the public.”
On Oct. 11, 2022, the City Council appropriated $66,000 to fund the professional services agreement for the comprehensive school safety assessment. On Oct. 24, 2022, the city executed the agreement with Guidepost Solutions, LLC, which was retained to review security safety measures, to learn how security personnel are deployed in emergencies, as well as how they are trained and their knowledge of the schools’ technology systems. Guidepost was also tasked with analyzing Sheriffs’ emergency services response times to city schools. The agreement stated that an initial draft report would be presented to the city, and that following receipt of feedback a final report would be submitted along with findings and key recommendations of all areas identified within the scope of the contract and that Guidepost will provide a summary report that can be shared with the public.
The Malibu Times inquired of the city and SMMUSD when the summary would be forthcoming. Susan Duenas, public safety manager for the City of Malibu, stated that her staff was developing one and that SMMUSD will soon review the summary report.
According to Keegan, the PTSA has not asked to review the entire Guidepost consultancy report, recognizing the need for it to remain private due to security concerns.
The PTSA has repeatedly asked for the summary since early summer, hoping to receive it before school commenced. However, although reviewing the summary was listed as an action item, because the report has not been finalized, the City Council has had to defer addressing that item.
Duenas stated that a meeting between the city and SMMUSD representatives has been deferred a few times and that the meeting will occur in early November. She also noted that although her staff has prepared a summary, release of the summary must abide SMMUSD review.
Gail Pinkster, SMMUSD’s community and public relations officer, responded to Malibu Times’ query asking to see the report and to interview the principals of the town’s four elementary schools.
“This is a security report that we are not releasing to the public nor are we scheduling interviews on this topic with principals, faculty or district leaders,” Pinkster responded in an email. “This report is protected from release per Public Records Act.”
Pinkster indicated that SMMUSD is “currently reviewing and in the process of implementing some suggestions noted in the report and the district will be meeting with Malibu city staff soon to discuss the report.”
Carey Upton, SMMUSD’s chief operations officer, responded to The Malibu Times, stating, “The safety and well-being of our students and staff are our top priorities. We always seek to make our campuses as safe and secure as possible, while fostering a sense of comfort and belonging for everyone.” Upton noted that SMMUSD “has implemented many systems in the past few years toward this goal, including updates to gates, access, visitor management, exterior cameras, alarm systems, along with classroom safety protocols. We continue to evolve and improve every year.”
On Oct. 12, SMMUSD reviewed its annual Comprehensive School Safety Plan, an analysis and overview that is mandated by state law separate and apart from the Guidepost consultancy contract commissioned by the city. That plan addresses schools having a lockdown button and providing notice to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, having perimeters such as eight-feet fences, fence toppers, and glass facades, monitoring cafeterias, libraries, entries to school buildings and the exterior of restrooms, door hardware upgrades, speed controls and vehicle barriers, upgrading the hardware for doors, exterior lighting, having card readers and intercoms at all pedestrian entry points, and having automated electronic access gates.
Frustrated by the time lag, the PTSA continues to urge the city to divulge the Guidepost safety summary that it requested months ago, Keegan stated, noting parents’ safety concerns were heightened due to a May 3 incident at the Getty Villa, which cut short a middle school field trip and briefly forced a lockdown at Malibu High School’s gym.
At the Getty Villa, sixth-graders and their chaperones and teachers were confronted by a young man shouting “Don’t go to school. It’s gonna kill your brain,” according to a young student whom The Malibu Times interviewed after the incident.
This publication recounted that the man followed the school group to the amphitheater and got into a verbal altercation with a security guard who confronted him. The suspect also briefly pounded on the school bus as students were trying to board the bus to leave the site. The school bus was escorted by police back to campus.
On May 3, SMMUSD issued a statement noting that law enforcement had lifted the lockdown, determining there was no credible threat to security.
“The person of interest, a Malibu High School graduate, and his parents have been interviewed and their home thoroughly searched,” the statement said. “An investigation determined that the subject was concerned for the safety of the students and perceived a threat, but had no plans to carry out any type of threat.” The statement also noted that SMMUSD “supported the family’s interest in seeking necessary support and intervention for their young-adult family member.”
The PTSA continues to press for the summary of Guidepost’s report.
“A reason safety is so important in a learning environment relates to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (learning theory),” Keegan explained, referring to
“The most basic needs for a child or teenager are physiological (air, food, water, shelter, etc.). The next most important need is safety, specifically, feeling safe and secure in one’s environment — psychological safety. We have to take the ‘freedom from fear’ seriously and that means, with the horrific rise in campus-based gun violence nationwide, we have to do more than usual, not maintain the status quo, to ensure our children can attend school day-in and day-out with that freedom and with a strong sense of safety.”
The PTSA will persevere until it obtains the safety summary, Keegan stated.
“The PTSA and others will review these recently released recommendations with the principals and administrators after the official summary report is shared,” he said. “For now, our intention is to begin communicating with parents and families about all that has been done and invested in over the past three to five years to enhance safety and security on campus as we prepare to communicate any new plans because we want to ensure the school leaders and faculty agree regarding which of Guidepost’s recommendations to act on. This is why it would have been beneficial to have received the report in August as planned.”