On June 9, 2023 the Orange County Grand Jury released its 2022-2023 Grand Jury Report, School Shooting: How Prepared are Orange County Public Schools? The need for the report was due to school shootings being dominate in the news and cause of concern among students, faculty, staff and parents.  The Orange County Grand Jury used their previous report from 2017-2018 titled “Safer Schools-What Can We Do?” as a segue for the current 2022-2023 report on school safety.

The 2017-2018 report covered additional funding, lack of school perimeter fencing, two way radio communication with staff, single point check in systems and security checks at each school site.  The Grand Jury study was undertaken to determine whether schools in Orange County were being adequately equipped with more modern equipment to secure their locations.

In compliance with Penal Code 933.05 (a) and (b), the City is required to provide a response to each of the findings and recommendations directed to the City Council by September 18, 2023.  Specifically, the City is to respond to two of the report findings (F1 and F8) and four recommendations (R1, R3, R4, and R12).

Schools within Orange County must be prepared and vigilant to do all that can be done to prevent another tragedy from happening.

School safety is a responsibility that we all share.  It is impossible to predict and prevent all violence on campus but schools are expected to provide a reasonable safe environment for both the students and staff. However, having a good open working relationship with school administrators alleviates a vast majority of the threat from within the school district itself.  No one can predict when an outside entity will strike.

Based on its investigation entitled “School Shooting: How Prepared are Orange County Public Schools?” the 2022-2023 Orange County Grand Jury arrived at twelve principal findings that included items such as written MOU’s between school districts and police, modernization of school sites, annual intruder drills, SRO’s committed to schools, surveillance system upgrades and active shooter drills.

The Grand Jury report also outlined thirteen recommendations.  

The Grand Jury recommended that:

1. Each Orange County School District should arrange for local law enforcement to do an annual safety inspection of each school.  The written safety checklist should include an audit of the integrity of site boundaries and a review of safety plans and policies.  This annual safety audit should commence with the 2023-24 school year by October 1, 2023, and annually thereafter.
2. All Orange County School Districts should establish a threat identification and assessment system for all school sites to monitor social media, screen messages of concern, and manage information received in coordination with local law enforcement using MOU’s.
3. Each Orange County School District, in conjunction with law enforcement, should develop and implement tabletop exercises to be conducted in district schools by December 31, 2023 and annually thereafter.
4. Each Orange County School District should work with local law enforcement to plan and conduct a district-wide active shooter drill by July 1, 2023 and at least every other year thereafter.
5. All Orange County School Districts should develop a casualty care training program for each school in their district, to be in place by the end of the first semester of the 2023-2024 school year and provided annually thereafter.
6. Safety and security plans for on campus before and after school programs need to be addressed more thoroughly by school districts, by July 1, 2024.
7. Each Orange County School District should obtain and incorporate perimeter camera systems in all district schools by July 1, 2024, or earlier if financially able to do so, and investigate the potential use of cameras that incorporate AI to enhance threat detection and prevention.
8. All Orange County School Districts should review entry procedures on all campuses with an eye toward the use of perimeter fencing, the single point entry, and the use of a buzzer and camera system for entry into the main/administrative officers.
9. Each Orange County School Districts should identify and implement a parent and visitor management system for each school site within the school district.  This is to include identified access points, badges, or a similar identification procedure to be implemented by July 1, 2024.
10. Each Orange County School District should implement training for all staff to identify threat-related behaviors and provide a procedure for reporting the behavior by beginning of the 2024-2025 school year.
11. All Orange County School Districts should develop a plan to implement or enhance mental health counseling for all schools by December 31, 2024.
12. Each Orange County School Districts should assess the need for SRO’s or additional SRO’s, reaching out to facilitate funding by July 1, 2024.
13. All Orange County School Districts should investigate and consider bullet resistant or tinted film for school windows by December 31, 2023.

It is recommended that the City Council:

• Approve the attached response and authorize submittal to the Orange County Grand Jury.

By:  Jon Wainwright, Sergeant

Attachment 1: Response to Grand Jury Report

Attachment 2: Grand Jury Report