By Robert Moreno
staff writer
A few days after a teenager shot and killed 17 people and injured dozens more at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, Chula Vista Police Chief Roxana Kennedy called the superintendent of the Sweetwater Union High School District to discuss the possibility of holding a school safety forum.
As a result of that discussion, the Chula Vista Police Department in partnership with the Sweetwater District and the city of Chula Vista on Monday hosted a School Safety Forum at Chula Vista High School’s Performing Arts Center to inform the community how they try to keep schools safe from a school shooting.
The forum focused on the district’s preventative measures.
The Sweetwater District in 2016 created a new mental health services department. The new department currently employees 13 therapists that provide mental health services across the school district. Therapists are capable of holding individual, group and family therapies as well as providing case management and crises intervention.
Program Manager Stacey Musso said the district receives referrals for mental health services from school sites through teachers, counselors, school nurses and administrators. Musso said most referrals come from community and family resource centers in the South Bay.
“Our goal at Sweetwater (District) including our mental health team is to provide a comprehensive service delivery model using all available resources to best meet the safety, health and well-being needs of each one of our students,” she said.
The Chula Vista Police Department said it does all it can to make school campuses safe with limited resources. Police officials said because of budget constraints they only have 10 school resource officers for 61 schools which serve more than 51,000 students in Chula Vista.
The police department asked parents for their help in keeping schools safe. They said parents can do their part by staying involved with their children’s lives and maintaining open communication with them about school related issues.
Paola Delgadillo, a parent to a ninth grader at Chula Vista High School, agreed that the first line of defense for preventing a school shooting should fall on the parents.
“I found out that there should be extra responsibility on us as parents to share information with our children,” she said. “It’s not the whole responsibility of the police or school district to protect our students. Parents could prevent a tragedy from happening too.”
Chula Vista Police also informed parents and students about a new mobile app called Students Speak Out allows students to submit threat tips to police anonymously.
Chula Vista High School freshman Marcus Ramirez,14, said he does not feel scared or threatened that a school shooting can happen on campus. He said the school safety forum taught him that he has to be communicative with what goes on at school.
A few days after a teenager shot and killed 17 people and injured dozens more at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, Chula Vista Police Chief Roxana Kennedy called the superintendent of the Sweetwater Union High School District to discuss the possibility of holding a school safety forum.
As a result of that discussion, the Chula Vista Police Department in partnership with the Sweetwater District and the city of Chula Vista on Monday hosted a School Safety Forum at Chula Vista High School’s Performing Arts Center to inform the community how they try to keep schools safe from a school shooting.
The forum focused on the district’s preventative measures.
The Sweetwater District in 2016 created a new mental health services department. The new department currently employees 13 therapists that provide mental health services across the school district. Therapists are capable of holding individual, group and family therapies as well as providing case management and crises intervention.
Program Manager Stacey Musso said the district receives referrals for mental health services from school sites through teachers, counselors, school nurses and administrators. Musso said most referrals come from community and family resource centers in the South Bay.
“Our goal at Sweetwater (District) including our mental health team is to provide a comprehensive service delivery model using all available resources to best meet the safety, health and well-being needs of each one of our students,” she said.
The Chula Vista Police Department said it does all it can to make school campuses safe with limited resources. Police officials said because of budget constraints they only have 10 school resource officers for 61 schools which serve more than 51,000 students in Chula Vista.
The police department asked parents for their help in keeping schools safe. They said parents can do their part by staying involved with their children’s lives and maintaining open communication with them about school related issues.
Paola Delgadillo, a parent to a ninth grader at Chula Vista High School, agreed that the first line of defense for preventing a school shooting should fall on the parents.
“I found out that there should be extra responsibility on us as parents to share information with our children,” she said. “It’s not the whole responsibility of the police or school district to protect our students. Parents could prevent a tragedy from happening too.”
Chula Vista Police also informed parents and students about a new mobile app called Students Speak Out allows students to submit threat tips to police anonymously.
Chula Vista High School freshman Marcus Ramirez,14, said he does not feel scared or threatened that a school shooting can happen on campus. He said the school safety forum taught him that he has to be communicative with what goes on at school.
As community members we have to make sure everyone is safe. Along with educators , we must also do background checks on school board members in San Diego to make sure they don’t have brothers that are sex offenders and felons. Safety comes first 🙂
As community members we have to make sure everyone is safe. Along with educators , we must also do background checks on school board members in San Diego to make sure they don’t have brothers that are sex offenders and felons. Safety comes first 🙂