In the aftermath of the Parkland, Fla. mass school shooting, La Jolla High parents are questioning how safe their school really is.
More importantly, they’re asking themselves, what can be done to make it even safer?
La Jolla High PTSA president Fran Shimp, who has three children at LJHS, said much more needs to be done across-the-board to address the shooting threat.
“I would like to take an all-encompassing, proactive approach that targets students’ mental health and anger-management issues by having threat assessment teams and restorative justice teams on campus, as well as enacting effective gun-control legislation, and installing safety upgrades on campus,” Shimp said. 
LJHS parent Ed Chopskie, who has one child at LJHS, one who’s graduated, and another at Muirlands Middle School, supports the Second Amendment and gun ownership. He just doesn’t support how it’s being implemented.
“Why is it easier to get a weapon than it is to get a driver’s license?” asked Chopskie. “For our children to get a driver’s license, it takes a full probationary period behind the wheel training, and you have to take an exam. But anybody can walk into a Walmart and buy an AR 15 [assault rifle]. You have to be 21 to buy cigarettes and alcohol, but anybody can buy a gun.”
A person must be at least 18 years of age to purchase a rifle or shotgun in California. To purchase a handgun, a person must be at least 21 years of age. State law also imposes a 10-day waiting period before a firearm can be released to a purchaser or transferee. 
Chopskie noted the school’s district police officer, who shuttles between the various schools in the La Jolla cluster, is armed.
“But I don’t believe he wears body armor,” Chopskie said, adding, “He’s usually involved dealing with nuisances. He’s not expecting somebody to show up with a semi-automatic weapon with 30-round clips. Maybe we need to hire another officer — or fund fencing the campus in.”
Chopskie is also not in favor of arming teachers. “They’re there to educate children, not for security,” he said.
In a letter to LJHS families, Shimp noted she’s been contacted by several concerned parents asking about their children’s safety on La Jolla High’s campus. 
“It has become clear that more information needs to be shared with our community, and the abundance of misinformation needs to be addressed,” Shimp said.
Since the Parkland shooting, school districts across the country, including San Diego Unified, as well as local law enforcement agencies, have been reassessing school safety plans and procedures in case of an active shooter on campus. 
Recently, noted Shimp, LJHS’s school site council, and site governance team held a joint meeting with the school police officer who shared the high school’s safety plan and answered questions. 
These suggestions for making LJHS a harder target to an armed assailant have emerged:
   • Fixing broken blinds in classrooms and/or installing blackout shades.
• Fixing hard-to-lock doors in classrooms or installing door stoppers that will prevent someone from entering.
• Addressing concerns from teachers regarding potential classroom exit pathways.
• A texting system to address teachers and staff during emergencies so there is less reliance on the “bell” system.
• A texting system to address students directly so they have accurate information during emergencies.
• Fixing broken cameras on campus and possibly installing more.
• Addressing lighting concerns on campus.
• Advertising an anonymous tip line through social media, eblasts, and our website.
La Jolla High’s campus will begin its Whole Site Modernization Plan at the end of this calendar year, but it is not expected to be completed until 2021-22. As a part of this plan, LJHS will be getting a new PA system as well as a fenced-in campus, with one main entry point on Westbourne. 
“We realize the immediate need for both a PA system as well as a fenced-in campus,” said Shimp in her letter, which goes on to request that “the district have the fence installed as soon as possible, and not wait for the construction to be completed.”
Shimp noted the school has also received bids to install temporary PA systems until the permanent ones are in place.
“We prioritize different aspects of our lives and have different expectations for our children,” concluded Shimp. “But we all want our kids to be safe. We want to know that when they leave the house in the morning, they will be returning that night. Anything else would be unimaginable. While I will never be able to say La Jolla High, or any high school for that matter, is 100 percent safe, I can say we are working together as a community to make it the best it can be.” Q&A With San Diego Unified School District official: Tell us about the layout of La Jolla High School campus, and what the challenges are to keeping it safe and secure. The safety and security of students and staff is a top priority of SDUSD. Each school in the district has its own set of safety and security plans based on the age and footprint of the campus. As a result of more than $40 million in school safety upgrades since the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy in 2012, all of our schools now have comprehensive school safety plans.
The district does not publicly disclose any potential safety vulnerabilities as a matter of student security. However, schools throughout the district will receive a variety of safety upgrades paid for with the proceeds of voter-approved bond measures. Some $15 million in safety upgrades were fast-tracked by the school board on March 13. Those projects include: perimeter fences, gates, door locks, security cameras, PA systems, site radios, police dispatch and communication systems, visitor access and school office reconfiguration. Have you done anything differently, begun discussing, things that could possibly be done to make LJHS a harder target? These conversations are ongoing in the district, especially in light of the recent tragedy in Florida. San Diego Unified regularly reviews safety and security plans in an effort to keep students and staff in a safe learning environment. La Jolla High’s Whole Site Modernization Plan calls for safety upgrades, some of which would be fast-tracked.    There’s been talk of having guns at school, possibly arming teachers. What is your view on that? The San Diego school board passed a resolution on Feb. 27 calling for stricter gun control. The San Diego Education Association has taken a stance against any suggestion that teachers should be armed.   Would it be possible to hire extra security personnel to cover LJHS?
 
Personnel decisions are made locally and districtwide based on resources and need. San Diego Unified Police employs 38 sworn officers. The staff includes: A police chief, two captains, five sergeants, four detectives, 18 officers assigned to high schools and their clusters of feeder schools, and eight “roving” patrol officers. There are also nine dispatchers and three office staffers. Some schools, La Jolla High among them, also have campus security assistants. How does the police security system work at LJHS? The district police officer assigned to the La Jolla High cluster serves the high school and its feeder schools. In addition to the campus police officer assigned to La Jolla High, the school has two campus security assistants – one is funded by the district, and the other is funded by the La Jolla High foundation.  The campus security assistants work exclusively for La Jolla High.  
The district police department works and coordinates with the San Diego Police Department on a daily basis; the two agencies have a clearly defined memorandum of understanding that is updated every two years. The district has interfacing computer systems. What’s more, the district shares access to radio frequencies for a rapid and coordinated response. The School Police Chief meets monthly with all county police chiefs and sheriff, and also collaborates with federal authorities and the DA.