Los Angeles Unified Board of Education Unanimously Approves Resolution to Analyze and Expand Community-Based Safety (06-13-22)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Contact: Dr. Didi Watts, Chief of Staff
dwatts2@lausd.net         

Los Angeles Unified Board of Education Unanimously Approves Resolution to Analyze and Expand Community-Based Safety 

LOS ANGELES, CA (June 13, 2023) — The Los Angeles Unified Board of Education unanimously voted today to approve the resolution “Community-Based Safety Analysis and Expansion” authored by Board Member Tanya Ortiz Franklin, Board Member Kelly Gonez, and Board Member Dr. Rocío Rivas. The resolution affirms the Board’s commitment to a holistic vision of school safety, creating a safe, welcoming, culturally- and racially-responsive school team supported by community partnerships that respond to on-campus incidents in constructive, non-criminalizing ways.

“Today, we take a step further to improve the safety and well-being of our students and community,” Board Member Tanya Ortiz Franklin said. “This resolution uplifts the importance of working together to make our campuses more supportive of the safety – physically and emotionally – of our students. It is crucial to reimagine traditional approaches to safety issues on-campus, which can be authoritarian or punitive, and instead modernize our approaches to prevent harm and trauma to our students by working with community-based organizations and community-trusted leaders.” 

To achieve this vision, the Board directs the Independent Analysis Unit, in partnership with District leadership and alongside municipal partners to conduct a landscape analysis of community-based safety approaches to increase availability and access to support positive school climate on campus and in surrounding communities. 

In order to increase community-based safety partnerships on school campuses, the District will build understanding and awareness of the procurement process through sharing guides with helpful information and examples and bringing partners and thought leaders together to identify solutions and opportunities to collaborate. 

“Community-based safety is a necessary component to ensure our students and employees remain safe and secure,” Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said. “This, along with other tenets and procedures outlined in All Schools Safe, will keep our school communities protected and our campuses the safest place for our students.” 

“This resolution will accelerate and deepen L.A. Unified’s community-based safety initiatives, which the Board set as a priority in its previous budgets,” said Board Member Kelly Gonez. “We can and must do more to learn from partners and to leverage community-based safety approaches across our system. I look forward to seeing our school district continue its leadership in supporting students and building a better school climate for all.” 

Board Member Dr. Rocío Rivas said, "I am proud to co-author this resolution that elevates the need for Community Based Safety, and how it helps our students. We must focus on the practical benefits of a community-based safety model. When it comes to the safety and well-being of all LAUSD students, we have a fiscal and ethical obligation to use the right tools at the right time, to cultivate an anti-racist, healing approach to creating schools that nurture our kids and our communities."

“All of our students deserve to be safe in their schools, safe in their journey to and from school, and supported in this by their school and their community,” Board President Jackie Goldberg said. “With today’s motion we are committing to build on those programs that we know work, like our Safe Passages program, and to make sure that the community members who are best positioned to help keep our kids safe are central to this project.”

“I’m glad to support this resolution, which builds on our ongoing efforts to pursue a vision of school safety that wraps students in support services, and invites community partners to help us provide those services in our schools,” Board Member Nick Melvoin said.

This resolution is a result of student and community advocacy to improve student and school safety. 

“The bureaucracy has to get things going efficiently and effectively,” Alaysia Jointer, 12th grade student at Washington Prep High School and student leader for Community Coalition, said. “It is vital for our youth to be involved in programs that involve counseling, trauma-informed care, de-escalation practices, and restorative justice. A vast majority of LAUSD students are met with a vast amount of unfortunate events outside of school grounds on a regular basis thus impacting their emotional and mental capacity to learn or participate in school.”

“We students will not settle for less than we deserve and safe passage provides us with the ability to be safe, not criminalized,” Jailynn Butler-Thomas, 11th grade Dorsey High School student and leader with Students Deserve, said. “We deserve community-based safety programs.”

“I’m so glad that safe passage programs are finally going to be implemented. Students deserve to feel safe in and outside of school and safe passage programs will ensure that instead of police who target and criminalize students, we’ll have our community members who love and care about us looking out for us before and after school,” Romy Griego, 10th grade Eagle Rock High School student and leader with Students Deserve, said. 

The District will create a final comprehensive plan to strengthen community-based safety approaches and resources as a primary means of cultivating and maintaining positive school climates and keeping school communities safe. The plan will be developed with participation from students, parents, school communities, families, and community partners. The plan will be completed, publicly posted online, and presented to the Board by May 2024. 

To read the full resolution, visit here. 

For more information about Board District 7, visit us at https://www.lausd.org/bd7 or follow us on social media: Instagram (@lausdbd7), Facebook (@lausdbd7), Twitter (@lausdbd7).

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