Board approves school safety plans and updates emergency policies to add opioid, threat-assessment protocols

The Lemon Grove School District Board of Trustees approved each site’s comprehensive school safety plan and adopted updated district policies and administrative regulations that add opioid-overdose response protocols, formalize threat‑assessment steps and call for consideration of accommodations for students with disabilities.

Deputy Superintendent Burton presented the plans, saying the documents “include planning around emergency disasters, along with other safety areas. They are updated and reviewed every year and present here for board review and approval.” Trustee Robertson pressed the board on wildfire readiness, asking, “are we prepared if a wildfire were to come through?” Burton said the plans include fire preparedness and continuity‑of‑learning provisions and emphasized the importance of regular drills, school‑site safety‑team reviews and collaboration with the fire department.

Trustees discussed how to measure preparedness. Burton pointed to a district risk assessment, Navigate360, used last year “to provide us with that baseline,” and said sites conduct drills followed by debriefs and staff meetings to address problems such as locked gates or other operational issues. Burton also told the board the district is considering adding more consistent post‑drill debrief protocols and staff surveys to collect objective data on readiness.

Board members asked about adding the city manager, rather than or in addition to the mayor, to the list of officials who would be notified in certain emergencies. Trustee Robertson said the mayor is not full time and the city manager is. Burton and trustees agreed to amend the language to allow “and/or” so the district could contact the most appropriate local official in a given situation.

Trustees also reviewed proposed updates to related board policy and administrative regulation that would codify (per Burton) two additional protocols: a formal threat‑assessment process and opioid‑overdose response procedures, both described as newly required by 2024 state legislation. Burton said the district has already begun those practices and is proposing to formally include them in policy.

Trustee Miller and other trustees noted broader training needs. Burton confirmed administrators and site crisis teams have received threat‑assessment training and that administrators have completed ALICE active‑shooter training; the board asked staff to develop a plan to train all staff. Trustee Robertson urged more objective evaluation of training effectiveness; Burton said the district will bring recommendations about integrating training metrics into the plans.

The board moved to approve the comprehensive school safety plans (moved by Trustee Robertson, seconded by Trustee Preciado) and then voted to approve the updated Board Policy and Administrative Regulation for the comprehensive safety plan and the emergencies and disaster preparedness updates (first and second motions recorded as moved by Trustee Robertson and seconded by Trustee Miller). Each motion carried with unanimous assent from trustees present.

Board members said they expect ongoing review and asked staff to return with implementation details, such as standard debriefs after drills, staff surveys to measure confidence with plans, and clarifications on notification language that allow the most appropriate city official — mayor or city manager — to be contacted.