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YEA president raises safety, crisis-plan and food-service concerns; district says upgrades planned
Summary
The Yakima Education Association president briefed the board about dissemination gaps for crisis plans, issues with Cintagics panic badges, eloper protocols and a pilot to restore pre-bell cafeteria breakfasts; district staff said most buildings have personalized crisis plans and upgrades are planned for badge technology and breakfast service.
The Yakima Education Association president, introduced as President Guerrero, told the board on Jan. 21 that association members have raised multiple operational concerns, including uneven access to crisis-response resources, inconsistent dissemination of building crisis-plan templates, malfunctions in the district’s panic-badge system and problems arising when students who run off campus ("elopers") are chased.
Guerrero said the district has a crisis-plan template and that all but three buildings had personalized the template. “Every building did in fact have that crisis plan template and that all but 3 have personalized it,” Guerrero said, but added many teachers still do not know where to find the documents because they are buried in internal systems and pre-service days are optional.
On panic badges, Guerrero described instances where teachers pressed a button and security went to the wrong classroom because of signal routing and phone‑app/location mismatch. She said district staff explained the system uses a ceiling detector and an app for security; the district plans phased upgrades and reissued badges. “If they only work 80% of the time, then they're not super effective,” Guerrero said.
Guerrero raised concerns about responses to students who elope from campus and said staff were told generally not to give chase unless there is imminent danger, at which point physical intervention is allowed. She recommended providing walkie-talkies to staff working with known elopers as an immediate, practical mitigation.
On meals, Guerrero said district staff are piloting returning breakfast to cafeterias before the bell at selected schools to allow hot breakfasts while continuing after‑the‑bell service. “We are looking at piloting, bringing in breakfast back to the way it used to be before the bell rings,” she said, naming Roosevelt and Gilbert as pilot sites.
Guerrero said she had raised these issues with student services and safety staff and would follow up; she thanked the superintendent for working with her on the items. District staff present confirmed work is underway on system upgrades and dissemination improvements. The board took no formal action at the meeting on these operational items.
