Board hears safety update and public concerns about polling sites, playgrounds and class sizes

District safety officer Mr. Romero presented an updated safety and health report and a new safety-training menu that includes incident management, Stop the Bleed, preparedness drills, emergency action plans, self-defense and "verbal judo" de-escalation training. Romero said the district has trained more than 1,900 employees and proposed quarterly safety reports to the board.

During public comment, Kara Good urged the district to consider options under Elections Code 12283 to avoid having students on campus during elections (options: keep school open with a designated polling area, designate the day as staff development, or close the school). Trustees and staff said instructional-minute requirements constrain closing campuses and described site-level mitigation strategies (creating a secured polling area separated from the main campus).

Multiple parents and speakers raised playground and facility concerns on West Side campuses, including broken slides and delayed repairs. A parent at Liberty Elementary described four upper-grade combined classes with as many as 30 students, said two teachers were lost and one displaced the day before school started, and asked the board to reconsider those staffing decisions. Trustees asked staff to follow up on playground repairs, combo-class locations and to include that information in weekly enrollment and Friday updates.

Trustees also requested an environmental review update from TNT Consulting on potential emissions from the Otay Landfill and Tijuana wastewater impacts, and asked for a public report on progress from the Brookwood employee-housing feasibility work and the district's budget outlook in light of a projected state deficit.