Corona-Norco Unified board hears safety update; district details cameras, fencing, Narcan and SRO staffing

Corona-Norco Unified trustees heard a broad safety-and-security briefing at their regular meeting as district staff detailed camera coverage, fencing upgrades, visitor screening and emergency-response procedures.

Dr. Tompkins opened the presentation and introduced Gary Knudson, who described the district’s mix of staff and physical measures meant to keep campuses safe. "We have 950 cameras across the district at all our campuses," Knudson said, adding that the district is developing a camera-refresh plan to standardize equipment and avoid piecemeal replacements.

Knudson said nine campuses already have upgraded fencing and that staff have prioritized eight additional campuses that are awaiting Division of the State Architect (DSA) approval. "We're evaluating all of our school campuses to determine what needs there are," he said, noting a placeholder for fencing and cameras in the unaudited actuals.

On visitor screening, Knudson said the district uses the Raptor system and screened more than 300,000 visitors in the 2023–24 school year. He described the STAR (School Threat Assessment and Response) protocol as a Riverside County cooperative program that brings law enforcement, courts and behavioral-health partners together when a threat is reported.

The presentation also covered prevention and response programs. Knudson said the district has deployed "about 1,700 boxes or doses" of Narcan to schools, distributed through County Health, and uses detection canines for targeted searching of classrooms. He said the district updated its comprehensive safe-school plan (an Education Code requirement) to simplify staff preparation and mapping of sites.

Communications staff Bridal Faust and Lily Gardner described crisis communications work during last week’s fires and air-quality incidents. Faust said the communications office’s role is to "take a very complex situation with a lot of details and simplify that into a form that is easily digestible for our staff and parents," and Gardner described the use of text messages, email, the website and social media to deliver concise updates.

Board members used the Q&A to press for more detail. One asked for the number of SROs; staff counted roughly 10 officers assigned across high schools and shared areas and acknowledged that coverage feels thin across 52 sites. Members asked whether the district could increase SRO presence at middle schools and requested a campus-by-campus list showing which sites have completed fencing and which are next. Knudson said staff would provide further details and continue coordinating with Corona Police and Riverside County Sheriff on site enforcement.

Other topics included the Prop 47 community-delinquency-prevention grant—staff said they will reapply in May 2025 and a board member noted the grant has totaled about $1.6 million over three years—the Gaggle monitoring system (about 240 incidents flagged), and ongoing training for security attendants on de-escalation and CPI techniques.

The district announced a safety symposium set for Nov. 13 at Centennial High School and said it will continue tabletop EOC (Emergency Operations Center) exercises and trainings. Board members thanked staff and the communications team for their work during the recent incident and for the presentation.

Next steps the board requested included: a campus-by-campus fencing status list; a follow-up on the Prop 47 invoiced funding amount; consideration of additional SRO coverage where possible; and continuing crisis-communications drills and community outreach.