Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County superintendent urges action on school safety after student violence
Summary
Siskiyou County Superintendent Matt Destin told the Board of Supervisors that a recent attempted murder and other violent incidents show the county must strengthen school-safety measures and services for students dealing with severe mental-health and probation involvement.
Matt Destin, superintendent, told the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors that a student at the county high school was involved in an attempted murder last week and described multiple prior violent incidents involving the same youth.
"Our children are not safe in schools in Siskiyou County," Destin said, listing prior referrals to law enforcement, an armed robbery and videoed assaults. He said the district has reallocated staff and resources to cover positions he believes are outside the school district's core obligation and urged county leaders to coordinate on prevention and services.
Destin asked supervisors and county staff to join a superintendent meeting the first Tuesday of every month and invited them to work on cross-agency responses. He said the county system had multiple "warning factors that didn't get caught up" and asked for a review of where coordination and intervention failed.
Board members and Health & Human Services staff discussed how students access services. Sarah Clark, Health & Human Services, outlined referral pathways, voluntary and involuntary care options and conservatorship for people who meet criteria for hospitalization, and said most services are voluntary without legal leverage.
The board did not take formal action at the meeting; supervisors asked staff to return with information about programs that interface with schools, current contracts for school-based mental-health services, and potential next steps for interagency coordination.
