RANCHO SANTA FE SCHOOL BOARD OKS NEW SAFETY, SECURITY POSITIONS

The Rancho Santa Fe School board is taking a stronger approach to ensuring the safety of everyone on the R. Roger Rowe School campus with the approval of a new board and staff positions focused on safety and security.

At a special meeting Jan. 23, the board approved a new bylaw establishing a board safety and security liaison, and approved the new position of director of safety, security, facilities and technology — a role that will be filled by Director of Facilities and Technology Ben Holbert, in addition to his regular duties. The position comes with no increase in salary.

The new board bylaw delegates authority for the liaison to have “unfettered physical access” to the district’s school and grounds for the purpose of observing and evaluating safety conditions. The delegation does not include classrooms where students are engaged in instruction. The liaison is not required to provide notice or register prior to conducting evaluations.

The position, providing the “eyes and ears for the board,” will be an annual appointment, and school board President John Tree nominated trustee Paul Seitz to fill the position. Seitz was approved in a unanimous board vote.

“I think he is the obvious choice,” Tree said of Seitz, a retired Marine who has been outspoken about campus safety for years before being elected to the board. “I look forward to him being the inaugural liaison and setting a high standard for future board members to follow his footsteps.”

The issue of campus safety has been heightened at Rowe since last year, following the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and closer to home, the arrest of a former school substitute teacher, Daniel Dasko. Dasko, who was a substitute teacher at Rowe for two years, was charged with distributing child pornography with federal prosecutors alleging that he solicited sexual images and videos from young boys.

Parents have questioned the district’s substitute teacher hiring practices, how easy it is to access the campus, and raised alarm about classroom doors being propped open, negating the impact of the school’s electronic lock system.

In addition to the new board and staff positions, the board on Jan. 23 approved security upgrades for the campus including a $15,000 expenditure for higher fencing along the front of the school, and $3,869 to add alarms and electronic locks to the school’s remaining gates without them.

Last year, the board had directed the district to create a new staff safety and security position, and it was the superintendent’s job to identify the person who would take on the new title and responsibilities. The position is Holbert’s existing title plus safety and security.