AVUHSD considers LASD contract
Survey finds 72% of the 1,262 student respondents feel safe
LANCASTER — Antelope Valley Union High School District’s Board of Education on Wednesday will consider an estimated $1.8 million contract with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to bring nine school resource deputies back to campuses for the 2021-22 school year.
The proposed one-year contract is for eight full-time deputies at Antelope Valley, Eastside, Knight, Highland, Lancaster, Littlerock, Palmdale and Quartz Hill high school campuses and one roving deputy who will visit smaller school sites such as Desert Winds and R. Rex Parris continuation high schools. There is also a sergeant and a team-lead deputy.
The contract does not include SOAR High School, which is on the Antelope Valley College campus. AV College has its own contract with the sheriff’s department for campus security.
The Board previously approved a $150,000 contract with the sheriff’s department at a special April 10 meeting to bring a limited number of school resource deputies back for summer school when students were on campus. The Board received a record 118 public comments at the meeting.
Most letter writers were in favor
of bringing deputies back to campuses. Some of those who wrote in against school resource deputies cited concerns about the school-to-prison pipeline. They suggested the money allocated for the contract could be put to better use with resources to help students via counseling and mental health services.
Results from a school safety survey conducted by consultant Collaborative Learning Solutions found that 72% of the 1,262 student respondents feel safe at school. Asked if they wanted to have a school resource officer on campus, 29.28% of the 1,257 students who responded to the survey said yes, while another 57.6% said, “I don’t know,” and 13.13% said no.
More than half — 50.88% — of the 57 students in 10th to 12th grade who responded to the survey said they wanted to have a school resource office on campus. Of those students, 40.35% said “I don’t know” and 8.77% said no. Among the 521 faculty members who answered the survey some 72% said they feel their school site is safe. Of those, 74.57% said yes, 16.67% said “I don’t know” and 8.86% said no.
The meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday online and in the Boardroom at the District office.
Anyone who wishes to observe the meeting may do so via the District’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6hLaGo2xh3dclTRisANvsQ
Those who want to make a comment in-person will need to wear a face-covering, adhere to physical distancing protocol and complete a brief COVID-19 screening, which includes having temperature taken upon entering the room.
District officials ask that people who want to provide comment in-person remain at the meeting until they have done so, unless space is available. Space will be limited due to physical distancing and on a firstcome, first-served basis.
In-person comments will go first. Speakers will be limited to three minutes. The total time for public input on each agenda item will be limited to 20 minutes.
Anyone who wishes to participate remotely may do so by phone after submitting an electronic speaker card by visiting https://forms.gle/bTjpT5zSMaZkGtEJA.
The link to submit an electronic speaker card will be available at 7 a.m. Wednesday and must be submitted by 9 a.m. Anyone who successfully submitted a speaker card will receive directions to call in by 10 a.m. Speakers will be placed on hold until it is their time to provide their comment to the Board.
Once the speaker is done or the three-minute speaker and/or 20-minute agenda item time allotment is met, they will be disconnected from the call. Speakers may continue to observe the meeting at the YouTube link, according to agenda guidelines.