Active shooter safety plans at San Diego schools
Good Morning, I’m Annica Colbert….it’s Thursday, October 7th.
School plans for keeping kids safe during an “active shooter” threat
More on that next, but first... let’s do the headlines….
.Physicians protested outside UC San Diego health’s La Jolla medical campus on wednesday. It is part of a statewide protest against labor practices in the UC medical system. Doctors have been without a contract since the end of july. They’re arguing for better pay, higher meal stipends and improved working conditions. UC San Diego health officials said in a statement they are in the process of contract negotiations, and they have offered pay increases along with larger housing, meal and education stipends.
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Republic services celebrated the grand opening of its new otay compost facility on wednesday. The facility will help in recycling food waste and converting it into compost. Starting January, a new state law will require the majority of businesses and residents in California to recycle organic waste.
Chris Seney is the organics operations director at republic services.
“chula vista is going to consume 60% of the capacity at this facility. the state of california acknowledges we need 100-150 more compost facilities to be their aggressive goal of compost in sb-13.”
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The city of San Diego announced on Wednesday that it received federal funding to create the San Diego Regional Cyber Innovation Center--it’ll help local government agencies protect against cyberattacks. San Diego mayor Todd Gloria says the new innovation center will serve as a place where regional information and prevention strategies can be shared between agencies, especially for smaller agencies that don’t have in-house expertise.
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From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
There was an elementary school lockdown on wednesday because of an active shooter threat in City Heights. KPBS Education Reporter M.G. Perez has more on that and local efforts to keep our schools safe.
Parents waited anxiously outside as Rosa Parks Elementary School went into lockdown. There was no active shooter inside...but according to San Diego police someone was shot just a few blocks away. Corayma Campuzano had two of her children in the school.
CG: Corayma Campuzano/Mother
“Everybody was inside and I waited until the teacher said it was clear, then I showed up to the front door…...I mean it happened outside, but what if someone was crazy and went into the school with a gun.”
That did not happen. But shootings in schools were a nationwide problem even before the COVID shutdown.
M.G. Perez/KPBS News
“COVID is the latest threat on campus for parents to deal with but an active shooter or other threat of violence is just as real. Before the pandemic San Diego County officials were already at work on a new safety plan.”
The San Diego County Grand Jury seated in 2018 conducted a review of school preparedness in cases of active shooters. In 2019, this report was released with several recommendations including proposals to
Increase funding in school budgets for training, equipment and infrastructure improvements to handle an active shooter crisis for staff and student safety.
Conduct active shooter drills with staff that produce “immediacy” of response according to the school’s approved safety plan.
Include substitute teachers and all other adult workers in training and practice provided to regular staff on active shooter awareness and response
The report highlighted a pilot program at Torrey Pines High School which installed a specialized camera security system. The San Dieguito Union High School District has since installed the system on its other 9-campuses. Many of the other 42-districts and charter and private schools across the county have followed suit with infrastructure improvements and safety drills. Tim Ware is the School Safety Coordinator for the San Diego County Office of Education leading the efforts…
CG: Tim Ware/County School Safety Coordinator
“Right now we have about half of our districts sending teams to our training...as it relates not only to the school shooting piece, but also concerning behaviors that lead up to something like that happening.”
Corayma Campuzano is relieved that did not happen today and she’s grateful to go home with her children safe and sound. MGP KPBS News.
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The oil spill off of the coast of Orange County is not only an ecological disaster, it’s also devastated businesses that operate on or near the shoreline. KPBS’ john carroll spoek with some commercial fishermen on (wednesday) about the damage the oil could do if it reached our shores.
h&m landing is the largest sportfishing operation in san diego county. when we caught up with h&m president frank ursitti wednesday morning, he’d just gotten off the phone with the marine region manager for the state department of fish and wildlife who had some encouraging news.
with favorable conditions, with lighter wind conditions, i think we’re positioned pretty well to keep things from spreading further to the south here in san diego.”
today is the beginning of lobster fishing season, which has lobster fishers to the north frustrated as they can’t leave port… and their counterparts down here breathing a sigh of relief. jc, kpbs news.
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San Ysidro community advocates celebrated California Clean Air Day by pointing to a long running pollution problem in their neighborhood. KPBS environment reporter Erik Anderson has more.
A newly painted mural on a Casa Familiar building imagines what could have been. South Bay artist Amanda Kachadoorian painted plants native to the Tijuana River Valley, imagining a region without pollution. But Casa Familiar’s Alejandro Amador says pollution does exist here.
“San Ysidro continuously reports high levels of PM 2.5 and black carbon. More than any other community in San Diego and it’s within the top five percentile within the whole state of California.”
The culprit is vehicle traffic across the world’s busiest land border crossing. Locals say reducing vehicle wait times at the border would go a long way toward fixing the pollution issue.
Erik Anderson KPBS News
And that was KPBS environment reporter Erik Anderson. The environmental troubles near the border unfortunately do not end with air. On Wednesday, County officials extended a water contact closure at the Tijuana slough, including up to the Imperial Beach shoreline due to sewage contamination. Signs and warning of sewage contaminated water will remain in place until water samples test safe for recreational use---that’s according to the San Diego county department of environmental health and quality.
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Many homes were burned, but some homes survived the Camp fire in northern california, that devastated the town of paradise. Now we may have some answers to why that was. kqed science reporter danielle venton tells us a new report finds that some simple actions can make a big difference.
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Coming up.... San Diego County announced a 9 million dollar partnership to fight childhood obesity. Childhood obesity rates have increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, disproportionately impacting communities of color.
“It's really highlighting where we have systems, where we have organizations, agencies, both private and public, that could be doing more.”
More on that next, just after the break.
Childhood obesity rates have increased since the start of the pandemic, disproportionately impacting communities of color. San Diego County earlier this week announced a 9 million-dollar partnership to fight childhood obesity.
Dr. Guadalupe Ayalla is a Professor of Public Health at San Diego State and director of the Institute for Behavioral and Community Health. She spoke about childhood obesity and the trends we’ve lately seen with KPBS Midday Edition Host Jade Hindmon.
That was Dr. Guadalupe Ayalla, a Professor of Public Health at San Diego State and director of the Institute for Behavioral and Community Health, speaking with KPBS midday Edition Host Jade Hindmon.
That’s it for the podcast today. Be sure to catch KPBS Midday Edition At Noon on KPBS radio, or check out the Midday podcast. You can also watch KPBS Evening Edition at 5 O’clock on KPBS Television, and as always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Annica Colbert. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
