Riverdale joint unified school districts (rjusd) proposed safety technology advanced at riverdale (star) program will benefit students and families in a rural, unincorporated central california…

Riverdale joint unified school districts (rjusd) proposed safety technology advanced at riverdale (star) program will benefit students and families in a rural, unincorporated central california community who face significant disadvantages, including extremely high rates of poverty and limited access to basic health, wellness, and youth recreation services. The overall goal of the star program is to improve school safety on all rjusd campuses by implementing technology solutions that will be braided with recent school climate improvement investments and address specific school safety infrastructure weaknesses identified through district safety committee needs assessment and star program planning. Rjusd will achieve this goal by accomplishing the three objectives: objective 1: increase capacity to deter and identify threats. Rjusd will replace each schools antiquated and ineffective cameras with a new network-based video surveillance system that will be monitored by rjusd school safety personnel, select safety committee members to ensure early identification of any threats on campus and expedited notification of law enforcement when threats do occur. Cameras will be strategically placed through collaboration with law enforcement to enable the monitoring of perimeter, high-traffic, and high-risk areas on rjusd school grounds while also ensuring the protection of student data and privacy. Objective 2: deter intruder access to school facilities. Rjusd will procure the raptor visitor management system to facilitate the identification of unauthorized individuals before they can enter the school and provide an early warning of potential intruders. The district will also install electronic entry/exit latching devices with a video intercom system at each schools primary entry points to control physical access to school facilities, prevent intruder entry, and delay threats. Objective 3: expedite first responder response to school safety incidents and improve coordination with first responders during an emergency. Rjusd will procure a new portable VHF/UHF radio repeater system to ensure all key rjusd personnel (e.g., sros, administrators, select staff) can quickly report incidents on campus and effectively communicate with each other and with first responders during an on-campus emergency. Further, the web-based actvnet system will significantly improve rjusd emergency response processes by providing designated first responders with real-time access to school cameras, site plans, classroom photos, and other pertinent data in the event of an active shooter on campus or other emergency situation. The star program will benefit from rjusds strong partnership with several external entities that will play a key role in ensuring the programs success, including fresno county sheriffs department, riverdale fire department, and california highway patrol. As rjusd serves an unincorporated community, the district relies heavily on these agencies and coordinates with them to assess and address any issues concerning school safety. Each of these entities will send representation to attend select district safety committee planning and review meetings. The fresno county sheriffs department will play a critical role in ensuring the effective and ongoing coordination of all star program efforts, especially by collaborating on actvnet implementation and providing surveillance setup recommendations.