August 24, 2023
Honorable Maria Hernandez
Presiding Judge of the Orange County Superior Court
700 Civic Center Drive, West
Santa Ana, CA 92701
Re: City of Huntington Beach Response
2022-2023 Orange County Grand Jury Report
School Shooting: How Prepared are Orange County Public Schools?
Honorable Presiding Judge Maria Hernandez,
The City of Huntington Beach received and reviewed the referenced Grand Jury Report, and in accordance with the Grand Jury’s request, approved the following responses to the report.
F1: Law enforcement, first responders, and other stakeholders have demonstrated a strong interest in working cooperatively with Orange County Public Schools to mitigate the risk of an active shooter incident; the establishment of MOUs be tween law enforcement and school districts would strengthen this cooperation.
Response: The City of Huntington Beach agrees with this finding.
F8: School Resource Officers (SROs) are a valuable asset for school safety, yet many cities/districts do not allocate sufficient funds to hire needed officers.
Response: The City of Huntington Beach agrees with this finding.
R1: Each Orange County school district should arrange for local law enforcement to do an annual safety inspection of each school. The written safety checklist should include an audit of the integrity of site boundaries and a review of safety plans and poli cies. This annual safety audit should commence with the 2023- 24 school year by October 1, 2023, and annually thereafter.
Response: This recommendation has been implemented.
Prior to the start of the 2022 / 2023 school year , Huntington Beach Police Department SROs completed school safety inspections of all 32 public school campuses. This included updating the police department’s maps of each campus, and making them available in a digital format accessible to all officers.
R3: Each Orange County school district, in conjunction with law enforcement, should develop and implement tabletop exercises to be conducted in district schools by December 31, 2023, and annually thereafter.
Response: This recommendation requires further analysis and discussion with our public school districts and neighboring public safety agencies since four of the five public school districts operating in Huntington Beach have campuses outside of Huntington Beach city limits. These discussions will occur within the next six months.
R4: Each Orange County school district should work with local law enforcement to plan and conduct a district -wide active shooter drill by July 1, 2024 , and at least every other year thereafter.
Response: This recommendation requires further analysis and discussion with our public school districts and neighboring public safety agencies, since four of the five public school districts operating in Huntington Beach have campuses outside of Huntington Beach city limits . These discussions will occur within the next six months.
R12: Each Orange County school district should assess the need for SROs or additional SROs, reaching out to appropriate community partners to facilitate funding by July 1, 2024.
Response: This recommendation requires further analysis.
The city supports the continual involvement of our public school districts to assess the need for additional SROs and facilitate funding of these positions.
Sincerely,