Gary Moskowitz
BURBANK -- Marissa Rosoff feels that the Burbank Unified School
District is ahead of the game when it comes to preparing for school
safety.
She knows the tricky part is staying ahead.
Rosoff has seen a rise in public interest in school safety -- 510
families attended safety meetings this year so far. In response to this
interest shown by the public, Rosoff is keeping campus-safety procedures
in her presentations simple, yet thorough.
"We try to think outside of the box and address the potential
what-ifs," said Rosoff, coordinator of school safety, child welfare and
attendance specialist for the school district. "If you never have to deal
with the real thing, all the better, but it's crucial to keep changing
and adapting to safety needs of students."
Rosoff will spend a good portion of her summer working with students,
parents, police officers, firefighters and school administrators on
developing tabletop scenarios, in which miniature models of school
campuses will be used to map out procedures for crisis situations that
might arise at Burbank schools.
Burbank Police Sgt. John Dilibert said using the miniature models of
school campuses as visual guides are helpful in determining how to
utilize safety resources to the best potential by helping emergency
workers make better decisions in crisis situations.
"We are understanding better how to be tactical in applying procedures
to crisis situations," Dilibert said. "If you have an active shooting
situation at a school, do you really want students running around
outside? No."
The model mock-ups are a direct result of the passage of Senate Bill
187 in 1999, which mandated school-safety plans.
