In response to the Newtown shootings, Los Angeles Unified plans to hire 1,087 campus aides, who will wear special vests and carry two-way radios, to bolster security at more than 400 elementary schools, according to a report in the Daily News. Critics of the plan, which will cost $4.2 million, call it “security on the cheap.”
“Another two people on each campus can help us maintain a safe environment that can ease the minds of our employees, parents, and students,” LAUSD Board President Monica Garcia told the Daily News last Friday.
But Scott Folsom, a Mount Washington Elementary School Parent Teacher Association member and state PTA board member, told the Daily News “what they’re doing is security on the cheap.”
Currently LAUSD has 1,028 campus aides at middle schools and high schools. The newly hired aides, who would work three-hour shifts, would be assigned to elementary campuses without aides. They would also receive training in mediating conflicts between students. Officials expect to hire former LAUSD employees who have been laid off to fill many of these positions.
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Filed under: Quick Hits, School Safety · Tags: Los Angeles Unified, School Safety
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