SCHOOLS URGED TO PLAN FOR CRISES.

Byline: Holly Edwards Staff Writer

While a vast array of school safety programs is in place throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District, much more needs to be done to ensure that teachers and students know what to do in a crisis, school and city leaders said Wednesday morning.

The warning came after a press conference attended by school and city officials at the Los Angeles Police Academy aimed at publicizing school safety initiatives.

``It's not enough to just have a plan,'' LAUSD Superintendent Roy Romer said. ``We also need to make sure all of our school personnel understand it.''

A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed the nation's second-largest school district is not alone. Of 9,000 schools surveyed across the country, every one had a crisis management plan, but almost none of the teachers knew how to use it.

Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks said schools also needed to conduct regular crisis drills, and he urged school officials to contact their local police captains to arrange an emergency response practice session.

``They need to walk through it, just like a fire drill,'' Parks said. Parks added that recent rapid response training for some 6,500 LAPD and LAUSD officers has helped make his department and the school system more crisis-ready than ever.

Larry Dodson, juvenile consultant for the Los Angeles County Probation Department, also said more needs to be done to help potentially violent students before they act out and hurt themselves or others.

In October, his department plans to launch a mental health court for juveniles - the first of its kind in the nation - to direct mentally ill young people into treatment rather than jail.

``A lot of the kids who get into trouble at school have behavior problems that stem from mental health problems,'' Dodson said. ``If they get the help they need, our schools will be safer.''

Pointing to the great number of programs in place on school campuses - from threat management teams to ``safe house'' locations to anti-truancy efforts - LAUSD Director of Operations Willie Crittendon said he did not believe the school system needs to invent new programs to boost school safety.

Instead, Crittendon said, school officials need to learn how to use the programs they have more effectively.

``We know more than we need to know on how to affect school safety,'' he said. ``Now we just have to get everyone involved in the process.''