Current practices when it comes to campus cultures and climates and how they can be bettered were discussed Tuesday at the William S. Hart Union High School District’s “A Culture of Safety and Wellness” annual discussion.
The event held at La Mesa Junior High, technically a special meeting of the governing board as three of the five members were present, saw district and school site administrators talk about campus safety, student health and wellness and extracurricular and academic programs.
Representatives from the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station were also on hand to explain the roles of deputies on campuses.

Linda Storli, president of the governing board, said events such as this are how the district is able to engage with stakeholders to find ways to achieve improvement.
Between presentations, parents and students in attendance met in small groups with the administrators to discuss some ideas for how things could be better.
Interim Superintendent Michael Vierra said Tuesday’s event was the mixture of two formerly separate events that overlapped enough in content for them to be combined.
“This meeting tonight was really built with the strategic plan that the governing board presented three years ago after having a series of community meetings,” Vierra said.


Three of the five goals of the strategic plan were discussed on Tuesday: No. 2, which focuses on safety and wellness; No. 3, which focuses on access and equity; and No. 5, which focuses on communication and collaboration.
Lt. Rich O’Neal, head of the school resource deputy program at the SCV Sheriff’s Station, said covering local schools is highly sought after within the station, and Deputy Dave Martinez, the deputy in charge of Golden Valley High, La Mesa and Bowman High School, spoke on why he loves doing his job.
“You know, this uniform represents a lot to everybody,” Martinez said. “Some people have a negative impression of this uniform, and every day I go to work, and my fellow partners and fellow deputies, strive every day to maintain our professionalism, but also foster positive relationships so that when the kids do see us, they ask questions and they get to know us, and ultimately they get to trust us. And that trust goes a long way as they become adults.”
Tara Brown, assistant superintendent of student services, focused on the physical safety of students and the different ways that the district communicates with families. In her first year with the district after coming from the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, Brown said she was pleased to learn how involved deputies are with the district and the many contingencies that are in place in case of emergencies.




If something does happen that requires some type of response, district and site administrators have what is called CrisisGo, which allows them to alert everyone of a potential situation. Students are also monitored through Bark for Schools, which allows administrators to be notified of any potential safety issues and check in with students after reviewing an alert.
Students also have access to the Student CAREText system that gives them a resource for reporting any possible threats or concerns. Parents are alerted by the district to any threats or concerns through ParentSquare.
For how the district tries to create positive cultures at each of the campuses, former La Mesa Principal Kullen Welch, recently hired as the principal at Valencia High, said administrators being visible and interacting with students, providing short interventions — for things such as academic support, time and organizational help or peer conflicts, to name a few — and proper disciplinary actions helped during his two years at La Mesa. Welch said discipline can involve some sort of punishment, but more important is ensuring that a lesson is learned.
“I’m a firm believer that students need boundaries,” Welch said, “and they need to know where those lines are and to operate within those lines so that all students can work hard and be kind when they walked onto the campus of La Mesa.”




Ira Rounsaville, the district social worker in charge of campus culture and climate, said his job is to help campuses be kind, inclusive and respectful. To do that, he said, he uses after-school enrichment programs, gang prevention programs, bias-related incident reporting and restorative support.
“There’s been some other buzzwords that have been given,” Rounsavile said, “and my buzz word’s going to be ‘restored’ … Restorative practices is a culture. It’s a way of life. It’s the way to reinforce what you desire and how you want your campus to be run, to make sure that our kids, our students, feel comfortable, respected, and they receive kindness.”
Castaic High School Principal Vince Ferry talked about parent outreach and how important it is for parents to let schools and the district know about things that they hear, because, as Ferry put it, students are more likely to talk about problems away from teachers and administrators.
Sarah Gilberts, the district’s wellness coordinator, highlighted how each campus now has a wellness center where students can escape from the stresses of education and learn techniques on how to manage their lives to not have so much stress.
The last speaker was Shaneen Gevorgiz, a senior at Saugus High School and president of the Student Communication Council. She focused on concerns that students have right now, which are mainly: mental health and well-being; bullying, racism and prejudice, and social media influence.
“Personally, as I was talking to my group table, a lot of students understand the effects of social media,” Gevorgiz said. “They understand it’s harmful to them, yet they still keep coming back. And that’s the issue.”

