SECTIONS 49350-49355 - California Statutes

EDUCATION CODE

SECTION 49350-49355

49350. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) Studies have shown that indicators of risk for violence are
associated with a child's experiences at school. Antisocial behavior
or aggressiveness, which is sometimes combined with isolation,
withdrawal, hyperactivity, or attention deficit disorder, places
children at increased risk of violence.
(2) These children are at risk of persistent antisocial behavior,
such as skipping school, getting into fights, and misbehaving in
class. Young people of both genders who engage in these activities
are at increased risk of experiencing drug abuse, juvenile
delinquency, violence, dropping out of school, and teen pregnancy.
(3) It is well-known that some youth, even though exposed to
multiple risk factors, do not succumb to violent, antisocial
behavior. One of the defining factors for this outcome is
bonding--positive relationships with family members, teachers, police
officers, sheriffs' deputies, and other adults.
(4) The Community Policing and Mentoring for School Safety Pilot
Program brings this successful law enforcement strategy to California'
s schools. By providing funding assistance, strict participation
guidelines and assessments, the Community Policing and Mentoring for
School Safety Pilot Program will bring highly trained law enforcement
officers onto school campuses to work with students during and after
school. Community policing in schools will provide the necessary
opportunities for students' active involvement in positive
activities, as well as trained personnel to teach them skills so that
they may pursue later opportunities successfully. Community policing
in schools provides a consistent system of recognition and
reinforcement of positive behavior.
(5) Many school safety approaches, including metal detectors,
drug-sniffing dogs, armed private security personnel, and similar
security measures, are more one-dimensional in their approach to
school safety. The Community Policing and Mentoring for School Safety
Pilot Program takes a multidimensional approach by involving the
community, schools, parents or guardians, and law enforcement
personnel in the design of the program that will serve their schools.
The relationships developed, as a result of this process and the
programs themselves, will be a strong preventative alternative to
antisocial behavior in California's schools.
(b) As used in this article, "community policing" means an
approach to crime prevention that is founded on developing positive
relationships between law enforcement and the community. In community
policing, law enforcement becomes an integral facet of the community
because officers work directly with the community and develop
positive relationships with members of the community. Community
members become more involved in their community's activities because
they know they have the personal support of law enforcement.
Community policing identifies factors that put young people at risk
for violence in order to reduce or eliminate these factors and
strengthen protective factors such as positive relationships with
adults.

49350.5. (a) In order to ensure that students enrolled in the
California public schools attend campuses that are safe, secure,
orderly, and purposeful places in which students and staff are free
to learn and teach without the threat of physical or psychological
harm, it is the intent of the Legislature that two-year grants be
provided to the ABC Unified School District and the Downey Unified
School District to establish community policing school safety and
mentoring programs.
(b) Grants under this article shall be awarded in order to develop
and implement a plan that accomplishes both of the following:
(1) Provision for a continuum of responses to school safety needs
by employees of school districts and local law enforcement agencies.
(2) Demonstration of a collaborative and integrated approach for
implementing a system of providing safe and secure school
environments between the school districts and local law enforcement
agencies.
(c) Grant funds shall be expended as determined by the multiagency
juvenile justice coordinating council, established pursuant to
subdivision (b) of Section 49351.
(d) Grants under this article shall not be used to provide funding
for school resource officers.

49351. (a) (1) The Community Policing and Mentoring for School
Safety Pilot Program is hereby established. The Community Policing
and Mentoring for School Safety Pilot Program shall be administered
by the State Department of Education for the purpose of reducing
juvenile crime and delinquency. The Superintendent of Public
Instruction shall award grants to the ABC Unified School District and
the Downey Unified School District to accomplish the goals set forth
in subdivision (b) of Section 49350.5.
(2) Programs funded pursuant to this article may include, but not
necessarily be limited to, all of the following methods of community
policing:
(A) Teaching conflict resolution classes.
(B) Teaching crime prevention classes.
(C) Operating afterschool programs.
(D) Provide mentoring.
(E) Patrolling the community that encompasses the school district
participating in the Community Policing and Mentoring for School
Safety Pilot Program.
(b) Each school district that receives a grant under this article
shall be required to establish a multiagency juvenile justice
coordinating council that shall develop and implement a continuum of
community-based responses to juvenile crime in the school setting.
(c) The coordinating councils established pursuant to subdivision
(b) shall, at a minimum, include the school district, law enforcement
agency, a volunteer police representative, parents, and at least two
community organizations. The coordinating councils shall develop a
comprehensive, multiagency plan that identifies resources and
strategies for providing an effective targeted community policing
plan, for activities relating to prevention, intervention,
supervision, and treatment of at-risk youths in school settings.

49352. The coordinating council established pursuant to subdivision
(b) of Section 49351 shall accomplish all of the following:
(a) Complete an identification and prioritization of the schools,
and other areas in the community, that face a significant public
safety risk from juvenile crime, such as gang activity, daylight
burglary, late-night robbery, vandalism, truancy, controlled
substance sales, firearm-related violence, and juvenile alcohol use
within the council's jurisdiction.
(b) Develop information and intelligence sharing systems to ensure
that school districts actions are fully coordinated with local law
enforcement agencies, and to provide data for measuring the success
of the grantee in achieving its goals. The plan shall develop goals
related to the outcome measures that shall be used to determine the
effectiveness of the program, at participating pilot sites.
(c) Identify outcome measures which shall include, but not
necessarily be limited to, each of the following:
(1) The rate of drug- and alcohol-related offenses.
(2) The rate of crimes against persons.
(3) The rate of crimes against property.
(4) Incidence of students in possession of firearms or other
weapons.

49353. (a) The State Department of Education shall award grants
under this article to implement the plan developed pursuant to
subdivision (b) of Section 49350.5 for a two-year period. Funding
shall be used to supplement, rather than supplant, existing programs.
Grant funds shall be used for programs that are identified in the
local action plan as part of a continuum of responses to reduce
juvenile crime and delinquency in a school setting. In no case shall
the total amount of grant funds for the two-year period exceed two
hundred thousand dollars ($200,000).
(b) (1) No grant shall be awarded unless the applicant does both
of the following:
(A) Makes matching funds available in an amount equal to 50
percent or more of the amount of the grant.
(B) Demonstrates a commitment by local law enforcement agencies or
other participating agencies to contribute matching funds in an
amount equal to 50 percent or more of the amount of the grant.
(2) For purposes of this section, credit towards the matching fund
requirement may be granted in an amount equal to the value of an
in-kind contribution made on behalf of the school district or on
behalf of a law enforcement agency or another participating agency.

49354. The State Department of Education shall establish minimum
standards, funding schedules, and procedures for grants, which shall
take into consideration, but not necessarily be limited to, all of
the following:
(a) Size of the eligible high-risk youth population.
(b) Demonstrated ability to administer the program.
(c) Demonstrated ability to provide and develop a continuum of
responses to juvenile crime and delinquency that includes prevention,
intervention, diversion, suppression, and incapacitation.
(d) Demonstrated ability to implement a plan that provides a
collaborative and integrated approach to juvenile crime and
delinquency in a school setting.
(e) Demonstrated history of maximizing federal, state, local, and
private funding sources.
(f) Likelihood that the program will continue to operate after
state grant funding ends.

49355. The State Department of Education shall create an evaluation
design for the Community Policing and Mentoring for School Safety
Pilot Program. School districts that receive grants under this
article shall use this evaluation design to assess the effectiveness
of their programs. These school districts shall transmit their
assessments to the department. The department shall develop an
interim report to be submitted to the Legislature on or before March
1, 2000, and a final analysis of the grant program in a report to be
submitted to the Legislature on or before March 1, 2002.