The Glendale Unified School District Board of Education at its Tuesday, Sept. 8, meeting, discussed school safety plans for the 2026-27 school year, covering technology, campus resources and protocols, safety drills, security camera usage, partnership with law enforcement and student behavior data.
Director of Student Support Services Hagop Eulmessekian, who provided a presentation to the board, said the district’s current school safety measures include campus maps, the RAPTOR system, cameras on every campus, school resource officers, security guards, threat assessment protocols, drills, emergency communication protocols using ParentSquare, a tip line, restorative practices, community surveys, crossing guards and Alert, Lockdown, Informed, Counter, Evacuate (ALICE) strategies.
“Every year … every school has to reevaluate their current school safety plan and look at what’s working, what’s not working, and if there are any changes that they need to do, they will update it and then provide it for the following school year, as an update,” Eulmessekian said. “Schools will soon start looking at their safety plans that they have now, and by January, they’re supposed to provide their updated safety plan for next year.”
For 2026-27, GUSD has included the addition of a wildfire emergency plan, updated school maps, and an addendum for Senate Bill 848 for schools’ comprehensive safety plans, in accordance with state’s requests.
Eulmessekian said for SB 848, GUSD implemented districtwide measures including annual Assembly Bill 1913 mandated reporter training, professional boundary training for employees, the RAPTOR visitor management system, which flags unsafe visitors (sex offenders), revised restroom and toileting protocols, trauma-informed victim response procedures, trauma-informed victim response procedures, physical environment expectations and monthly site safety walkthroughs.
“These site visits are going to continue on a more regular basis, so that … in case we see things we missed or things have been changed back, we make sure that we tell them to be compliant,” he said.
All GUSD schools have multiple security cameras onsite. Districtwide there are about 1,100 cameras.
“However, if we add another 1,100, I would say that would not cover all the blind spots. Our elementary schools don’t have enough cameras. Our secondary schools have enough cameras, but you can always use more, use more, and I know business services working on securing funding for the additional cameras,” Eulmessekian said, adding that many of GUSD’s cameras are outdated, without a warranty and need to be replaced.
Although GUSD adds as many new cameras as it can, Eulmessekian said the budget is always an issue because cameras are expensive.
Luckily, Eulmessekian said GUSD has some people within the district who can install and program cameras on their own, which helps save money. However, he said they can’t change all of the about 800 cameras that need to be replaced, especially on the district’s elementary campuses.
“One thing that is important to understand is that security cameras are not necessarily to catch people, but it’s to prevent us from being liable for things that … we get attacked for. There are multiple issues that I know personally that if we had cameras at certain locations … the outcome of what happened would have been completely different. So it’s important to add more cameras,” Eulmessekian said.
William Young, assistant superintendent of business services, said the board has already authorized the transfer of $6 million to support security camera upgrades throughout the district.
“At a future board meeting, a contract of services … camera needs will be presented to the board for an action item,” Young said.
The Glendale Police Department has one school resource officer stationed at Hoover High School and another at Glendale High School. There’s also one L.A. County Sheriff’s Department School Resource Deputy assigned to Crescenta Valley High School and Rosemont Middle School. GUSD has security guards located at all elementary, middle and high schools.
GUSD collaborates with the Glendale Police Department on various matters, including drug use prevention and awareness, traffic safety and meets with the L.A. Sheriff’s Department monthly. Recently, Eulmessekian said GPD provided the district community with a presentation on e-bike safety.
School drop-off and pick-up is a concern every year, Eulmessekian said, adding that GUSD receives complaints from its community members, neighbors, and parents.
“When a parent is on their way to drop off their kid, that’s the only thing they’re concerned about,” he said. “I have seen parents make really poor choices when they drop off their kid.”
It can be particularly challenging at Hoover High School, Keppel Elementary School and Toll Middle School, he added, with about 4,000 students being dropped off and picked up around the same time.
“It is challenging, but it’s something that you get complaints about all the time. We do have crossing guards in front of all those elementary and middle schools, they do the best they can,” he said.
According to school safety data, Eulmessekian said the total number of behavior incidents for the 2026-26 school year were lower than in the previous year, but there the amount of recorded major incidents was higher.
There were 163 more student suspensions in 2025-26, than in the previous year, as well. Last year, GUSD saw an increase in suspensions for fights on campus, he said.
Looking at students’ sense of safety according to districtwide survey data, for students in grades four through five, there was a 2% decrease in overall sense of safety. Students in secondary grades experienced a 1% decrease. For parents, their sense of safety has decreased slightly, whereas it has increased slightly for employees.
“The numbers aren’t fluctuating … either bad or good. They’re kind of stable if you look at it over the past four years,” he said.
Board member Aileen Dinkjian mentioned that she’s heard about there being “equity differences” in how student resource officers and student resource deputies are trained and asked about what training looks like.
Kelly King, assistant superintendent educational services, said GUSD’s current SROs and SDRs are included in the district’s own training such as on threat and risk assessments, as well as restorative practices, adding that staff would bring back more information to the board regarding the training for Glendale police.
King said GUSD’s current SROs are “exceptional,” have been with the district for multiple years and know its process, as well as the community.
“They’re not coming in necessarily from a law enforcement perspective. They’re really coming in more from a community policing and community support perspective,” King said “We’ve been very fortunate with the selection from Glendale Police as well as the deputy assigned from CV Sheriffs.”
Board Vice President Telly Tse asked what impact the new system for volunteer sign-ups has had.
Kyle Bruich, assistant superintendent human resources, said human resources has over 500 people who have gone through the clearance process with another 458 waiting to do mandated reporter training, adding that the department is trying to move people through the process as quickly as possible.
However, Bruich said GUSD has noticed that some parents are unhappy with the process and wish it was easier to volunteer in the classroom.
“There are concerns that we are asking for a government-issued ID to be uploaded and doing fingerprints, which makes people feel concerned about those who may be undocumented as far as they’re volunteering. However, we have gotten even handwritten thank-you notes from people who are very happy to see the seriousness that we’re taking with student safety and ensuring that everyone who is on a campus is of high quality as far as their criminal background and doesn’t have any known nefarious intent with the students,” Bruich said adding that responses have been a “mixed bag.”
Tse also questioned the reasoning behind the increase in suspensions.
As for the increase in suspensions, King said there is a “degree of increased enforcement” especially at the elementary level for use of hate speech, and there being no tolerance for such.
“You will see some increases in incidents at the elementary because we’re just we’re drawing that very firm line,” King said. “That’s why we try to reach out to the families repeatedly that there is no place for this. We will be reacting strongly to this if we hear it, and then as soon as the student comes back after a suspension, really working on those restorative practices so the student understands why they were sent home, and … to restore both their standing in the classrooms, their relationship with their peers, and to build that empathy and understanding for what they did and why it was so hurtful and harmful.”
Board member Greg Krikorian said it would be good to see GUSD’s plan for the “Great ShakeOut” drill and potential major earthquakes.
“The board last year did authorize radio replacements, so that is one step that we’re taking to upgrade … that particular system, but that’s just one element of right that preparedness,” Young said.
This year, Eulmessekian said GUSD schools will participate in the “Great ShakeOut” on Oct. 14.
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