District to Survey Campus Violence

Before school ends next month, Simi Valley school officials plan to distribute a survey questioning 14,000 students, teachers and other employees about the presence of drugs, weapons and violence on campus.

The $7,000 survey, co-written by educators at the UC Santa Barbara and the county Office of Education, was approved Tuesday night by the Simi Valley Unified School District Board.

Results of the questionnaires, which are anonymous, will be used to recommend short- and long-term measures for improving campus safety. The intense scrutiny on safety was sparked by the Feb. 1 fatal stabbing of a student at Valley View Junior High.

Although the school board approved the survey by a vote of 4 to 1, several questions on parents’ education and income levels sparked debate among board members.

Board President Carla Kurachi, who opposed the survey, argued for the removal of a question that asked if the student filling out the survey receives free or low-cost school lunch.

“I don’t believe that asking someone if they’re at poverty level has anything to do with safety,” she said. “Why are we so interested in labeling?”

But district officials and other board members said the information on income level, along with other background questions, would help identify which groups of students feel unsafe at school.