April 4, 2001

A sheriff's deputy or police officer will be assigned to each Grossmont Union High School District campus through the end of the school year.

The Board of Supervisors voted yesterday to authorize the assignment of a deputy to each of the district's seven campuses in areas served by the Sheriff's Department.

Four other district campuses are in El Cajon and have city police officers assigned to them. A fifth campus is in La Mesa and has one of that city's officers already assigned to the school.

The supervisors voted unanimously to help pay for the cost of staffing the seven high schools with deputies through June 21, the end of the school year.

Immediately after the vote, Sheriff Bill Kolender told reporters that he wanted to talk to officials from school districts, the county and area cities over the summer to see how he might be able to provide deputies for more schools.

"We don't have the resources to do it now," Kolender said.

The board's action and Kolender's comments came in response to recent shootings at Santana and Granite Hills high schools, both of which are in the Grossmont District.

Some of the 12 campuses in the district had deputies or police officers assigned to them prior to the shootings. Since the shootings, law enforcement officers have been a presence at all of them.

The county will provide deputies full time at El Capitan, Monte Vista, Mount Miguel, Santana, Steele Canyon, Valhalla and West Hills high schools.

Five of those are in unincorporated portions of the county, which are served by the Sheriff's Department. West Hills and Santana are located in the city of Santee, which contracts with the Sheriff's Department for law enforcement.

The cost for staffing the seven schools for the rest of the year will be $65,000. The county will pay $33,000. The district and Santee will cover the rest.

County officials said the governor's office has said it will later reimburse the county, the district and Santee. The four campuses served by El Cajon police officers are: El Cajon Valley, Granite Hills, Grossmont and Chaparral Continuation. La Mesa has an officer assigned to Helix High.

La Mesa and the district split the costs for the Helix officer. El Cajon is covering the cost of serving the campuses within its boundaries. A school district spokesman said it has not been determined whether the district will share the cost.

Kolender and Supervisor Dianne Jacob said the deputies will not just guard the schools but talk to students and teachers in an effort to prevent violence.

"Their presence makes students feel safe and gives the students and teachers the feeling that law enforcement is on their side," Jacob said.

Kolender said that he is opposed to fences and metal detectors but that the county has a responsibility to deal with school violence.

"What has occurred at these high schools could happen at any school in the United States," he said.