Safety

CLOSED CAMPUS

Security

There are staff, protocol and systems in place to assure a safe environment for all students and staff.  VMHS is a closed campus and students may not leave campus during school hours without the appropriate authorization.  All visitors are required to provide picture ID, sign in at the Reception Desk and receive a guest pass.  Specially trained Campus Security Staff and administrators supervise all areas of campus and meet regularly with the local police department.  A Murrieta Police Department officer is also assigned to campus during school hours.  Students and vehicles parked on school property are subject to search based upon reasonable suspicion and safety issues.  Administration reserves the right to determine the basis for reasonable cause for search.  VMHS has an extensive video-surveillance system, along with a 24-hour security patrol, as deterrents to crime.  The district provides regular InterQuest canine visitations to search for illegal substances.  All students, staff and community members are encouraged to utilize the We-Tip hotline (7 days/week, 24 hours/day) to report suspicious campus activity or crime information at 1-800-78-CRIME.   

SCHOOL VISITATIONS

Parents, guardians, and community members are welcome to visit the school.  If your desire is to meet with an administrator, please call ahead for an appointment, as most drop-in requests are difficult to accommodate.  Classroom visitations require a 24-hour advance notice to ensure that someone will be available to accompany you.  All visitors must first check-in at the Campus Security Station to receive a parking pass, then show a current photo ID at the Reception Desk before a guest pass is issued.  We guard our learning time intensely; therefore, it is important not to disturb teachers and students during class time.  In order to maintain a safe and orderly learning environment, students’ friends or visitors without specific school business are not allowed on campus at any time during school hours. 

Notice to Parents and Students:

Yellow Jackets (Bees)

Seasonally, our school site experiences an influx of yellow jacket bees.  Unlike honey bees that tend to live in hives that are identifiable and easily treatable, yellow jackets (sometimes called “meat bees”), tend to live and reproduce in abandoned rodent or snake holes in vacant hillsides and gullies, which are obviously still plentiful around our school site.  Because of this, it is virtually impossible to locate and treat all of their nests.  This is an issue every autumn throughout the surrounding areas, and is a natural cycle.  These are steps that we are take to minimize the problem, which include:

• Since the Yellow Jackets are attracted to food, the problem is most evident in outside eating areas, so special attention is paid to clearing trash receptacles all around campus on a frequent schedule.
• Power washing of all eating areas is performed regularly to minimize residual food particle buildup that may attract Yellow Jackets.
• Perimeter traps are placed to help minimize the total number of insects.
• Health Office personnel keep records of allergy-susceptible individuals and their prescribed medications, and the Nurse and Health Technician are aware of proper first aid procedures for emergency allergy situations.

Parents can help in the following ways:

• Avoid sending high-sugar content drinks to school.  These products spill easily and even in trash cans they provide an ever-present attractant for these and other insects.
• Be sure to notify the Health Office if your student has allergies to bee stings, and provide them with any prescribed treatment kit.
• While some stings are inevitable, remind your child to stay calm when they encounter Yellow Jackets, as wild movements increase the likelihood of a sting.
• Yellow jacket stingers have no barbs (like regular bee stingers do), therefore not typically left in the wound needing removal.  If a stinger is found, the best action is to remove it quickly (unless it’s completely imbedded under the skin).  See the Health Office to assist with this if necessary.
• Limit the use of perfumes, after shaves, scented skin lotions and hair sprays, as these may also be attractive to these insects.

We appreciate your attention to the above suggestions.  While all the steps we take certainly help manage the problem, clearly only the change in seasons greatly reduces the problem.