Safety at San José Unified

Building a Positive School Climate

All San José Unified schools use a culture and climate program to create a positive school climate for students, employees, and families. Building a positive school climate is a schoolwide initiative where positive expectations are integrated into all aspects of the school day. Combined with the use of social-emotional learning curriculum, the positive school climate programs establish a foundation of positive and proactive support.

Investing in Student Supports

San José Unified invests significant resources in services that support our students academically and social-emotionally. We have 72 full-time counselors who work with students. We also partner with several outside agencies to provide additional counseling and supports for students. In additional to counseling support, our health team has health office technicians at every school, plus 30 nurses that support the schools. In response to the increased need to manage challenging behaviors, San José Unified has added 8 full-time behavior specialists to support and train teachers, administrators, and support staff and work with students and families.

Responding to Challenging Situations

Our focus on building relationships helps us support students and employees when a challenging situation or emergency arises. Situations that involve most student behavior issues are handled exclusively by school staff with support from our Student Services team, when needed. In some cases, school staff may call the San José Police Department, the San José Fire Department, or other emergency responders for assistance to comply with Education Code or when additional assistance is needed.

Effective emergency response requires training for students and staff, safety plans that govern the appropriate response, and strong leadership to determine the best response to the situation. All San José Unified schools use a variety of strategies and techniques to ensure students and staff are well prepared for emergencies, including the Comprehensive School Safety Plan (CSSP).

We encourage you to review the San José Unified safety protocol response guide to better understand our approach to safety and the terminology we use to communicate about an emergency.

Comprehensive School Safety Plan (CSSP)

California Education Code 32280-32289.5 outlines the requirements and information required for the CSSP, which is required to be reviewed and updated each year by all California public schools. The CSSP is a public document reviewed and updated each year by the Schoolsite Council (SSC). Many components of the CSSP are developed and updated by San José Unified district staff, who coordinate responses to safety-related issues across each of San José Unified’s schools, in consultation with other agencies, including the San José Police Department and San José Fire Department. These components are shared in the CSSP template provided to schools for their completion.

The CSSP contains an overview of the school’s holistic approach to safety, including emergency responses. This plan explains the San José Unified emergency protocols and the steps that should be taken in a variety of emergency situations. Visit your school’s website to view the CSSP.