LOWER LAKE— Konocti Unified School District, Lake County Sheriff’s Office, the Clearlake Police Department and the Lake County Fire Protection District were among the agencies which participated during a student safety forum on Tuesday to address the topic of “Keeping Students Safe during a Wildfire”.
Konocti Unified Superintendent, Becky Salato, assured those on the zoom call that the school district staff takes safety very seriously. “We’re going to do everything in our power to keep the students safe. As you know, some of our schools are a little older, and our systems are a little bit outdated. One thing that we will be looking into is to revamp the systems and structures,” she said. “We hope that by being transparent and open, and asking for input, that we continue to gain the parents’ trust. Our number one focus is on our students and their safety.”
Salato said she believes that the fastest and safest way to get students out is to evacuate on buses. “All of our best interest is in keeping our kids safe,” she emphasized.
Konocti Transportation Office Assistant, Jenna Hoberg, took part in the forum, and talked about how the Cache Fire brought up the importance of parent-school cooperation and fire safety and preparation – all topics discussed during the meeting.
“As a parent with a child who was evacuated that day, I fully understand how terrifying it is to put your faith in others to keep your children safe. Every single one of us, many of the children and grandchildren at those schools, and some that lived in the evacuation zones, pushed through that fear and came to work to evacuate your children instead. Our hope is that in the future, if this happens again, which we all hope it doesn’t, that the community can trust us to do our job and please stay off the roads.”
Hoberg added that staffers not been stuck in traffic, most of the students would have been reunited with their parents within 30 minutes or earlier. “I understand everything happened extremely fast. But we would love to see a plan implemented for transportation to get a call to stage at or near the school, maybe before the evacuations come into play,” she said. “I hope that we’re all able to learn from this experience and do better in the future.”
“We were fortunate we had several of our staff coming on campus Monday to greet our students back. We wanted to make sure that our kids were returning to a place where they had some drama, but they also saw firemen were there to greet them, high five them and welcome them back. We want them to know that we’re there to protect them and support them”, added Superintendent Salato.
“It takes all of us working together and all of us understanding the plan to feel confident and to follow the plan. Probably one of the parts that we really do need to get better at is making sure that the parents understand all of that. We’ll be sure to post those plans and put those on our parents meetings. We hope that we get a good attendance at those. Please, bring your questions then, and we’re happy to address those. We know that you are entrusting us with the best thing that you have in your life – your children. We are here to support them and keep them safe,” concluded Salato.
The participating agencies can still be reached for further questions the community might have.
Konocti Unified School District
(707) 994-6475
Lake County Sheriff’s Office
(707) 262-4200
lakesheriffoes@lakecountyca.gov
Clearlake Police Department
(707) 994-8251
Lake County Fire Protection District
(707) 994-0733
