Redlands Unified School District works towards an agreement in sexual abuse lawsuit

Press Release --- Tuesday, August 28, 2018 at 12:37 p.m.

REDLANDS, Calif. – The Redlands Unified School District is working towards an agreement with the parties involved in recent litigation against the District involving sexual abuse claims.

While the District is unable to speak of any specific details at this time, we sincerely hope this settlement will be a basis for healing for the victims and their families.

Regrettably, Redlands Unified is unable to erase the repugnant actions of these individuals. Superintendent Mauricio Arellano, hired in September 2017, has directed District administration to join him in thoroughly scrutinizing and examining our current policies, practices, staff training, and reporting protocols. Working in conjunction with the Board of Education, Mr. Arellano is allocating resources to help heighten our vigilance in student safety. The District has contracted with one of the nation’s leading child sexual abuse experts, Diane Cranley, to train our staff on identifying the key warning signs that sexual predators exhibit towards their potential victims. The District has also reinstituted school resource officers at each of our comprehensive high schools as a conduit between staff, students and parents in reporting suspicious activities. The District has also invested in the implementation of the RAPTOR System for all schools as an additional layer of safety to ensure that adults who access our campus are not registered offenders.

We are imploring our staff, students and the community to act promptly and report suspicious behaviors. We must focus on the tenets of the “See Something, Say Something” campaign so that incidents are appropriately reported to the authorities. We all must work together to keep student safety our utmost priority. As a District, we will act swiftly, responsibly and with authority and determination when it comes to protecting the innocence of the children with whom we are entrusted.

For more news and notifications about the Redlands Unified School District, visit our website at www.redlandsusd.net and follow @RedlandsUSD on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

For a PDF version of this press release, please click here. 

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August 1, 2018

Dear Parent/Guardian:

The Redlands Unified School District is pleased to announce that we will begin using the Raptor Visitor Management System in all of our schools to strengthen our program of campus safety for students and faculty. The safety of our students is our highest priority and the Raptor Visitor Management System allows us to know who is in our buildings at all times and quickly identify those that may present a danger to our students. The Raptor system will enhance the way we screen visitors, contractors, and volunteers in our schools and provide us with a safer environment for our students and staff.

Upon entering our school sites, visitors will be asked to present a form of government-issued identification such as a Driver’s License, which can either be scanned or manually entered into the system. If a parent or guardian for any reason does not have a United States government-issued ID, the school staff member may use any form of identification and manually enter the person’s name into the Raptor system.

The Raptor system will check to ensure that registered sexual offenders are not entering our school campuses without our knowledge. The Raptor system checks the visitor’s name and date of birth for comparison with a national database of registered sex offenders. The registered sex offender database is the only official database checked by the Raptor system. No other data from the ID is gathered or recorded and the information is not shared with any outside agency.

Once entry is approved, Raptor will issue a badge that identifies the visitor, the date, and the purpose of their visit. A visitor’s badge will not be necessary for those who visit our schools simply to drop off an item in the office or pick up paperwork.

Thank you in advance for your understanding and your support in enhancing the school safety protocols in our District.

Redlands Unified School District

1 de Agosto del  2018

Estimado Padre/Guardian:

El Distrito Escolar Unificado de Redlands se complace en anunciar que comenzaremos a utilizar el Sistema de Administración de Visitantes Raptor en todas nuestras escuelas para fortalecer nuestro programa de seguridad  del campus para estudiantes y profesorado.   La seguridad de nuestros estudiantes es nuestra máxima prioridad y el Sistema de Administración de Visitantes Raptor nos permite saber quién está en nuestros campus en todo momento e identificar rápidamente a aquellos que pueden representar algún peligro para nuestros estudiantes.  El sistema Raptor mejorará la manera en que verificamos a nuestros visitantes, contratistas, y voluntarios en nuestras escuelas y nos proporciona un entorno más seguro para nuestros estudiantes y personal.

Al ingresar a nuestras escuelas, se les pedirá a los visitantes que presenten una forma de identificación emitida por el gobierno, como una licencia de conducir, que puede escanearse o ingresarse manualmente en el sistema.  Si un padre o tutor por alguna razón no tiene una identificación emitida por el gobierno de los Estados Unidos, el miembro del personal de la escuela puede usar cualquier forma de identificación e ingresar manualmente el nombre de la persona en el sistema Raptor.

El sistema Raptor verificará que los delincuentes sexuales registrados no ingresen a nuestras escuelas sin nuestro conocimiento.  El sistema Raptor verifica el nombre del visitante y la fecha de nacimiento para compararlo con una base de datos nacional de delincuentes sexuales registrados.  La base de datos de delincuentes sexuales registrada es la única base de datos oficial verificada por el sistema Raptor.  No se recopilan ni registran otros datos del ID y la información no se comparte con ninguna agencia externa.  

Una vez que se apruebe la entrada, Raptor emitirá una etiqueta que identifica al visitante, la fecha y el propósito de su visita.  No será necesaria una etiqueta de identificación  para quienes visitan nuestras escuelas simplemente para dejar un artículo en la oficina o recoger papeles.

Gracias de ante mano por su comprensión y apoyo para mejorar los protocolos de seguridad escolar en nuestro Distrito.

Distrito Escolar Unificado de Redlands