Safety and Security Coordinator Laura Duran and her K9 partner Jax gave a demonstration at a recent Corcoran Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting. Jax, a Belgian Malinois is trained to detect narcotics and firearms.
Duran told the board that safety of the students is a top priority.
“It’s not that there is a big issue throughout our campus—it’s like any campus,” Duran said.
Student’s safety is the reason for the duo. Duran and Jax oversee safety for all Corcoran Unified School District school sites. Duran provides and arranges safety trainings for faculty and staff. She also conducts quarterly safety meetings with the school safety committee and collaborates closely with the School Resource Officer.
Representatives for CUSD said that safety is priority for all. The district needs to remain on top of safe and secure schools and with all that is occurring in the world today with active shooters, human trafficking and drug use the district doesn’t want to turn the other cheek but be prepared to educate and protect the children. The district works hand in hand with their School Resource Officer and the Corcoran Police Department. The Corcoran Police Department conducted their active shooter training for staff. Together they are able to pass along any information and work together to make Corcoran campuses safe.
Some of the duo’s daily duties include continually checking the interior and exterior perimeters of all school sites including the CUSD Offices. Corcoran Unified has always had a contracted K9 vendor come out to the schools previously. However due to the district not having the consistent K9 presence they found an odor of marijuana was increasing.
“We need to make sure our student’s health and safety is priority. The point of having a K9 isn’t so much to make arrests it’s just to make it as hard as possible for anyone to bring drugs or weapons onto our school campuses,” said Duran.
The presence of a detection dog and handler is a meaningful deterrent. The main goal is to keep students, staff and parents safe. Jax also helps promote to keep the campuses weapon and drug free.
The CUSD Board of Trustees approved obtaining K9 Jax in July of this year using Safety General Funds. The decision was a good one and has been working well due to having Jax and Duran available at local campuses at all times.
“It’s not that there is a big issue throughout our campus—it’s like any campus,” Duran said.
Student’s safety is the reason for the duo. Duran and Jax oversee safety for all Corcoran Unified School District school sites. Duran provides and arranges safety trainings for faculty and staff. She also conducts quarterly safety meetings with the school safety committee and collaborates closely with the School Resource Officer.
Representatives for CUSD said that safety is priority for all. The district needs to remain on top of safe and secure schools and with all that is occurring in the world today with active shooters, human trafficking and drug use the district doesn’t want to turn the other cheek but be prepared to educate and protect the children. The district works hand in hand with their School Resource Officer and the Corcoran Police Department. The Corcoran Police Department conducted their active shooter training for staff. Together they are able to pass along any information and work together to make Corcoran campuses safe.
Some of the duo’s daily duties include continually checking the interior and exterior perimeters of all school sites including the CUSD Offices. Corcoran Unified has always had a contracted K9 vendor come out to the schools previously. However due to the district not having the consistent K9 presence they found an odor of marijuana was increasing.
“We need to make sure our student’s health and safety is priority. The point of having a K9 isn’t so much to make arrests it’s just to make it as hard as possible for anyone to bring drugs or weapons onto our school campuses,” said Duran.
The presence of a detection dog and handler is a meaningful deterrent. The main goal is to keep students, staff and parents safe. Jax also helps promote to keep the campuses weapon and drug free.
The CUSD Board of Trustees approved obtaining K9 Jax in July of this year using Safety General Funds. The decision was a good one and has been working well due to having Jax and Duran available at local campuses at all times.
