Schools Collaborate In Child Safety Initiative

Updated: With information from Moraga superintendent.

Three school districts are banding together to employ a child safety awareness coordinator to teach children about safety.

The idea to collaborate in empowering a child safety awareness coordinator came from the Moraga School District's student safety committee, formed last year in response to reports emerging of child abuse in the Moraga district, the Contra Costa Times reported.

Moraga School Superintendent Bruce Burns said it is the most solid collaboration among the three districts — Moraga, Orinda and Lafayette — he can remember; he has worked in the Moraga district since 1996.

Burns wrote in an email, "Each District will have a representative every step of the way, from interviewing, to monitoring and contributing to program development, to implementation, to evaluation of program and the coordinator."

The coordinator would be an employee of the Child Abuse Prevention Council of Contra Costa County, which is based in Concord, the Times reported. Envisioned is a contract through 2015 of the council with the Moraga, Orinda and Lafayette school districts. The council also provides free training for teachers in the mandated reporting laws pertaining to child abuse.