School principals and parents serve on all hiring panels. Both programs emphasize staff training, and innovative, quality programming. Monthly training continues throughout the year. Staff members report strong positive feelings of identification with their respective programs, and a sense of belonging to a team. To ensure safety, school resource officers from the Chula Vista Police Department prepare staff to recognize and handle emergencies.
Staff is provided with a detailed emergency and safety manual.
Each semester, they conduct and document fire and earthquake drills. Using walkie-talkies and cellular phones, they communicate with one another, with school personnel and with parents. These new programs have inspired an entirely new cooperative relationship between the city, the Chula Vista Elementary School District and individual school sites. City funds also help the district leverage additional state matching grants to expand after-school programs. Classrooms, libraries, computer labs and even storage spaces are now available for the programs.