Forde Shorts

Our loss – Lisa Gilbert, Tehachapi Unified School District's dynamic superintendent, has accepted the position of Chief Academic Officer for the Kern County Superintendent of Schools. Gilbert will finish the school year in Tehachapi and start her new job July 1. She will oversee curriculum instruction and accountability, migrant education for region five, school community partnerships and Community Connections for Child Care. "I'm excited," Gilbert told Forde Files. "Those particular areas of the county office provide support to all 47 school districts in the county." Gilbert, 46, is a graduate of West High School in Bakersfield. She earned her undergraduate degree at California State University, Bakersfield, her masters at the University of LaVerne and her administrative credential at Fresno Pacific University. Gilbert's predecessor in the position, Desiree Von Flue, has moved on to the position of assistant superintendent, and the county department is holding the academic officer post until Gilbert comes on board in the summer.

In case of shooter, new rules – Gilbert told the Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council (which was bursting with 70 attendees at the Feb. 5 breakfast meeting at the Original Apple Shed) that, as a result of careful analysis of past school shootings, school faculties and staffs nationwide are being trained to consider more options than the standard "shelter in place" in the event of a shooting incident. "School districts are looking at changing their response," Gilbert said. Those options, in addition to shelter in place, include fleeing and defending. A key is determining where, and how close, the shooter is.

At Columbine High School in Colorado, she said, the librarian, as she had been trained, instructed the students to get under the tables in lockdown mode. The shooter came in and killed people. "Analysts looked at the facility. The librarian, if she thought she had the option, could have gotten the kids out of the building and into the hands of law enforcement, who were not far away." At the Virginia Tech shooting, there were four classrooms in the shooter's path. "In the first classroom there were lots of fatalities, also in the second room. In the next two rooms, they heard the gunshots and responded by defending. [In the third room} a professor and student blocked the door and the other students survived. In the last room they figured out a way to barricade the door." The school district plans a meeting on safety, bullying and harassment, the date in March or April to be announced.

Thurs., Feb. 20, vital information parents need to know – The school district will host a meeting on the Common Core Standards and the state wide school funding Local Control and Accountability Plan, 6 p.m. at the district board room, 300 South Robinson St., Tehachapi, Calif.