Fontana Unified School District

Fontana Unified School District

The Fontana Unified School District (FUSD) serves most of Fontana, a city in San Bernardino County around 50 miles east of Los Angeles. There are 45 schools in the district serving students from K-12 to adult education.

When COVID-19 forced the Fontana Unified School District to close all of its doors, it had to respond fast.

Ryan DiGuilio, Associate Superintendent Business Services FUSD says: “When the governor announced the lockdown for COVID and that hit, you know, we shut down.”

Adapting to change

Adapting to the ‘new normal’ became the district’s central focus. With the world thrust into a state of strict restrictions, isolation orders, and mass uncertainty, the entire academic landscape had changed. Caroline Labonte, Jurupa Hills High School Principal, explains in plain and simple terms: “Education as we knew it, all of that was gone.”

Seeking the right solution

Preparing every school in the Fontana Unified School District for a safe return to education is a colossal feat, particularly when each class consists of over 30 students.

Like most industries, individual schools are looking to the government, health bodies and professional associations to determine their safety procedures and protocols. The Fontana Unified School District needed to provide students with accessible COVID messaging while implementing a wave of new social distancing measures and safety protocols across the district.

New guidelines can be overwhelming, and it’s easy to miss steps when regulations first come into force. The situation commanded a streamlined, cohesive, and communicative approach. In short, the Fontana Unified School District needed the right tool for the job.

Raising safety standards across 45 schools

As the risks of COVID-19 evolve on a daily basis, paper and pen-based compliance inspections are simply not up to the task. To help keep 36,000 students and nearly four thousand staff safe from exposure to the virus, the Fontana Unified School District rolled out the SafetyCulture platform across its 45 schools.

With SafetyCulture, the district is able to view all of its COVID-19 safety initiatives with ease while responding to potential issues with pinpoint accuracy. Frequent digital checks help the district keep a rigorous record of daily hygiene and safety practices, with checklists made customizable to each school’s individual needs. All inspection data and photo evidence flow into a real-time analytics dashboard — no more overflowing filing cabinets! 

To reassure returning students and parents, the dashboard for each school is made publicly available. Administrators, teachers, students, and parents are able to check in on the status of conditions and cleaning activities on the campus in real-time.

Discussing her experience with SafetyCulture, Caroline Labonte explains: “I can look to see what we’re doing and make adjustments right there and then instead of having to collect a bunch of paperwork, making life so much more difficult than it really needs to be.”

While regulations can change on a dime, the Fontana Unified School District knows they have all the necessary data and checks in place to reassure parents, maintain staff and student safety, and keep everyone connected. The level of data and analytics provided by the SafetyCulture platform means that the district is ready to update and action new COVID-19 guidelines at a moment’s notice, which is key in such a rapidly changing environment.

Now every staff member can work cohesively to maintain initiatives and respond to challenges, empowering its 36,000 students to continue their education with complete confidence.