CAPISTRANO UNIFIED NOMINATES MIKE BEEKMAN FOR OCEMO AWARD
It is with great pride and pleasure that the Capistrano Unified School District nominates Mike Beekman to receive Orange County Emergency Management Operation’s (OCEMO) Helping Hand Award. Mr. Beekman currently serves as CUSD’s Executive Director of Safety and Student Services and has implemented a nationally renowned safety system to protect the students and employees of CUSD. Mr. Beekman has secured representation for CUSD at the OC Emergency Operations Center, actively participates in the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Interjurisdictional Planning Committee, and donates countless hours in providing training to outside organizations to develop programs to enhance student safety systems.
With a passion for his profession, Mr. Beekman has initiated numerous collaborative programs which have developed to serve the greater community, including securing grant funding for the development and sustainment of the School Mobile Assessment and Resource Team which operates to serve districts across Orange County. Mr. Beekman actively sought funding sources through the Safe Schools, Healthy Kids Grant to assist with the development of a local, site-based Emergency Operations Center (EOC), a mobile EOC unit, and a mobile command unit (MCU). Within the MCU, Mr. Beekman has worked with local agencies to develop safety CDs to map out each of CUSD’s school sites and safety plans in order to provide a quick, accessible, and accurate resource to authorities in the case of a site emergency. Over the past year, Mr. Beekman has dedicated himself to provide personal staff development training to each of our 54 schools in the National Incident Management System (NIMS) model and has ensured that the Board of Trustees adopt a policy that each site hold a mandatory NIMS drill on an annual basis. An avid advocate for students, he has also been instrumental in implementing an Alternative To Suspension Program and highly successful School Attendance Review Board which are dedicated to keeping students in school.
Mr. Beekman has dedicated countless hours to educate parents about safety and teen at-risk awareness, most recently working in collaboration with the “Is Your Teen At-Risk” program. While rooting itself at the local level in CUSD, this program is now being showcased county-wide. He has also been instrumental in introducing the “Journey Safe” program to our high schools to educate teens about the risk-factors involved in driving. In response to the death of one of our students, Megan Meyers, Mr. Beekman has also worked with parents to implement a voluntary Automated External Defibrillator (AED) program within the district.
For the past 16 years Mr. Beekman has served as an Active Reserve Lieutenant Sheriff Deputy, working on the FEMA urban search and rescue task force. Traveling as far as Oklahoma to serve in the bombing of the Federal Building, or right next door with our recent Santiago fires just a year ago, Mr. Beekman is always willing to lend a hand when needed. Serving as the lead liaison to the Sheriff’s Reserve Bureau, he has coordinated volunteer forces for the Swallows Day Parade, saving an estimated $41,000 for the City of San Juan Capistrano. He has also partnered with the City of Mission Viejo to participate in the annual “Walk Against Drugs” program, showcasing CUSD’s mobile resource units and educating the community about safety awareness and resources.
There is no doubt that Mr. Beekman is a valuable resource to our local district and community at large. His work-ethic, integrity, knowledge and dedication to student safety is second to none.
