All middle schools in Ventura County should have a campus police officer, no more than 461 students per counselor and perimeter fencing with locking gates to improve student safety, according to a new report by the Ventura County Grand Jury.

School safety was one of several issues the Grand Jury took up this year. Jurors chose to focus on middle schools since a high school review was completed several years ago.

That 2002 investigation was prompted by a rash of incidents, including a police shooting of a teenager who held a student at gunpoint at Hueneme High School in Oxnard and shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado.

But Grand Jury Foreman Don Cody said new incidents, including this year's fatal school shooting in Oxnard, were not the reason why jurors looked at school safety this time.

Larry King, 15, an eighth-grader at E.O. Green School in Oxnard, was shot while sitting in class Feb. 12. He later died, and classmate Brandon McInerney, 14, was charged with first-degree murder and a hate crime.

The Grand Jury had already started its work when the shooting occurred.

During its investigation, jurors sent surveys to 27 Ventura County middle school principals and districts, and 25 responses were received. Those surveys, plus interviews, campus visits and other research, led jurors to recommend a student-to-counselor ratio of no greater than 461 to 1, and a dedicated school resource officer on every campus.

Both are items typically lauded by school officials, but they say money to pay for the added staff is scarce.

Cody said he recognizes money might be an obstacle in implementing the Grand Jury's recommendations, but jurors thought it was important to highlight the issue.

"We just hope that school boards and parents will read the reports," he said, "and see that maybe we need to look and see where we can put some money."

Local principals said they agree with adding school resource officers and counselors, although they also said their campuses are safe.

Students build relationships with the police, said Glory Page, principal of Ventura's Cabrillo Middle School, and school employees can take advantage of an officer's expertise.

"We're able to do the job without an SRO," she said. "But having one is so great in so many ways."

According to the Grand Jury report, only nine of the 25 schools that returned the survey reported having a resource officer on campus. One such school was E.O. Green.

Nearly half of the schools reported having a student-counselor ratio of 461 to 1 or better.

Page also agreed with that recommendation, saying she'd like to see even more counselors on campuses.

Cabrillo meets the jury's recommended mark, with 2.5 full-time counseling positions for 1,000 kids. But she'd like to see the part-time position become full time, to lower the caseload.

School officials have tried to find the money for that, including researching possible grants, but, Page said, they haven't yet succeeded.

Sara Davis, principal of Camarillo's Monte Vista Middle School, agreed counselors and officers are critical. But with looming state budget cuts, she said, districts throughout California are cutting counseling positions.