MOORPARK : Hiring of Anti-Gang Counselor Backed

Concerned about gangs infiltrating the city, the Moorpark school board wants to hire a juvenile crime and delinquency counselor to keep students from committing crimes.

At its Tuesday night meeting, the board decided to ask the city’s Ad-Hoc Gang Committee to help pay the salary of the counselor, who would coordinate an anti-gang effort throughout the school system.

The school board also asked Supt. Tom Duffy to search his strained budget for money to help pay for the new position.

“The police are now telling us there are definitely gang members in Moorpark,” board member Tom Baldwin said. “I feel we need to direct more of our efforts in preventing kids from falling into problems instead of doing it after they get there. It’s cost-effective and something we should be doing.”

As now envisioned, the coordinator would counsel delinquent students and work with the schools and local social services agencies to keep students out of trouble. This would include working with students’ families and helping students find jobs.

Duffy objected to the proposal, saying the move was unwise because of a projected $800,000 budget shortfall and the need to maintain the district’s educational programs.

“This is not the time,” he said. “Do you want to lay off employees here?”

But Baldwin said school officials need to examine the impact of social problems on students. “I know that the status quo is a need to preserve what we have,” he said. “But we need to direct resources to sociological needs.”

“You’re asking us to be parent, administrator, doctor, counselor,” board member Patty Waters said. “We have been given the job to educate the children; that has to be our top priority.”

Board President Cynthia Hubbard, the school district’s representative on the ad-hoc committee, agreed to ask the committee to help pay the coordinator’s salary.