SANTA ANA : Fence Between Park, School Is Considered

In response to pleas from parents and teachers for improved security at Madison Elementary School, the Santa Ana Unified School District and city officials are now considering a proposal to install a fence between the school and Madison Park.

Worried parents, who cited potential danger from transients and drug users who frequent the adjoining park during school hours, asked last month that a fence be built to keep park visitors away from the school playgrounds.

Several weeks ago, officials said, a mentally disabled man wandered onto the campus and inadvertently knocked a student to the ground. Although the child was not hurt, the incident sparked additional parental concern for student safety.

“One of our biggest charges is to provide security for our children,” Board of Trustees member Richard C. Hernandez told the City Council on Monday.

He said the school district and city are considering the installation of a six-foot fence along the border of the school, which is currently marked only by a painted yellow line. Two or three 10-foot-wide gates would also be installed to allow local residents access to the school playgrounds after hours.

Principal Marti Baker said she supports the plan, but added that its drawbacks include the loss of some playground space, which is actually park property. Also, about 1,250 children attend the school and some of them would face a longer walk to the campus if they could no longer walk through the park.

Baker met with several district and city officials at the campus last week to discuss the proposal and said that the Department of Parks and Recreation preferred to solve the safety problem without a fence.

“Their hearts are in the right place,” she said. “They want it to be a nice park, where families can play and a fence just has a connotation--’stay out’ or ‘there’s a problem here.’ They wanted to fix it with natural barriers. I think that’s still a possibility. The problem was that the parents wanted it now and cared about creating a safe situation now.”

Parks and Recreation officials did not return several phone calls.

At the council meeting, Councilman Robert L. Richardson appeared to endorse the fence proposal, saying: “The primary concern is the safety of the children. Hopefully, the solution to keep the gate open when school is not in session will afford the local residents a place to (play).”

Hernandez expects the fence to cost between $8,000 and $12,000, and hoped the expense could be split between the city and the school district. However, he noted that a school board consensus reached last month supported the fence’s installation and said that if the city did not help erect it, the district would probably build one on its own.