PLACENTIA : Fence to Be Built Around High School

Several recent incidents of violence on and near high schools in the Southland have prompted Valencia High School officials to begin erecting a chain-link and wrought-iron fence around open portions of the school.

In a memo to the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District Board of Education, school administrators said recent events on or near several high schools in Southern California illustrate the problems that occur when non-students come on campus, often with the intent to settle a score.

“The physical layout of the Valencia campus makes it difficult for supervisors to keep non-students off campus and students on campus,” the memo said.

Three separate incidents in Paramount in Los Angeles County have caused concern among school administrators and parents here. In September, a Paramount High School student was fatally shot as she was returning to the school from a nearby fast-food restaurant. In November, another Paramount student was wounded less than one mile from the school. And an honors student was killed across the street from the high school just days before he was to have graduated.

Valencia Principal Joe Quartucci said that while Valencia is not a dangerous campus, the events in Paramount prove that schools need to be prepared for violence. “I think if anyone has been looking at what’s been going on, they have got to know that violence can crop up anywhere,” Quartucci said.

Much of the Valencia campus is already surrounded by chain-link fence, but there are several open areas bordering Bradford Avenue that provide easy access without being seen from the school office.

When the project is completed, access to the campus will be limited to seven gates and through the school office. The gates will be open before school and after school but will be locked during school hours and on weekends and holidays. Arriving visitors and departing students will have to pass through the office.

The project will cost about $23,575.

Quartucci said he has wanted to control visitors to the campus since he came to the school five years ago. But he did not want to turn the campus into a fortress or build any structure that imparted a prison-like atmosphere.

Over the summer, an assistant principal suggested that buildings on the perimeter of the campus be used as part of a barrier between the campus and the surrounding area. By erecting fencing between buildings, Quartucci said he hopes to prevent the school from looking like a jail.

Several school board members were concerned about what effect the fence would have on the school’s ability to evacuate students in the event of a fire or other emergency.

According to Quartucci, the Fire Department has approved the plan, which includes distributing gate keys to every supervisor and about two-thirds of the teachers. In addition, buildings on the perimeter of the campus will have emergency exits, which can be opened from the inside only.

Construction of the wrought-iron fence has already begun, but most of the work will be done over the winter vacation.