Ventura County Wrestles With School Violence

The fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old Ventura High School student triggered calls here for stronger anti-gang enforcement efforts by police and schools.

In Oxnard, the community is still in shock over the assault of a junior high school principal last month by a student wielding a miniature baseball bat.

In Thousand Oaks, eight students were expelled for carrying knives and five for carrying guns in the last 18 months. And in Simi Valley, the numbers were higher: 14 expelled--most for possession of knives, four for packing guns, and one for carrying a homemade Molotov cocktail.

Throughout Ventura County, the number of students taking weapons to school--combined with the recent burst of assaults involving youths as attackers or victims--has left parents and school officials stunned. In this semirural county far from Los Angeles’ urban crime zone, adults are fearing the growing influence of gangs and the increasing potential for violence on campuses.

“I think the police are really making an effort, and I think the schools are trying,” said John Strobel, father of Jesse Strobel, the Ventura youth who was murdered. “But I just don’t think they know how bad the problem is.”

In response to the outcry in the community, Ventura school officials are looking at ways to tighten security on campuses and update anti-gang programs.

Some schools are experimenting with new security measures. Two high schools in the Conejo Valley Unified School District this year began crime-stopper programs. The schools reward students for information about pupils carrying weapons or drugs. Rewards start at $100 and are paid with donations.

Despite the uproar in Ventura and elsewhere, county school officials maintain that violence on campuses, whether by gangs or others, is rare. They point out that Strobel’s slaying occurred off campus.

But the potential for violence on school grounds was brought home last month when Pete Nichols, principal of Haydock Intermediate School in Oxnard, was hit over the head with a club by a high school student.

Nichols was trying to shoo a group of continuation school students off the campus when he was assaulted. The blow to his head opened a two-inch gash that required three stitches. Nichols’ assailant was later arrested.

“The boy that hit me was wanted by the police for other crimes,” Nichols said. “I view what happened to me as a failure of the juvenile justice system and the state of California in dealing with out-of-control kids. It is clearly not the role of schools to deal with out-of-control kids.”

Yet teachers and school administrators find themselves taking on more responsibility for keeping their campuses safe from crime and gangs, Nichols said.

“Anytime I go out in the parking lot and confront complete strangers carrying deadly weapons, like knives and baseball bats, I am taking over a police function,” he said. “No one ever said we were supposed to be the police, the district attorney or probation officers. But, nevertheless, that is what we have become by default.”

Ventura police have not confirmed that Strobel’s death was gang-related. Strobel, who was a football player, was stabbed in the chest Jan. 29 as he walked home late at night from a part-time job at his father’s pizzeria.

Lt. Don Arth said there is no evidence linking the slaying with two stabbings earlier in the day.

Anthony Ortega, 18, was stabbed three times in the back shortly after 2 a.m. Three hours later, police found Jose Olvera, 30, nearby, suffering from stab wounds.

It was the second time that Ortega, a student at Ventura Adult School, was attacked. Almost four years ago, Ortega, then a freshman at Ventura High School, was shot six times as he and a friend walked two blocks from campus in daylight.

In Oxnard, Police Chief Harold Hurtt said that police and school officials need to work more closely to help stem the gang problem in the city.

However, the Oxnard Police Department was forced to drop some gang and drug prevention programs with schools because it could no longer afford to maintain them.

In the last 1 1/2 years, the Oxnard district has expelled 26 students for carrying knives, three for carrying guns, one for threatening a teacher and one for attempting to run down another student with a car.

Fines Stevenson, a 16-year-old junior at Oxnard High School, said racial tensions run high among Latino, African-American and Anglo students. Stevenson said he has been in several fights only because he is black. “It’s not a gang thing,” he said. “It’s a race thing.”

Students at Simi Valley’s Royal High School said their school is also plagued by racial tensions primarily between Anglo students and Latinos affiliated with gangs.

Carla Gerber, a 15-year-old freshman, said students often carry knives to school for protection.

One student recently showed a knife to a reporter. And one admitted gang member said his friends often take weapons to school.

“One of my homeboys brings a gun to school on a regular basis,” said the 17-year-old youth, who goes by the nickname Little Travieso.

But Travieso, which translates roughly as one who gets into trouble a lot, said that gang members rarely bother other students, and if they get into fights it is usually off campus.