Arcadia : School Safety Hot Line

In an effort to increase school safety, the Arcadia Unified School District is establishing 24-hour telephone tip lines so students can pass on information about weapons on campus or other safety issues.

Starting this week, students at Arcadia High School will be able to alert officials about guns or other weapons, said Dorothy Schneider, Arcadia High principal.

District officials say students at Dana and 1st Avenue junior high schools will get tip lines this week, while students at Foothills Junior High will be hooked up by the end of the month.

“This is a precaution that makes sense,” Schneider said.

Schneider said the hot lines are being established in response to growing concern in the community about campus safety and not because of any one incident.

“I think it’s a great idea,” 1st Avenue Principal Beverly Rodriguez said. “It gives students a chance to call us anonymously and makes them more comfortable.”

The system at each school will use a regular telephone number, separate from the district’s phone system. Students calling a hot line will leave their tips on an answering machine. District officials will follow up on the calls.

Last month, 11 Arcadia teen-agers were arrested, including nine Arcadia High students, for allegedly extorting money and threatening students at the three junior high schools.

After a shooting at Fairfax High School on Jan. 21, the Los Angeles Unified School District established a 1-800 tip line operated by the district police department.

Acting Pasadena schools security chief Jaredo Blue said he hopes to establish a 1-800 tip line in the next couple of months for students at Pasadena schools.