VENTURA : 6 Students Expelled for Carrying Knives

Ventura school officials expelled six students Tuesday for bringing knives onto campus, the latest effort to crack down on school violence.

The expulsions, approved by board members in closed session, are part of Ventura Unified School District’s beefed-up policy to ban knives, guns and brass knuckles from district schools, officials said.

Supt. Joseph Spirito said he sent a letter to the district’s 26 schools earlier this month stating the stricter enforcement policy, which recommends that any student found with a weapon on campus or at a school function be expelled. He said he has asked administrators to post a copy of the policy at their schools.

Last school year, one student was expelled for carrying a weapon at school, while others received less severe punishments, Spirito said.

“Before, if a student had a little knife, we might have just said, ‘Well, don’t bring it to school again,’ ” Spirito said. “We’re not going to fool with that anymore.”

A number of violent incidents have occurred on Ventura campuses this school year. In February, a Buena High School student was stabbed by a classmate on campus, and earlier this month, a Ventura High student was arrested on campus after police found a sawed-off shotgun in the trunk of his car.

Spirito said the students expelled Tuesday for carrying knives were a sixth-grader from De Anza Middle School, two 10th-graders and an 11th-grader from Buena High and a ninth-grader and an 11th-grader from Ventura High. The students, all of whom are boys, range in age from 12 to 17, board officials said.

Three additional students were expelled Tuesday night--two for selling marijuana on campus and a third for assault, board officials said.

The expelled students may appeal to the board for readmittance in a year, Spirito said. In the meantime, they may attend the county-run Gateway Community School, he said.