Board Throws Book at Campus Vandals : Graffiti: Laguna Beach district to withhold grades, diplomas and transcripts until offenders’ parents pay for cleanup--up to $10,000.

Toughening its stance against graffiti vandals who deface school property, the Laguna Beach school board has decided to withhold grades, diplomas and transcripts from guilty students until their parents pay up to $10,000 to repair damage.

As a result of the board’s unanimous vote Tuesday, parents could also be required to pay up to an additional $10,000 to reimburse the district if it offers reward money to apprehend the vandals.

“Wow, that’s very aggressive,” said Nina J. Winn, who directs the Safe Schools Projects for the Orange County Department of Education. “I have not heard of a school district policy this aggressive.”

However, Winn, whose projects include gang prevention, said the board’s action is in keeping with a general crackdown on graffiti vandals across the county.

School officials admit the incidence of tagging in the Laguna Beach Unified School District is relatively low compared to some other districts in Orange County. However, they say they want to send a clear message to those who would damage district property, as vandals did at a middle school there earlier this month.

In that case, intruders broke into the Thurston Middle School cafeteria, tipped over tables and kitchen equipment, spread mayonnaise and mustard about and sprayed blue paint on the building’s outside wall.

“We feel we have to take a strong stand,” board member Susan Mas said before the vote. “We have to have kids and parents taking responsibility for their actions. We want to do everything we can to stop the spread of tagging and graffiti.”

Terry A. Bustillos, the district’s chief financial officer, said it is unknown how much vandalism has cost the district so far.

City Councilman Wayne L. Peterson said the policy should complement a citywide graffiti ordinance the council will consider in three weeks. That law is also expected to hold parents responsible for the actions of their children.

“They’re taking what we’re going to be doing and carrying it one step further,” Peterson said.

The city law is also expected to restrict the display and sale of materials used to deface property, restrict the possession of graffiti tools, such as spray paint cans, and charge property owners with removing the graffiti within a fixed time period.

Rather than representing an innovative approach to dealing with vandals, the school district’s action amounts to a willingness to capitalize on powers already available to California schools under the state’s Education Code.

Since 1976, state code has allowed schools to withhold grades, transcripts and diplomas until the district is paid back for the costs of vandalism, Bustillos said. And while largely silent about it until now, the Laguna Beach school district has had for at least 10 years a written policy that tied repayment for vandalism to passing out grades, transcripts and diplomas.

However, officials say Tuesday’s action is significant because the board has become vocal about its anti-graffiti policy while toughening it by defining the extent of the parents’ liability and making them responsible for the reward money. The $10,000 for damages and $10,000 for rewards are the maximum amounts allowed under state law.

Although any school district can take advantage of the state code which allows such action, Orange County Department of Education attorney Val Fadely applauded the Laguna Beach board’s public stand.

“It’s one thing to have the authority to do something and it’s something else to do it,” he said.

Earlier this year, Buena Park School District officials filed a lawsuit against the parents of eight students accused of vandalizing two campuses, causing more than $13,000 in damage. Fadely, who handled that case, said the district settled with the parents for $11,615.