HUNTINGTON BEACH : Schools Discuss Violence, Strategies

School officials, police chiefs and parents sought ways to prevent students from bringing weapons on campus and to develop programs to counter school violence at a youth safety summit Thursday.

If authorities fail, student injuries and deaths will increase, Fountain Valley School District Supt. Ruben L. Ingram warned the audience of about 175 people.

Ingram talked about raising money for metal detectors at school entrances, security officers to patrol campuses, and training school personnel on handling explosive situations.

David J. Hagen, superintendent of the Huntington Beach Union High School District and host of the workshop, said schools, police and community leaders “need to coalesce our efforts and work together as a group for safer campuses and communities.”

Hagen said that the conference focused “on the dark side” of schools and that “97% or 98% are very good students. We are looking at the 1% or 2% who create problems,” he said.

Michael Schumacher, Orange County’s chief probation officer, also told the gathering of school superintendents, principals, teachers, police chiefs and residents from Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Westminster that a small percentage of youthful repeat offenders are responsible for most of the violence.

A seven-year study by his department showed that 8% of juvenile delinquents are repeat offenders.

Schumacher said a study shows that most repeat offenders are arrested the first time at the age of 14. They generally do poorly in school, have family problems, use drug and alcohol and run around with the “wrong crowd,” he said.

“The citizens of Orange County have come of age to the senselessness, and they want something done about it,” he said.

Earlier this month, three students at Marine View Middle School in Huntington Beach were expelled after they were accused of bringing weapons to the campus and conspiring to take a classroom hostage in October.

In the spring, an Edison High School student was stabbed and seriously injured in an attack by outsiders on campus.

Edison Principal Brian Garland added that the Huntington Beach school was spray-painted with graffiti by vandals who also broke out an office window Wednesday or early Thursday.

“We are looking over our shoulders,” Garland said Thursday. “We don’t want the same thing happening to us that’s been happening in L.A.”

Last week, a student from another school brought a gun onto the Ocean View High School campus but was disarmed without incident.

At the end of Thursday’s conference, officials developed several strategies after adjourning to separate planning sessions. The proposals will be studied by school superintendents and police chiefs. They’ll then go out to schools in the Ocean View, Huntington Beach City, Huntington Beach Union High School, Westminster and Fountain Valley school districts for study.