AGOURA

Spurred by student tales of fighting, bullying and general mischief on the Lindero Canyon Middle School campus, a group of about two dozen parents is trying to organize a parent patrol to watch over hallways, bathrooms and lunch areas.

“There’s a lack of enforcement of any discipline,” said Nancy Arkin, one of the group’s organizers whose 12-year-old daughter attends the 1,100-student school. “We are talking about the safety of our children.”

Arkin said parents have met twice in the past week to address allegations that administrators do not effectively oversee the campus and do not take decisive action against students who misbehave. Parents say they have heard that students set fires in lockers, bully others in the locker room and pull down the pants of other youngsters.

If administrators approve, the parents say they hope to oversee a variety of sites on campus in an effort to discourage such pranks.

Lindero Principal Ronald Kaiser acknowledged some of the pranks, but defended the school’s discipline procedures.

“Lindero is a safe place for students,” he said. “These are issues that have been universal to middle schools ever since their existence. . . These are pranks. This is what middle school kids do.”

He said the same students usually instigate the foul play. So far this year, he said, students have been suspended 113 times.

Kaiser said that the 13-acre campus is overcrowded, which makes supervision difficult. In the wake of a fatal stabbing at Valley View Junior High School in Simi Valley, the school is considering hiring one or two more supervisory aides.

Nonetheless, Kaiser said, he welcomes parent involvement, provided the parent volunteers are trained and fingerprinted.

Ron Bara, whose 11-year-old son attends Lindero and was hit in the face with a book in an altercation with another student, said having parents on campus would do more than relieve parent concerns.

“Students feel unsafe,” said Bara. “The presence (of the parents) will make them feel better.”