L.A. Schools Weigh Rewards for Student Informants : Safety: Plan targets weapons, vandalism and drug dealing. Tipsters would get gift certificates anonymously.

The Los Angeles Unified School District is considering a proposal--backed by a majority of its Board of Education--that would reward students who snitch on classmates caught carrying weapons, dealing drugs or vandalizing campuses.

Under the proposal, students who turn in rule breakers could receive up to $75 in gift certificates and merchandise, including concert tickets, compact discs, clothing and shoes. Student informants would use an anonymous telephone hot line and would receive the reward only after an arrest is made.

The reward program is believed to be the first of its kind for a large urban school district, said a spokesman for the Council of Great City Schools in Washington, D.C., which tracks the 50 largest school districts in the country. Los Angeles Unified is the nation’s second-largest district.

School board members polled Wednesday expressed support for the program and said the rewards could be an incentive for typically reluctant students to report illegal activities. The school board’s safety committee is scheduled to discuss the proposal next week. The full board must still approve the program.

So far, few objections have been raised.

“There’s a certain stigma among teen-agers that you shouldn’t tattle on a friend--that it’s not a cool thing to do,” said school board President Mark Slavkin. “It seems natural to me to try to break down that resistance.”

The reward program would largely be underwritten by the San Fernando Valley chapter of Safari Club International, a nonprofit group of sport hunters. The group, which approached the school district about the program in October, has pledged $15,000 over the next year.

“We are interested in the recognition for Safari, but at the same time we are citizens and homeowners, mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, and we don’t like seeing what’s happening in our schools,” said Bill Gillespie, a Safari Club member from Bell Canyon who initiated the discussions with the school system. “Unless people do something about it, nothing will happen.”

Under the plan developed by school police and Safari Club officials, students who call the hot line would be told by a school police operator not to reveal their names. The operator would assign them case numbers. From that point, students would be identified only by their numbers.

School police would investigate the tips and make arrests if they find a student involved in a serious offense, such as carrying a gun, dealing drugs or destroying school property.

After taking the information, the operators would advise the students to call back after a period of time to find out whether their tips led to arrests. If arrests were made, the students would be given a choice of stores and possibly restaurants where they could pick up their rewards--again using their numbers, not their names, as identification. District officials would prearrange the pickup with the merchants.

School district police, who enthusiastically support the idea, said they already have received interest from several music and video stores, clothing shops and movie theaters.

Board member Julie Korenstein said she would support the plan only if the district guarantees the anonymity of student informants. “The only reservation I have is that no child’s name be in any way made public,” she said.

School district and Safari Club International officials said they decided against cash rewards similar to those in a program now used in the Antelope Valley Union High School District.

“I’m not real high on giving kids cash,” said school district Police Chief Wesley Mitchell. “I’d rather give the kid $75 in passes to the movies. . . . This is an exciting idea that could have great results.”

But Principal Bob Kladifko of Reseda High School, where a student was fatally shot two years ago, said he believes that cash incentives would be the best option for enticing students to overcome peer pressure and turn in their classmates.

“I think money’s the best thing,” Kladifko said. “We think we know what kids like, but we probably don’t.”

Reseda now gives students $25 cash for anonymously providing administrators with tips on vandalism and weapons; the campus is believed to be the only one with that kind of program in the district. The school this year distributed $125 to students, Kladifko said.

“We think it’s been a great program because kids know--we don’t,” Kladifko said. “Kids know who has the weapon, who has done the vandalism. They know everything.”

But American Civil Liberties Union spokesman Allan Parachini said he believes that the districtwide reward program is doomed to fail because peer pressure will prevent teen-agers from snitching on friends.

“It’s soliciting kids to do something that they are not inclined to do,” Parachini said. “There’s a very strong code of silence among high school-age children.”

While teachers union President Helen Bernstein said she has not taken a formal position on the program, she is concerned about the message it sends to students.

They should be encouraged to turn in classmates with drugs or weapons because it’s the right thing to do, not because they are getting gifts for doing it, Bernstein said. “It teaches kind of bad values. But on the other hand, I sure hate the idea of a kid getting killed because a gun went off.”

School board member Victoria Castro, who chairs the board’s safety committee, said the district’s need to protect its students makes it worthwhile to try the program. “The bottom line for me is we need these tips to provide safe campuses. If we need to give incentives, if that makes a difference in school safety, then I’m open to it.”

After two fatal shootings on school campuses two years ago, the school district established a hot line for anonymous tips. As a result, one student was arrested on suspicion of bringing a gun to school, and several knives were seized shortly after the line was installed. Since then, school police say hot line calls have dwindled to none, and the line is all but forgotten.

Meanwhile, school police officers are seizing more weapons from students and arresting an increasing number of drug dealers on campus. School police seized 52 guns from July to December last year, a 13% increase from the previous year, according to the latest school crime statistics. The data also shows that 277 students were caught with drugs over the same period--an 18% increase over the previous year. In addition, vandalism and burglaries cost the district $8 million last year.

School police said they already receive some information about weapons and other illegal activities on campuses from students who report incidents to teachers and administrators, but more needs to be done.

Chief Mitchell said more students will be inclined to use the hot line with the added gift incentives. “Nobody’s really pushing the hot line now, so nobody’s calling,” Mitchell said. “This (the reward proposal) could be more successful.”