Reseda High Students Say Boring Is Better

Four years ago, Reseda High School was the scene of a shooting in which one student killed another during a midmorning break for snacks.

But today, the school is viewed as a “pretty mellow” campus where students feel safe, in part because of anti-violence programs developed in response to the death of 17-year-old Michael Ensley.

“Everyone says it’s a boring school because it’s quiet and nothing happens like at other schools with fights and stuff,” said Ernest Aguilar, a senior and soccer player. “I’d rather it be boring than have that other kind of excitement.”

Aguilar and his classmates don’t deny there is violence on the 1,742-student campus, but they say it is mainly limited to fistfights and verbal arguments. When there are physical fights, students said, administrators are usually quick to break them up.

“Yeah, before we even get started someone’s there,” said 16-year-old Marco Carranza.

Reseda Principal Robert Kladifko credits several programs including a twice-monthly gathering of students known as the “Inner Ear” that meets with him to discuss campus concerns.

Another innovation borne of Ensley’s death is the student group WARN--or Weapons Are Removed Now--which assumes the responsibility of reporting weapons on campus, holding violence prevention workshops and educating younger children.

At a recent Inner Ear meeting in the school’s auditorium, the 19 students in attendance talked about the current absence of serious violence on campus such as shootings or stabbings. Students do bring weapons onto the campus, said senior Amir Pourlak, but it’s not usually guns.

“If anything it’s mostly knives, but that doesn’t happen too often,” Pourlak said. “Maybe they do bring them in, but they don’t really tell anybody.”