2 Wounded in Gunfire at School

The news of bullets flying on the grounds of Anaheim High School raised anew a question that has troubled parents and government officials and prompted a recent spate of state legislation: Are the public schools safe?

Anaheim police and school officials say absolutely yes, despite Wednesday’s invasion of school property by outsiders who sparked a gang melee.

But a recent state survey found that their high school district reported more weapons-possession incidents per student than any other district in Orange County and more than Los Angeles Unified School District.

School officials say their district is more diligent than most in collecting such data. They note that the shooting was the first on an Anaheim campus during school hours that anyone could recall since a student was wounded by a gunshot at Loara High School more than 10 years ago.

They say, too, that police and school principals are working closely to keep gangs at bay and enforce a zero-tolerance policy toward weapons on campus.

Reports of campus crimes have been cut in half in the four years since police launched a program to bring anti-gang experts into schools.

“We have a safe school district,” said Craig Haugen, assistant superintendent of 28,000-student Anaheim Union High School District. “This is a rare thing that this would happen on one of our campuses.”

Said Police Lt. Dave Severson: “We’ve been really successful. If we see trouble brewing, if we hear about it from other students, we can intervene. This was just a total fluke today.”

But the perception of increased threats to students and educators runs so deep that Gov. Pete Wilson this fall signed one of the largest packages of school safety legislation in years.

One new law will require school districts to develop comprehensive safety plans by September 1998. Others require background checks for all school employees, bar violent felons from working in schools and stiffen hiring standards for school bus drivers.

The slaying of a Sacramento County high school student in May heightened public fears. A paroled felon who had obtained a job as a substitute school janitor was charged with the killing of 18-year-old Michelle Montoya.

“It’s incidents like these that have captured the governor’s interest--and the public’s, absolutely,” said Steve Tatum, a spokesman for Wilson. “That’s why we’ve seen a surge in legislation seeking to protect children at schools and their surroundings.”

The shooting at Anaheim High could prove to be another galvanizing event.

Police and witnesses said gunfire broke out soon after 8 a.m. when two groups of rival gang members squared off near the school ball field. Two teenagers were hit by bullets.

The president of the district board of trustees, Harald G. Martin, who also is an Anaheim police officer, said the district should consider new policies requiring school uniforms and barring gang members from campuses.

Martin called the shooting “a huge rarity.” But he said the school board ought to take steps to ensure campus safety, perhaps as soon as its meeting tonight.

“Maybe we’ll have to look at the legal ramifications of saying, ‘Sorry, you’re a gang member. You’ll have to find someplace else to get your education,’ ” Martin said.

School officials said they were concerned that some suspected gang members who were not students had access to the grounds.

“We are doing everything that can be done short of putting large fences up and having kids come through one gate,” Haugen said.

While police say campus crime is down, the Anaheim district has faced a proliferation of weapons.

In March, a state Department of Education report found 96 incidents of weapons possession reported at Anaheim district campuses in the 1995-96 school year. That translated to 3.93 incidents per thousand students, using the district’s population at the time. Los Angeles Unified tallied 416 incidents, or 0.64 per thousand.

Times correspondent Lisa Addison contributed to this report.