Chipping Away at Gangs’ Influence

Amid concerns about student safety, the Anaheim high school board is seeking to quell the influence of street gangs on campuses.

Board President Harald G. Martin has proposed barring gang members from schools. But school administrators said legal experts are advising the Anaheim Union High School District that students can be expelled only on the basis of proven misdeeds, not merely for affiliations with a group.

The school board plans to take up the issue at a meeting Thursday night.

Martin, an Anaheim police officer, said the board should take a hard line.

“Gang members add nothing beneficial to our schools,” he said. “They just bring fear to students and teachers, and bring their neighborhood problems to the campuses. I don’t want them here.”

Others advised more moderate action, saying a policy of automatic exclusion or expulsion would be hard to enforce, discriminatory and perhaps unconstitutional.

The district serves 26,600 students in seventh to 12th grades in Anaheim, Buena Park, La Palma, Cypress and Stanton.

How many gang members are enrolled in the district is unknown. It is also unclear how gang members could be identified and disciplined by the schools in a way that would pass legal scrutiny.

Mark Lopez, an attorney for SchoolWatch/SENTRY, an organization that defends students in expulsion cases, called Martin’s proposal a “violation of constitutional rights.”

District Supt. Jan Billings said Tuesday that the board could consider a range of options, including programs to keep kids out of gangs.

The five-member school board is divided on what to do. Trustee Katherine H. Smith said she sides with Martin, while trustees Joanne L. Stanton and L.E. “Slim” Terrell said they oppose his approach. Trustee R.A. “Molly” McGee said she would support Martin if his proposal is legal.

“Ten years ago, I wouldn’t have voted for a [policy] like this,” McGee said, “but after seeing the impact [gang members] have had, we need to do something serious.”

In recent years, Anaheim police have increased their presence on campuses in an effort to contain gangs. Michael Aquino, a police investigator who is a school liaison, said the gang presence is no more than 50 students on any given campus in the city, and sometimes fewer.

“You’re not talking about a whole lot of kids,” Aquino said. “But the problem is these kids bring their friends to school and the problems associated with gangs to school. A lot of times they will openly intimidate people on school campuses by the way they dress, the way they act, the fights they get into.”

Last year, the school district implemented a student uniform policy at Dale Junior High School after officials heard that students were attacked because of what they wore.

In October, gang members brought weapons onto the Anaheim High campus. Shots were fired, and two people were injured.

Police said none of the aggressors were students at the school. But they said the presence of even one gang member on campus can draw trouble.

That is not a universally shared opinion.

Some students said the fears are overblown. Lanny Krage, a senior at Loara High School in Anaheim, said most students already feel safe on campus.

“Gang members need help,” Krage said, “and schools should be able to provide help for them instead of turning them away.”

Said Leticia Ramirez, student body president at Anaheim High: “I don’t see gang members on campus, and the few that are here don’t get into trouble.”

The school board will meet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the district boardroom, 501 Crescent Way, Anaheim.

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Times staff writer Nick Anderson contributed to this report.