Parents Face Painful Choice on Day After

On the morning after the rampage in Granada Hills, many parents throughout the region swung between logic and panic, wrestling with the fear of leaving their children at camps and day-care centers.

Scores of families kept their children home from Jewish community centers around Southern California, while those who did take their sons and daughters to the facilities were relieved to find heightened security at many.

The angst also gripped families whose children are in secular day care.

“I think every parent today is worried,” said Kathleen Barker, hugging her daughter, Elena, as she dropped the 3-year-old off at day care in Pasadena.

Keeping their children home, many said, would mean giving in to terror. A shooting such as Tuesday’s just couldn’t happen again, they assured themselves. But as they left their children for the day, many parents struggled with the biting fear: What if it does?

While officials with the Jewish Community Centers said they had no reports of significant numbers of children staying home, individual facilities reported low attendance.

At the North Valley Jewish Community Center, the scene of Tuesday’s violence, about 100 children--half of the usual turnout--showed up for the summer camp and day-care program, which was held in a nearby church. Staff and students met with counselors, and a community meeting was held in the evening.

Saying they were not going to cower in the face of violence, a handful of parents began arriving at the center at 7 a.m., four hours before it opened.

‘We’re Not Going to Let Anyone Scare Us’

Yuval Barazani said returning his child to camp would send a message to those who discriminate against Jews.

“We are part of the community, and we plan to be here,” he said. “We’re not going to let anyone scare us.”

But Sharon Saltzberg, who went to the center for an interview with Israeli television, said she was going to wait a few days before sending her daughter Tal, 8, back to camp.

“It was a nightmare that I don’t want any mother to live with,” she said.

Like her mother, Tal said she was trying to work through her feelings about the shooting.

“Last night I was really scared. I thought that [the gunman] was at my house and he would shoot me and I wouldn’t see my parents,” she said. “I feel a little better today, but I’m still a little scared.”

Parents and children at other day camps around Southern California voiced similar fears Wednesday morning, many unaware that the suspect in the case had already turned himself in to authorities in Las Vegas.

At the Valley Cities Jewish Community Center in Sherman Oaks, extra security officers greeted parents as young children with Barbie backpacks, Pokemon games and Little Mermaid lunch boxes trooped in. Some comforted their parents as they said goodbye.

“Don’t worry,” a sandy-haired, 8-year-old boy said to his mother. “It showed what he looked like in the newspaper. He won’t get us.”

Shelly Koyshman, 28, a paralegal from Sherman Oaks, said she was terrified by the shooting but decided to take her 5-year-old daughter to day camp anyway.

“I was in tears all day,” she said. “When I heard the news, my first instinct was to get up and run and grab my daughter, take her home and never let her leave the house.”

Center Gets Many Calls From Worried Parents

Officials at the West Valley Jewish Community Center said they received many calls from worried parents who opted to keep their children out of the preschool and camp programs Wednesday. Attendance was down about 50%, according to Ronda P. Wilkin, the center’s director.

“All the way [here] I was shaking,” said Judi Rebenstein of Reseda as she dropped her son off at preschool. “I didn’t know if I was doing the right thing. Do I keep him home? How long do I keep him home?”

A quarter of the students were missing from the Temple Bat Yahm preschool in Newport Beach on Wednesday. Parents who did arrive were greeted by the program director, a security guard and Newport Beach police officers.

“I was very frightened to bring my son here today,” said Elizabeth Price, 30. “I noticed there were a lot of kids absent, and I wondered if I made the right decision. . . . You worry about copycat crimes.”

In Hollywood, a nervous Debbie MacInnis said that if she had heard about the shooting earlier Tuesday, she would have pulled her children out of their secular day camp. All night, she said, she agonized about whether to take them back Wednesday. But in the morning, logic won out over emotion. As MacInnis dropped off her 8-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter, she gave them extra hugs goodbye.

“Every time a situation like this happens, you think, ‘Could this happen to my child?’ ” she said. “But you have to realize that this is an isolated incident.”

At All Saints Children’s Center in Pasadena, many parents dropping off their youngsters held them a little longer than usual. Parent Carla Schuler said the possibility of tightening security was one of her first thoughts Wednesday morning. “I thought about calling the director today and talking to her,” she said. “It could happen anywhere.”

Some parents said the fear can become overwhelming.

“It makes you wonder whether you should even take your kids out of the house,” said Michelle Fiorellino, 33, as she dropped her 3-year-old daughter off at the Good Shepherd Preschool in Irvine.

“As a parent, you hope that you’re doing the right thing. Should you totally shelter your kids or just pray?”