Most Parents Say Their Local Schools Are Safe

Despite recent school shootings that rattled the nation, nearly seven of 10 California parents of children under the age of 18 believe their children are safe from violence at their own campuses, a new Los Angeles Times poll shows.

One in 10 parents say that their children have been the victims of campus violence in the last year. A majority of parents, meanwhile, say that their children’s schools are “doing just the right amount to prevent violence” by installing metal detectors, adding police and conducting emergency drills, among other steps.

At the same time, a 53%-44% majority of the parents think that California public schools in general are unsafe, reflecting a tendency people have to believe that their own neighborhoods are safer than others as well as an abstract perception of schoolyard danger in a state that has the largest public school system in the nation.

“At my school, it’s small enough that it’s like family,” said Roger Hooker, whose 4-year-old daughter attends a Christian day school in Huntington Beach. “When I think about public schools, I think of gangs, drugs and a second-rate education.”

The survey, which queried Californians on a range of issues involving schools, school violence and guns, found that residents continue to cite education as the most important problem facing the state, and that most residents continue to hold a dim view of schools.

Seven of 10 residents rated the quality of public education in the state as “fair” or “poor.”

Residents seem eager for solutions, with an overwhelming majority--87%--supporting the education reforms Gov. Gray Davis pushed through the Legislature this year. Those measures include a new high school exit exam, peer review for teachers and a school accountability system.

Overall, the poll shows considerable stability in public attitudes on policy issues regarding education and violence, despite apparent shifts elsewhere in the country.

On education, the poll shows a majority favoring programs that would allow parents to use tax funds to help pay for private or religious school tuition. A majority also favor merit pay to reward teachers for classroom performance. But despite unhappiness over public school performance, the level of support for those ideas has not changed substantially from earlier surveys.

Similarly, Californians have for several years been supportive of many gun control measures. The poll shows that level of support has continued, but has not grown, since the Littleton, Colo., shootings.

The Times Poll, under the direction of Susan Pinkus, interviewed 1,602 Californians by telephone, including 566 parents with children under 18, June 10 through June 14. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points; for parents, it is 4 points. For certain subgroups, the margin may be larger.

The poll came just two months after the shooting rampage in Littleton, which claimed 15 lives and brought renewed attention to teenage violence. The incident is still fresh in the minds of many parents, who may feel secure about their own schools but acknowledge signs of danger.

About 20% of the parents of teenagers say their children have mentioned that they know of someone at their school who might turn violent.

Robbin Livingston-Palomino is one of those parents.

One week after the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, her 16-year-old daughter came home from school with a chilling tale.

“She overheard one of her friends say, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if I came to school and started shooting like at Columbine?’ ” Livingston-Palomino recalled.

A teacher at her daughter’s high school, near Fresno, overheard the remark. The student was expelled. Still, Livingston-Palomino was stunned that violence, until then a faraway evil, might strike so close to home.

“They have some gangs and stuff like that at the high school, but I had never thought of a shooting happening,” she said. “It’s kind of scary that some kid thinks that would be fun.”

Previous schoolyard shootings have helped build support in California for gun control measures, and three in five people polled said the state’s gun control laws should be more strict, the same percentage as in previous years.

Californians overwhelmingly favor a slate of gun safety measures: 78% want a ban on assault weapons, 80% approve of a law requiring trigger locks on stored guns, and 70% support prohibiting the sale of guns by mail and over the Internet.

Residents expressed the broadest support--89%--for a federal law that would require background checks for all firearm purchases; of that total, 79% “strongly” favor it.

But the poll also indicates that nearly three in five Californians oppose a law that would ban the possession of guns by anyone except law enforcement officers.

The survey amplifies intersection between guns and schools, making it clear that Californians want parents to exert more control over their children.

A majority of parents--53%--are against holding gun manufacturers liable for gun-related violence. But the same percentage agree that parents should be held criminally responsible for the actions of children who use a gun to commit a crime.

Parents of teenagers are less likely to demand punitive action: Only 40% agree that adults should shoulder the responsibility for their children’s violence.

Experts say the rise of violent crime in the supposed haven of suburbia has compelled parents to look inward when assigning blame--particularly when gun control has failed to halt the proliferation of weapons and crime.

The incident in Littleton, the worst school shooting in U.S. history, provoked biting criticism of the parents of the two teenage killers. The teenagers were reported to have prepared bombs used in their raid on Columbine High in the garage of one of their homes.

“We want to know where these parents were and how these kids were able to do this without any kind of detection,” said June Arnette, associate director of the National School Safety Center, a private nonprofit organization in Westlake Village.

“As responsible people, we are indignant without knowing their situation,” Arnette added. “We jump to the conclusion that there is irresponsible parenting going on in those households.”

Ann Olmos-Arreola, a homemaker, is among those critical of the Littleton parents. She agrees “strongly” that parents should be held criminally responsible for their children’s violence, a sanction she says would send a convincing--and overdue--message.

“We need to get back to basics. We’re supposed to set examples for kids,” said Olmos-Arreola, 54, who has a 13-year-old daughter at home in Cambria on the Central Coast. “Parents aren’t dedicating enough time to their kids. If you saw Hitler paraphernalia in your son’s room, you should say, ‘Hey, what’s going on? Can we talk?’ ”

Talking is exactly what parents have been doing in the wake of Littleton.

The poll shows that 65% of parents with children under 18--and 80% of parents of teenagers--discussed school violence with their children after Littleton and a subsequent campus shooting in Georgia.

Latino parents have been doing the most talking--70% of them sat down with their children--followed by white parents, at 55%.

And the poorest households were more prone to raise the subject, reflecting the fact that low-income neighborhoods are the ones most plagued by violence. Among parents earning less than $20,000, 65% had discussed school violence with their children, compared with 59% of parents earning more than $60,000.

Even before Littleton heightened awareness, parents said they were keeping a close eye on their children’s use of the Internet, television and other sources of information that are known to contain violent themes.

Six in 10 parents say that they supervise the use of the Internet and video games. About eight in 10 parents play watchdog over the use of television and videos.

Parents slightly increased their supervision after the Littleton incident.

George Arana of Panorama City keeps a keen eye on what his 6-year-old daughter, Sade, sees.

Arana is in a unique position to know about the violence that pervades entertainment: He is a technician who repairs video games and toy machines.

“You see blood, broken bones, all kinds of stuff from video games,” Arana, 31, said. “My daughter doesn’t get any of those games.”

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Schools and Guns

Despite a sense that California schools in general are not safe, parents feel their children are safe from violence in their own schoolyards.

* Are California’s public schools safe?

* Is your child safe or unsafe from violence at his or her own school?

* Parents of children under 18 years of age.

Californians think parents--not gun manufacturers--should be held responsible for gun-related crimes.

* Respondents were read the following statement:

Some cities are suing gun makers in an attempt to hold them liable for the costs to hospitals and police from gun-related violence. Other cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, are seeking civil penalties and heavy fines against gun manufacturers. Do you favor or oppose holding gun manufacturers liable for gun-related violence and making them pay for gun-related costs?

* Do you agree or disagree that parents should be held criminally responsible when their children use a gun to commit a crime?

Source: Times Poll

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How the Poll Was Conducted

The Times Poll contacted 1,602 adults statewide, including 566 parents with children under 18, by telephone June 10 through June 14. Telephone numbers were chosen from a list of all exchanges in the state. Random-digit dialing techniques were used so that listed and unlisted numbers could be contacted. The entire sample was weighted slightly to conform with census figures for gender, race, age, education, region and voter registration. The margin of sampling error for the entire sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points; for parents it is 4 points. For certain subgroups the error margin may be somewhat higher. Poll results can also be affected by factors such as question wording and the order in which questions are presented. The survey was conducted in English and Spanish.