Schools Near Staples Wary of Protests

Los Angeles school officials are planning to provide overnight shelter for as many as 2,000 pre-kindergarten and elementary school children who attend campuses near Staples Center in the event of disruptive protests during the Democratic National Convention.

Of particular concern, Los Angeles Unified School District officials say, are students and parents likely to travel through a large security zone surrounding the arena on their way to and from 10th Street Elementary School, two preschool centers and a Salvation Army youth center in the vicinity. The schools are on a year-round schedule and will be in session during the convention.

The tactical problems could become acute Aug. 15 when United Teachers-Los Angeles plans to assemble more than of 6,000 demonstrators on the grounds of 10th Street School, which is just off Olympic Boulevard a few blocks west of Staples. The union is scheduled to launch an afternoon “pilgrimage” from the campus northeast to district headquarters at about the same time school lets out.

“We are doing this in cooperation with the teachers at 10th Street Elementary,” said Steve Blazak, spokesman for the teachers union. “The utmost care will be given to children and parents picking up their children.”

Nonetheless, said district Supt. Roy Romer, “we need to get these children home safely, and I think the teachers union ought to rethink its demonstration and locate their protest someplace else.”

In an interview in her office, 10th Street Assistant Principal Rosa Maria Eshaq said, “I’d like to have the school closed down altogether during that convention. But our families can’t afford to have their kids stay home for a week.

“So, we’re working on a plan with the Los Angeles Police Department and school police,” she said. “We want extra security people on hand, and enough easy-to-prepare food in the cafeteria to last a few days. We already have 18 barrels of water.”

In the meantime, she added, “we have a lot of questions: Should the extra security be visible? Should they be placed inside or outside the campus? Should we tell the kids about all these things?”

Around the corner, officials of the Salvation Army Red Shield Youth and Community Center have been drafting strategies to protect students from an anticipated crush of local traffic during the convention, Aug. 14-17.

“We’re going to have staff lined up in front of the building when school lets out at 2:40 p.m. to help kids cross streets,” she said. “However, if there’s a riot and it spills over, we’ll keep kids overnight.

“We can handle it,” she said. “During the 1992 riots, we housed and fed 68 National Guardsmen here.”

Much of the attention to convention security has focused on how police will contain several scheduled protest marches and protect delegates. Last week, a federal judge ruled unconstitutional the city’s plan to bar all demonstrators from a large security zone around the convention site.

Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks has said he is considering a plan that would allow demonstrators within 100 yards of the site.

In the meantime, said Wesley Mitchell, the school district’s police chief, “our challenge is how to get kids safely through the chaos.”

Mitchell said he intends later this week to brief Romer, who chaired the Democratic National Convention before taking the district’s top job, “on the district’s response to the impact of the convention on kids who walk or are bused in and out of the area, and our daily education operations.”

Details are still being worked out. But given that many of the children in question live in low-rent apartment buildings only a stone’s throw from Staples Center, “the danger is that these children could become unintentional victims of aggressive police action, or [be] caught up in the panic of a group that is acting out,” said Mitchell. “But,” he added, “I believe we can make it safe for children.”

“We’re not going to let anyone forget we have thousands of children living in downtown Los Angeles,” said Board of Education member Victoria Castro, whose district includes the area around 10th Street School. “We can’t be too cautious.”

Robert Garcia, 23, is counting on it. The private security officer’s 4-year-old son and 4-year-old niece attend 10th Street Elementary.

“I’ll go crazy if there’s trouble at the Staples Center and my kids are in school,” he said. “I’m a peaceful man, but don’t mess with my kids. I’ll protect them. They come first.

“But if it gets dangerous,” he added, “I like the idea of locking down the school and keeping the youngsters inside until parents can come get them.”