Sorting Gangs by School Is Responsible Policy

Having worked in a Los Angeles school for more than 26 years, I can only believe that whoever wrote the April 11 editorial “In Class and in Prison” has no idea what goes on in the schools. High schools with 2,000 to 4,000 students are required to maintain some semblance of order while teaching all students -- most of whom, of course, are not gang affiliated. One Central L.A. school, for instance, has had at times four or five gangs on campus, two of which had been killing each other for more than 50 years. Attacks with knives or 2-by-4s, while not an everyday occurrence, were frequent enough to require the full attention of the staff.

How much teaching do you think goes on under those conditions? How could administrators maintain a peaceful campus? Could they assign a security guard to every classroom? Were they supposed to arm the teachers? Being a critic is easy; coming up with viable solutions is a little more difficult. The best solution for the student majority was to move gang members to a campus where they, and everyone else, would be safe.

Joseph Lenihan

Los Angeles

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Your implication that the LAUSD student busing policy somehow contributes to the city’s gang problem is astonishing. Surely every parent of school-aged children in Los Angeles is outraged over gangs. However, outrage alone has never solved a problem and will do nothing to eliminate the threat of street gangs to public safety and the future of our city. Safe schools will. Education will.

It’s difficult to imagine any executive working in Los Angeles who faces greater daily challenges than what the principals of urban public schools face. Their job is to educate kids in an environment that includes overcrowding, diminished resources and public cynicism over their efforts. They need busing policies that support rather than challenge. They are getting that from LAUSD officials. To do otherwise would be irresponsible.

Don Davis

Irvine