What a great school to send your kids too

[Kilrtoy]

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-me-santee12mar12,1,454415.story

[Roxysnow]

Chaos Reigns at a Model School
Newly opened South L.A. High has Macs, a chef's kitchen and a ballet studio. It also has drugs, guns -- and gangs posturing on the quad.
By Erika Hayasaki, Times Staff Writer
March 12, 2006
Administrator Maureen Cologne thought she had stumbled upon a missing cellphone two weeks ago after touching a smooth object wedged between a stack of chairs at the Los Angeles Unified School District's newest high school. During the random classroom search, about 40 students watched her pull out a loaded handgun instead.
"What was terrifying," Cologne said in an interview last week, "was why?"
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At most urban high schools, the incident could have been considered an anomaly in an otherwise normal school year. But since South L.A. Area High School No. 1 opened in July on the old Santee Dairy site just south of downtown, nothing has been normal.
During its first week, as staff haphazardly opened five small schools on the pristine campus with little or no guidance, more chaos reigned outside. On the second day of classes, someone fired shots in front of the school. A day later, a student with an AK-47 was arrested after school in front of the campus, police said. Campus police said students jumped on officers and tried to steal their guns during a lunchtime brawl three months ago. And students said the police pepper-sprayed them as they tried to avoid the melee.
The school has earned a dubious distinction: It ranks No. 1 among district high schools for crime, with 218 reports since school began, including theft, assault and weapons possession.
"We've taken out knives and brass knuckles. We've had kids selling meth in classrooms," said police officer Veronica Perez, who has been stationed on the 2,900-student campus since it opened. "We are the busiest school in the district, and there's only two [campus-based officers] here."
Supt. Roy Romer and district officials had hoped the state-of-the-art school, with its heated swimming pool, rubber track, ballet studio, fully equipped chef's kitchen and shiny Macintosh computers, would become a pride of the district. It was intended to relieve overcrowding and serve as a model for implementing small learning communities, a reform effort aimed at boosting student achievement and graduation rates at all district high schools.
"This was, for three years, Romer's talked-about flagship [small learning community] site," said Board of Education member David Tokofsky. "It was his dream, and it has turned out to be a nightmare."
Romer said the district was trying to open new schools against long odds. Changing the culture on campus and in the community, he said, is a "slow and painful process."
"Opening a new school is challenging," Romer said. "Doing it with the kind of unrest we have among those youngsters is also a challenge. But that doesn't mean you don't do it."
The attendance boundaries are part of the problem of South L.A. Area High School No. 1, which draws students from some of the city's toughest neighborhoods around Belmont, Jefferson, Manual Arts and Fremont high schools. Police say youths cut through more than 50 gang territories to get to school. There are 18 documented gangs represented on campus, and, staff members say, each is posturing for recognition and a spot on the quad.
Students carry weapons because "they have to go through somebody else's turf to get to and from school," said Dean David Hickman. "The district never asked us, who are on the ground, how to build a school."
Dan Isaacs, the chief operating officer of L.A. Unified, said the district's primary concern is "building schools where we can find land and where there's a density factor."
For years, because of overcrowding, students in the Santee area endured long bus rides to schools outside of their neighborhoods. Others attended neighborhood campuses teeming with students. Isaacs said that gangs exist all over the city, and it is nearly impossible to build schools on land that doesn't touch gang turf.
"It's kind of like saying, 'Should we build a school where there's no grocery stores?' " Isaacs said. "It's not a manageable issue."
Two weeks ago, after school was dismissed, a student was stabbed at the Burger King across the street. On Monday, at lunchtime, police inadvertently pepper-sprayed a dean as he was breaking up a fight between gang members.
Last week, a janitor carrying a bottle of orange cleanser scrubbed graffiti off a freshly painted stairwell. Students had also tagged the school's stylish umbrella-covered picnic tables, signs advertising the fashion academy and many of its glossy new textbooks.
When it opened, the school did not have a staff handbook outlining emergency and curriculum guidelines. Teachers and principals whipped one up amid the confusion.
During a recent lunch, Officer Perez spotted a boy with a studded necklace bearing the initials of his tagging crew. Many taggers don't just spray graffiti, Perez said; they also carry weapons.
"We're not going to have this here," Perez told the boy, taking it from around his neck. "These are not your initials."

[rivergoer]

one word " GHETTO"

[Eliminator 4 Life]

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-me-santee12mar12,1,454415.story
Well what the hell do you do all day :)
Makes me glad I live where I live and knowing when I have kids one day they wont have to go through this shit..

[572Daytona]

All I can say is that I'm glad it's not my taxes paying for those schools.

[boatsnblondes]

Chris and I are bypassing the public school system entirely.....Harvest Christian school to start, then off to a Christian High school....not one day in a lousy public school.

[NOTALENT]

I guess if you looking for a challenge this would be it.... :crossx:

[Eliminator 4 Life]

I guess if you looking for a challenge this would be it.... :crossx:
B lets put the key in the hole and roll but dont be bringing a knife to a gun fight k :crossx:

[slink]

Isn't that "Job security" for you Kilr ? Or do you prefer to just chase down those over due library books? :) :) :p Just bustin ballz

[probablecause]

If Kilr would quit wearing the wrong colors while on patrol, there would not be any problems.
http://www.adolescentmind.com/images/Gang%20Hats%20Edited/Raiders-Blue-Hat.jpg http://www.adolescentmind.com/images/Gang%20Hats%20Edited/Raiders-Red-Hat.jpg

[H20 Toie]

it's sad that schools can be like this.

[Waldo]

Thought Kilr was aiming (+) this thread at me with our 7 y/o knife wielding gangsta!

[a catered life]

If Kilr would quit wearing the wrong colors while on patrol, there would not be any problems.
http://www.adolescentmind.com/images/Gang%20Hats%20Edited/Raiders-Blue-Hat.jpg http://www.adolescentmind.com/images/Gang%20Hats%20Edited/Raiders-Red-Hat.jpg
love this :p :rollside:

[CA Stu]

Do you think they know the difference between "to", "too" and "two", Mr. Webster? :rolleyes:
Thanks
CA Stu

[MagicMtnDan]

What a great school to send your kids too
That there is funny. Maybe you two ought too go back tue skool :D

[TCHB]

Private school is the way to go.

[Kilrtoy]

Thought Kilr was aiming (+) this thread at me with our 7 y/o knife wielding gangsta!
Your post made me think of this....Thats all....

[Coleitis22]

[QUOTE=rivergoer]one word " GHETTO"[/QUOT
Pretty much sums up all of LA. :skull:

[Maxey]

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-me-santee12mar12,1,454415.story
I am saddened by the responses to your post. What is described is not a reflection of the quality of the school, but a reflection of our ("yours and mine")society. Until we are able to change the conditions, thought processes of those individuals, etc. you will continue to see this type of behavior.
Society tends to put a tremendous burdon on the public school system. We
(all of us) must be responsible for the early development of our children, and from then on as well. What I mean by this is: You as parents have to be the driving force for the attitudes your children have. Teach them the values of respecting others.
Blaming public schools for the ills of our society is getting "old". I am going to retire this year after teaching high school auto shop for over 31 years. Yes we are not perfect, but you should see the "baggage" the kids bring to school and my classroom. We must all try to help improve the situation.

[NOTALENT]

B lets put the key in the hole and roll but dont be bringing a knife to a gun fight k :crossx:
Nah....no knife...what gun would look better on me...The Egyptian Maddi, Hungarian or Bulgarian AK47? Im not good at color matching... :crossx: