Thread: LA school trying to recover after race riot

Locke High tries to recover from last week's melee
More L.A. Unified police officers are sent to the campus and intervention specialists are brought in to talk to students. Officials say fights have plagued the school since the academic year began.
By Howard Blume and Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
1:58 PM PDT, May 12, 2008
An uneasy calm returned to Locke High School today following the roving, half-hour-long melee involving 600 students last week that required dozens of police officers in riot gear to defuse.

A dozen Los Angeles Unified School District police officers were dispatched to the South Los Angeles campus, 10 more than normally assigned to the campus. Los Angeles police also stepped up patrols in the neighborhood.



Locke High School in South Los Angeles locked down after huge brawlBut attendance was down by about 250 students at the school, which is 65% Latino and 35% African American. And there were differing stories about what may have prompted the brawl on Friday.

School officials brought in 20 intervention specialists divided into teams of two. Intervention specialist Holly Priebe-Diaz said they had talked to more than 300 students by noon.

Half of the students said the brawling was prompted by bored young people getting out of control. But others said that ongoing racial tension and gang problems were to blame.

"This is a microcosm of something bigger happening in the community," Priebe-Diaz said.

The campus at 111th and San Pedro streets has long been one of the city's most troubled campuses. School officials admit that it has been a particularly difficult year at Locke, with fights almost every day during much of the fall and winter.

The fight Friday broke out as students returned from lunch to their fifth-period classes. Overwhelmed school officials called Los Angeles police for help, but students and faculty said it took about half an hour before more than 100 L.A. Unified and Los Angeles police officers, many in riot gear, restored order.

Chanell Campbell, 16, said there had been talk that "something bad would happen," leading up to Friday. She saw students with gashed heads and broken noses.

Fernando Marenco, 16, said there was "a lot of chaos," and while students said they were scared, they were "still running toward the stampede."

howard.blume@latimes.com

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... 9494.story

But others said that ongoing racial tension and gang problems were to blame.

Could it be because certain gangs have the blessing of LA's mayor and chief of police?

Jamiel's Law NEEDS to pass and SPec Order 40 needs to GO! So do Villar and Bratton.

Walter Moore for Mayor of Los Angeles, California! Get rid of the city council too!

Years ago you would never hear of a riot in any school here.

Seems this country is out of control in so many areas.

Hello out there! Any strong leaders anywhere???

which is 65% Latino and 35% African American

OK....I wasn't crazy. I saw what they had on the news and I wondered why all I saw were blacks and latinos....no whites, no asians...no other ethnic group of people.

It was wild for sure. If I was a kid I sure wouldn't be going to something like that....where's the atmosphere condusive to learning?

ICE needs to do a raid at this school, no illegal alien gang-banger should be given "sanctuary" at any school in the U.S.....deport the illegal alien gang-bangers and their families ....that would go a long way in reducing this type of situation. I can't imagine that many of the black students feel comfortable when they know they can be victimized at any time by these illegals and Special Order 40 protects the illegals, not them, not Jamiel Shaw.

Originally Posted by jean

Years ago you would never hear of a riot in any school here.

Seems this country is out of control in so many areas.

Hello out there! Any strong leaders anywhere???

I hear ya Jean . No leaders without the CFR tag . CFR gets you msm air time at dinner time . Look what they did to Dr.Paul , Keyes and Baldwin .
We got a lot of work to do to get America back on track . One Illegal at a time is even better than denial !!
Oh shoot ! You did say "Strong Leaders". That leaves out the CFR puppets

Locke High sends a message: No more disturbances
Police patrol the halls and specialists counsel students on the first school day following Friday's campus melee.
By Howard Blume
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

May 13, 2008

Conflict-resolution teams and tight security helped ease jitters at Locke High School on Monday, the first school day following the roving, half-hour-long melee last week that involved 600 students and required more than 100 police officers to defuse.

The riot was the most dangerous occurrence to date during a difficult transition year for the Watts school. The campus at 111th and San Pedro streets has long been one of the most troubled in the Los Angeles Unified School District, with frequent fights and low test scores.

As of July 1, Locke will become a charter school operated by Green Dot Public Schools, a nonprofit that is independently run and publicly funded.

The Friday chaos began as students returned from lunch to their fifth-period classes. School officials called police for help; students and faculty said it took about half an hour for school district and Los Angeles police officers, many in riot gear, to restore order.

First thing Monday morning, officials sent a clear message that no further disturbance would be tolerated: A dozen school police officers patrolled the campus while Los Angeles police manned perimeter streets, standing next to bicycles and parked patrol cars. On Friday, student fights had overwhelmed two school officers and 14 security aides.

There also were efforts Monday to counsel students and determine what and who started the riot, which resulted in four arrests and numerous minor injuries.

Local clergy and parent volunteers walked the halls, while Supt. David L. Brewer supervised the response. They were joined by Steve Barr, the founder of Green Dot, who operates a number of other small high schools in the area.

Meanwhile, 20 conflict-resolution specialists broke into teams of two, working with more than 300 students before noon.

About half of the students said the brawling was prompted by their peers -- bored with school and ready to ignite, said intervention specialist Holly Priebe-Diaz.

Other students, she said, blamed ongoing racial tensions and gang problems. Historically black Watts has changed rapidly to a Latino-majority community, with gangs of both ethnicities claiming overlapping turf in the economically depressed streets. Locke's student body is about 65% Latino and 35% African American.

"This is a microcosm of something bigger happening in the community," Priebe-Diaz said.

But events on campus were not irrelevant, she added: "They don't know what's going to happen to them next year with the charter school. There's a lot of anxiety."

The school's official enrollment is about 2,600, although close to 20% are absent on any given day.

An additional 250 or so stayed home Monday, said interim Principal Travis Kiel, who came out of retirement when the district removed Principal Frank Wells near the end of the last school year. District officials removed Wells after he openly sided with Green Dot's efforts to take control at Locke.

Kiel admitted to a challenging year.

"I'd be insane to say there were no gang problems at this school," he said Monday.

Kiel has had to confront an explosion of gang graffiti as well as increased tension, said some teachers, because the school saw an influx of more students who live in a neighborhood associated with rival gangs.

In fact, students said that the fighting, though mostly black versus brown, also included black-on-black and Latino-on-Latino clashes.

Kiel estimated that about 75 students engaged in actual fighting, with many more watching.

Fernando Marenco, 16, an 11th-grader, said there was "a lot of chaos," and though students said they were scared, they were "still running toward the stampede."

Some students were jumped and pummeled as they tried to get to class.

Chanell Campbell, 16, said there had been talk that "something bad would happen" leading up to Friday. She said she saw students with gashed heads and broken noses.

Staff at Locke, including teachers, members of the security team and Kiel, said the district cut security staffing in half at the start of the year. Kiel said much of the staffing had been restored by winter break.

Another district official, Assistant Supt. Earl Perkins, said the reduction in security was minimal and brief, and that Locke has more security than last year.

Friday's scene "terrified" parent Vikki Reyes, who got a frantic cellphone call from her daughter, who had run off campus after being knocked down. The fall ripped her pants and bloodied her knee.

"As a parent, it was one of the scariest phone calls I had ever received," Reyes said, "to hear the cry in her voice, to know she was off campus and there was this war going on."

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