Thread: Gang survey of all middle schoolers eyed (Durham,NC)

Durham use to be a nice little town, I'll leave it to your imagination why they are needing to do this survey.


BY RAY GRONBERG : The Herald-Sun
gronberg@heraldsun.com
Dec 8, 2006 : 11:39 pm ET

Consultants working on a $60,000 gang study commissioned by the city and county governments say they want to survey all middle school students in the Durham school system to see how gangs are gaining influence among youth.

Planning for the survey remains tentative, and a key issue is gaining parental consent for students to participate, one of the consultants, Deborah Lamm Weisel, told the City Council this week.

The leaders of the study want to target middle schoolers because that's where they think young people gain their first significant exposure to gang members and decide they want to model themselves after members, Weisel said.

Middle school "is the first time a lot of kids come together from different areas," she told council members. "There's a lot more diversity; it's not just [kids] from your neighborhood. Your exposure and knowledge and attitudes toward gangs and other things are really amplified in that period.

"It's one of the most vulnerable periods of educational development, according to the research."

Weisel said she and her fellow consultant, Buddy Howell, have ruled out doing a survey in elementary schools "for a variety of reasons" she didn't elaborate on, and prefer to target the middle grades because they think they'll be "more likely to find kids in school."

City officials said nothing during Weisel's briefing Thursday to discourage the idea, and in fact made it clear they believe the study has to look at the schools if it's to produce useful results.

Councilman Howard Clement said he sees "symptoms of gang behavior" emerging in the elementary grades when he serves as a volunteer tutor each week in a public school.

Members also encouraged Weisel to make sure questions about gangs appear on a different survey local officials are planning that may, if they can find the money to pay for it, ask middle- and high school students about their exposure to and participation in risky behavior like substance abuse and sex.

Weisel and Howell have been working on their study since the council approved funding for it in August. They're trying to gauge the extent of Durham's gang problem and see how effective local programs are in countering it.

School system officials know the consultants want to do the middle school survey, and have asked them to spell out what it is they want to ask.

"No one's told us no, so far," Weisel said.

Also to be spelled out are the procedures for obtaining parental consent. It's "unclear whether we'll have to [obtain] active consent in advance," for example by sending notices and permission slips home with students, she said.

Durham Public Schools officials couldn't shed any light on the matter Friday. System spokesman Michael Yarbrough said the administrator who's been working on the matter was out of the office.

The possible consent requirement is enough to forestall the possibility of conducting a scientifically random survey that would target a fraction of the middle-school population. If too many parents withheld permission, it would spoil the results by undercutting the validity and reliability of the survey's findings.

The same concern is steering the consultants away from the possibility of a high school survey. In those grades, "the kids who are in gangs are probably not in school," Weisel said.

It is a well known fact in law enforcement that most gangs recruit at middle school level or younger. The gang problem is partially due to the children who live in homes with little or no attention at home. These kids need a sense of belonging and that is why it is so easy for gangs to get members. If the school board is so concerned it should get together with the police and social workers and try to educate the parents on what they can do to prevent it.

We can push our school boards to go after the gangs as well. Look at what one of local high schools did. This is very promising.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... 9943.story

School gang policy spurs 19 arrests


By Andrew L. Wang and Ruth Fuller, Chicago Tribune. Andrew L. Wang is a Tribune staff reporter; Ruth Fuller is a freelance reporter

December 7, 2006

A crackdown on gang confrontations at Mundelein High School this week has resulted in the arrests of 19 students, authorities said.

Though such incidents are rare, officials said Wednesday, the school is trying to prevent gang membership and come down hard on gang-related misbehavior.The first three students were arrested Monday afternoon after a fistfight broke out between two rival gangs outside the school, where a crowd had been waiting for a bus, Mundelein Police Deputy Chief Michael O'Brien said.

The officer based at the school and several school personnel broke up the fight. They took three students into custody, then reviewed surveillance video and talked to witnesses. Eight more students were arrested Tuesday, O'Brien said.

The first students arrested were a 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy, both from Mundelein, and Justino Bailon, 19, a student at the high school who recently moved to the 1500 block of North Silver Lane, Palatine. The others were six boys, ages 14 to 16, from Mundelein, and Eduardo Castro, 18, of the 600 block of Allanson Road and Angela Rivera, 18, of the 200 block of Walnut Street, O'Brien said.

About 8 a.m. Tuesday, a group of students surrounded another group in front of a classroom and threatened to fight, apparently in retaliation for Monday's incident, O'Brien said. Eight boys from Mundelein, ages 14 to 16, were detained before the fight could begin and were later arrested, he said.

All 19 students arrested were charged with mob action and disorderly conduct, O'Brien said.

Officials said the increase in arrests at Mundelein High School this year is not because of more criminal activity, but because the school is reporting crimes more frequently to police.

"Everything has worked extremely well in terms of the swiftness of response and the clarity of the action we have taken," said Linda Hanson, one of two interim superintendents of Mundelein Consolidated High School District 120. "We feel that this has affirmed that we have a good process."

Hanson said the school has a police officer and about 10 security guards. Students have been identified as belonging to several gangs, though this week's incidents were between two specific groups, she said.

The administration has a two-pronged approach to gangs that emphasizes both prevention and discipline, she said.

One part is keeping lines of communication open with students--particularly those who show signs of gang involvement--and offering them an alternative.

"Often these kids are kids who are seeking a spot, a place to belong, a place where they count," Hanson said. "The staff works hard to make kids feel they fit, that they can succeed here."

The second part is to make sure students know the consequences of gang activity and that the school will not hesitate to involve police.

"One of the important messages is that we're not going to tolerate this activity," she said.

O'Brien echoed her sentiment.

I love when they spend a lot of time and money on studies where the answer is so obvious. Donate the money to the Border Patrol and be done with it.

Very true Neese. The gang MS 13 came to South Miami Dade County when the teenagers parents brought their kids here with them from Central America. People need to wake up and see reality!

It doesn't make sense to me... gang members are nothing but trouble, yet the laws are not protecting the innocent people from them. I give our law enforcement a lot of credit, because I don't think that I could be nice to them if I had to deal with them every day. They are destroying our society, and from what I read, MS-13 is one of the most dangerous gangs in the US. What will these people be doing thirty years from now? Are they still in gangs? What kind of future do they have?