L.A. Schools Report Sharp Rise in Guns and Assaults

Serious assaults at Los Angeles city schools rose dramatically during the last school year, with the number of students attacked with deadly weapons up by 36%, according to a district crime report.

The number of attacks on students, school employees and others on campus rose nearly 20%, while the 354 guns found on school campuses represented a 29.2% increase over the previous school year, the report said. No murders were reported in the 1989-90 report.

Although overall campus crime fell for the second year in a row, Los Angeles Unified School District officials on Friday expressed concern over the increases in assaults and weapons.

“The number of guns is a disaster,” said school board member Julie Korenstein, who represents the west San Fernando Valley. “But I hope that by next year at this time we’ll see some changes . . . .”

Deputy Supt. Sid Thompson said the increase in weapons and assaults reflects an increasingly violent society, especially in neighborhoods plagued with gang members and drug dealers.

“Guns and assaults go hand in hand with some of the communities in our district,” Thompson said. “There are a number of students who carry weapons out of fear.”

Korenstein and other officials of the 610,000-student district said they hope to reduce weapons-related crimes during the 1990-91 school year through a tough new expulsion policy approved by the school board in June.

Under the new regulations, students in the seventh grade and above who are caught with a firearm or who seriously hurt someone during an attack will be automatically expelled. Students who are expelled can apply for readmission after two semesters.

Previously, most students involved in weapons-related crimes were transferred to other schools. The board earlier this year rejected a measure to expel all students caught at school with any kind of weapon.

Some in the district are still skeptical that mandatory expulsion will stem the growing violence. “If a kid is so frightened about being jumped going to and from school, I’m not sure the threat of expulsion is going to have much effect,” Thompson said.

The district’s annual crime report is compiled from numbers submitted by each of the more than 600 Los Angeles schools. Critics of the report have questioned its accuracy because of discrepancies in the way individual schools report crimes.

One of the few bright spots in the report was a decline in the number of drug possessions for the second year in a row. During the 1989-90 school year, there were 288 reports of drugs, including alcohol, found on campus, a decrease of 15% from the previous year. A 20% drop in such possessions was reported in the 1987-88 school year.

District officials attribute the decline in part to courses that teach students about the negative effects of drug and alcohol abuse, as well as the DARE drug education program operated in conjunction with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Thompson said, however, that some of the decline is probably because most hard-core drug users drop out of school.

Property damage, which includes crimes such as theft and vandalism, also declined in the latest report. District officials reported $6.1 million worth of damage, down 14% from the $7.1 million reported during the 1988-89 school year.

Altogether, the number of reported crimes during the past school year dropped 16%. District schools in 1989-90 reported 11,162 crimes, down from 13,327 during the 1988-89 school year.

But the growth in serious assaults raised fears that Los Angeles public schools are becoming increasingly dangerous. Worries about campus safety first drew widespread attention during the 1988-89 school year, when a junior high school student in Sylmar stabbed his English teacher during class.

A 65-member task force on school safety, formed shortly after that incident, issued a report in March calling for sweeping changes in the way the district deals with violent students, including the installation of metal detectors, hiring extra counselors and creating special schools for problem students.

But the financially strapped district, which already has cut $220 million from its proposed $3.8-billion budget and faces an additional $50 million to $70 million in cuts, probably will not be able to afford to act on many of the suggestions.

Instead, the district will try to combat the growing crime problem with programs already in place, officials said.

CRIME AT L.A. SCHOOLS

Crimes reported in the Los Angeles Unified School District:

CATEGORY 1988-89 1989-90 % CHANGE Assaults With Deadly Weapon Students 278 379 +36 School employees 88 78 -11 Others 32 17 -47 Total 398 474 +19 *Guns Recovered 274 354 +29 *Robberies 268 386 +44 *Drug Possession 340 288 -15 Sex Crimes Misdemeanor 226 393 +74 Felony 97 20 -79 Property Crimes Includes theft, vandalism $7.1 million $6.1 million -14 (in dollars) *TOTAL attacks on all persons 1,293 1,549 +20 *TOTAL incidents of 13,327 11,162 -16 reported crime