High school district looks at new security measures

By Jason Baker

As fresh-faced graduates take the giant leap into adulthood, and the school year once again winds to a close, local administrators are facing new challenges many hoped would never arise in the halls of education.

The shooting at Columbine High in Littleton, Colo. more than ever reinforced the fact that teens today face challenges and dangers their parents probably never imagined. Questions have led to even more questions as to just how safe schools are and what administrators can do to make them safer.

At Los Gatos High School, administrators also are preparing for summer security upgrades, even as the wake from a gun incident earlier in the year subsides.

In April, Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department and school officials reported that a 14-year-old freshman has admitted to bringing a gun to the LGHS campus earlier in the year.

The incident came to light on April 26 after a parent told a 911 dispatcher her daughter heard from a student that he had brought a gun to school. Upon further investigation, police officials learned that other students had heard of a boy who had brought a gun to school sometime after Christmas.

The boy has admitted to bringing the gun to school for one day, and said that the gun was loaded, police said. They later determined that the boy had no plans to harm anyone at the school. Officials said the incident probably would not have come to light if not for the Columbine High School shootings. The District Attorney's office is reviewing the case to determine whether or not charges will be filed.

School officials suspended the boy pending an expulsion process.

Following the incident, LGHS principal Trudy McCulloch said administrators are looking at a number of options to enforce school safety. She addressed many of the proposed changes at a meeting of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District on May 18.

Changes in the works include increasing the number of campus supervisors to four in order to better monitor the perimeter of the school and make sure students are in class. McCulloch also said the school plans to keep emergency supplies on hand in order to handle any emergency incident that arises. Additionally, plans are in the works to have the Los Gatos SWAT unit train on the campus during the summer to learn the campus layout.

In order to address student concerns before they escalate, 12 Los Gatos students plan to receive 36 hours of training to serve as mediators and peer counselors. A hotline also will be in place by next fall for reporting dangerous situations. The reports could possibly be made anonymously, officials said.

Another link in the prevention process is the Link Crew, a group of juniors and seniors trained to serve as a link to incoming freshman. The goal of the program is to pair each freshman with a Link Crew counselor.

"The goal of peer counseling and Link Crew is to empower students to look out for each other," McCulloch said. At the beginning of summer several teachers and 30 students will also be sent to "Camp Anytown" where they will learn about tolerance and techniques to bring back to campus.

Additionally, administrators plan to have one academic advisor stay with the same class through all four years, in order to help develop trust and security by letting kids have enough time to develop a relationship with an advisor.

"We have many different pieces in place to address the situation, and we have a long way to go," McCulloch said.

Just miles away at Saratoga High School, administrators also are evaluating campus safety as students prepare for the 21st century.

"It's not so much an issue of making the campus safer as it is making sure we don't let students get to the point where they take out violence on campus," Saratoga High School principal Kevin Skelly said. Saratogans feel a part of the high school campus, he said. Walkers in the neighborhood find shelter in its covered walkways during spring rainstorms. Old and young alike feel comfortable wandering into its courtyards.

"We don't want to become a third-world embassy with a hostile environment where kids don't feel safe," Skelly said. "We don't want to lose that sense of community."

Skelly said administrators are looking at adding additional campus supervisors in the fall to oversee campus activity. Doorknobs that lock from the inside and the possibility of phones in each classroom are also in the works for fall, he said.

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