DISTRICT TIGHTENS RULES.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

MOJAVE - After gang-violence fears and a locker room fire forced cancellation of two football games, Mojave Unified School District trustees have approved beefing up anti-gang and student discipline policies.

The changes include referring for possible expulsion students who show gang affiliation and students who on a second offense instigate or encourage fights, whether or not the student participated in the altercation.

``As a result of the actions with football, I recommended more stringent actions. I am trying to make it safer for our kids,'' Superintendent Larry Phelps said. ``Overall, it was not to tolerate gang activity in our schools and have high expectation of our athletes.''

The board approved the policy changes at its Dec. 13 meeting, which was attended by about 300 people.

Also adopted was a new civility policy encouraging showing mutual respect between staff and parents, and regulating how to deal with unruly parents and other campus visitors who are disruptive, use foul language, or harass or stalk employees.

``When parents come in, a few swear and use profanity and cause havoc. We are not going to have kids subjected to that,'' Phelps said.

Following a recommendation by the California School Boards Association, the district also increased the reward for information about school vandalism from $1,000 to $2,500, Phelps said.

Mojave High School's football game Nov. 4 against Frazier Mountain High School was canceled because of fears that Los Angeles-area gang members might involve themselves as a result of an earlier dispute involving students, officials said.

Less than two weeks later, a suspected arson fire in the boy's varsity locker room at the high school gym led school officials to cancel the football team's Division XII playoff game Nov. 18, citing safety reasons.

Kern County sheriff's deputies announced Dec. 14 that three juveniles were arrested on suspicion of burglary, felony vandalism and possession of stolen property in connection with the blaze, in which several football jerseys were set on fire.

The three minors arrested have no known gang affiliation and were suspected of setting fire to the football jerseys to make the burglary and vandalism appear to be gang-related, deputies said. The names of the youths were not released because of their age.

The revised version of the district's anti-gang policy defines a gang as a group of three or more persons that has a common name or identifying sign or symbol and whose members individually or collectively engage in a pattern of criminal gang activity or violation of school rules.

Karen Maeshiro, [phone]

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com