GUNMEN ROB STUDENTS AT ADULT SCHOOL BANDITS GRAB TEACHER IN HOLDUP AT POLYTECHNIC HIGH.

Byline: RICK COCA and RACHEL URANGA Staff Writers

SUN VALLEY -- Two masked gunmen held up an adult-school class at Polytechnic High School on Wednesday night, one pointing a handgun at the teacher while the other ordered students to drop their wallets and other belongings in a bag, officials said.

No one was hurt in the 10-minute robbery, which occurred about 8:30 p.m. at the North Hollywood-Polytechnic Community Adult School, located on the campus of Polytechnic High School in the 12400 block of Roscoe Boulevard.

The gunmen, believed to be two Latino males wearing nylons over their heads, robbed 17 students, most of them lower-income, working-class immigrants, attending an intermediate English as a Second Language class.

``The first thing they did was grab the teacher and told everybody to give them what they had,'' said Kathy Javaheri, principal of the adult school. ``(The robbers) started to speak English, but because it was an ESL class and some of the students weren't speaking English, they began speaking in Spanish.''

After the robbers left, the teacher used a telephone in the classroom to call Los Angeles Unified School District police officers stationed on campus. The campus police, with the assistance of LAPD officers who arrived soon after, immediately locked down the campus, Javaheri said.

The robbery was especially traumatic for the students from war-torn countries in Central America.

``Having something like this (happen to them) jogs back their emotions about experiences they've had in their own countries,'' Javaheri said.

Crisis counselors were made available to students, beginning Thursday night. The school serves 800 adult-school students attending 30 evening classes.

District policy is to keep the doors to classes locked, and the gunmen apparently walked into an open classroom. But Javaheri refused to lay blame on the instructor, saying that in an adult-school setting, many students work, so they show up to class at various times. Students don't need permission to use the restroom and when they re-enter the class, they don't necessarily lock the door behind them.

``We're taking measures to secure the campus,'' Javaheri said, which will include an added campus police presence.

She said that at more than 60 years old, the adult school is one of the oldest in the city and as far as she knows, a robbery of this sort has never happened there.

Police are also baffled by the robbers' target.

``I have been working this unit for 17 years and I have never seen a classroom get hit,'' said Los Angeles Police Department Detective Jim Gerardi. ``It's getting scary out there.''

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call North Hollywood detectives at [phone].

rick.coca(at)dailynews.com

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