SAFER CAMPUSES? LAUSD REVIVING PROGRAMS, POLICIES TO COMBAT VIOLENCE.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

Responding to the latest outburst of campus violence, Los Angeles school officials have revived safety policies and programs that were cut to save money or simply allowed to languish in recent years, records show.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials want to reactivate the Human Relations Education Commission by the start of the 2005 school year - a panel that disbanded in 2001 when its budget was eliminated.

The district also is working to create a systemwide discipline policy, ``safe zones'' around some campuses to combat gang activity and permanent school-based violence prevention and intervention programs.

``In the last few years there have been a lot of policies passed and acted on. Whether or not these things have been done before is not the issue,'' said school board president Jose Huizar.

``So what if we reintroduce it? We need to improve safety in our schools and there's a lot more that needs to be done, especially around our schools. It's up to the superintendent to come through on implementing the policies.''

Critics say some of the recent racially charged incidents might have been dealt with more effectively, or even prevented, if LAUSD had kept up programs and policies that were instituted as long as 15 years ago.

In the past decade, hate crimes in LAUSD have surged more than 300 percent - the highest growth rate of all campus crimes.

``The district has a passion for re-creating commissions and starting committees to re-address these issues, but the issues are no different now than they were 10 years ago,'' said Helen Fallon, a member of the district's Safety Committee, who worked in the early 1990s on a comprehensive vision for multicultural education.

``I feel like they're just reinventing the wheel. They've done it. They need to pull the stuff out of the file cabinets. ... What's the point of starting from ground zero? Then you never get anywhere.''

In recent months, LAUSD officials have announced that, despite difficult budget times, school safety is again a priority.

Superintendent Roy Romer has authorized $3.7 million over three years to increase the school police by 30 officers, and $4.3 million to add 130 safety aides at secondary schools.

Efforts are also in the works to teach elementary and middle school students to be sensitive to cultural differences and to better resolve disputes.

The district's reaction is similar to the programs implemented in the early 1990s, when rapidly changing demographics led to racially motivated fights involving hundreds of African-American and Latino students.

More than two years of work by district officials, community members, parents and teachers resulted in ``Educating for Diversity,'' a framework for multicultural and human relations education that the board adopted in 1992.

The plan, lauded by teachers and administrators and shared with districts across the nation, forged relationships with community organizations and required schools to bring themselves into compliance with policies.

The plan also led to the creation of the Office of Intergroup Relations, which held multicultural education curriculum workshops for teachers, conflict resolution programs for students and workshops for parents.

As early as 1989, the district also had an anti-gang task force and an emergency task force on youth violence. There also were school resource guides on everything from conflict resolution to human relations.

``Things could have been prevented if the district made the investment in making violence prevention a priority and followed existing district policy on human relations. The outreach would still be there for kids,'' said 37-year teacher Allan Kakassy, who served on the committee that developed ``Educating for Diversity.''

But over time, LAUSD staffing for its commissions and Office of Intergroup Relations dropped from 185 staff members in 1997 to just six volunteers in 2001, according to a 2002 report.

Budget cuts and a new administration led to programs being de-emphasized earlier this decade, but now officials are dedicated to bringing human relations issues to the forefront, said Dan Isaacs, LAUSD's chief operating officer.

``I think the real question is we need to reignite an awareness across district lines, not only of policies, but of the kinds of programs that are supportive of students and of staff as they work with students to underwrite the importance of the appreciation of differences,'' Isaacs said.

Isaacs said the district is working with the city and county human relations commissions and will determine the most effective human-relations programs at local schools and replicate them districtwide.

It also will streamline curriculum to ensure teaching for diversity is taking place at all levels.

`'We have a lot of programs that are occurring and just need to take a little higher profile in this district and that's what we're working on,'' Isaacs said.

But some still question whether resurrecting commissions and creating task forces will do anything without a long-term commitment.

Robin Toma, executive director of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission, said that while there have been efforts to strengthen LAUSD's ability to address these issues, there are many who see it as secondary to improving student test scores.

Real change will take place - including improved student achievement - only if the district incorporates sensitivity to different cultures, languages, religions and ethnicities in its curriculum, not by adding more police officers, Toma said.

``Unless it gets solidified, institutionalized and integrated into the school district's everyday practices and its strategic plan,'' she said, ``we will likely see repetition of what we've seen now down the line.''

Naush Boghossian, [phone]

naush.boghossian(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

box, chart

Box:

LAUSD ANTI-VIOLENCE EFFORTS

SOURCE: LAUSD

Chart:

REPORT ON VIOLENCE

SOURCE: LAUSD Human Relations and Educational Equity Task Force Report