Parents ask district to install security personnel in elementary schools
Parents of Roosevelt Elementary School students were shocked to hear that a man broke into the facility last May, held a little boy in a bathroom stall for 10 minutes before authorities could intervene.
In response, the school’s seven entrances were locked and parents, intent on preventing future breaches of security, formed a volunteer network to guard the main entrance.
But the system failed last month when another intruder entered the school on Dec. 17, looking for a boy he had “befriended” during recess, parents revealed last week.
“We removed him from campus, but I would hate to wonder what bathroom this creep would have broken into had one of our volunteers not been there,” said Mary Beth De Lucia, a parent activist who coordinates the volunteer security force at Roosevelt.
The group, which has had no professional security training and can barely keep regular hours, says it cannot fulfill the security needs of the elementary school. Members of the group appeared before the school board last week pleading for a professional security force to patrol elementary school hallways, as is done in the middle schools and high schools.
“While the parent volunteer system is an excellent system — it’s better than what was happening before with all the gates being left open — it’s simply not enough,” said Steven Wolvek, a parent of two Roosevelt students and a volunteer in the security program. “The costs of installing security guards are minimal compared to the safety of those children.”
De Lucia listed three armed robberies and two sexual assaults that occurred recently in the neighborhoods of Roosevelt and Franklin elementary schools as evidence of the need for increased security.
“Personally, I’m mystified. Last year in our neighborhood — where people spend millions of dollars on fixer-uppers” there were serious crimes committed, she said. “Let’s face it, our kids are attending urban schools, and we as a city and a school district need to start acting accordingly.”
“Let’s face it, our kids are attending urban schools, and we as a city and a school district need to start acting accordingly.” — —MARY BETH DE LUCIA Parent
One parent, George Rosenthal, was so concerned with safety at Roosevelt, he paid to have a camera system installed to monitor the school’s main entrance. However, there is nobody available to watch the camera all the time.
“Children should not have to worry about their own safety when they are at school,” said Rosenthal. “They’ll have plenty of time to worry when they reach adulthood. Let’s allow them to just be children now.”
In Beverly Hills, police officers are assigned to each school where they not only patrol hallways but teach drug programs and work with children in a classroom setting. In many cases, the officers have desks, computers and offices.
Culver City hired a retired Los Angeles Police Department detective to set up a mini-police station in the school district’s high school. Security guards are dispatched from the central office and have the ability to write traffic tickets and regularly patrol each campus.
Currently, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District posts security guards at the middle schools and high schools. The city’s police department provides two resource police officers from the Youth Service Division to work in schools, according to Santa Monica Police Lt. Frank Fabrega.
He said Santa Monica police officers patrol schools in their beat as part of their assignments.
School district superintendent John Deasy will address security concerns, specifically at the elementary schools, at this Thursday’s school board meeting. After parents complained, the district’s board of education directed Deasy to investigate the matter and brief them on what needs to be done.
“We can never rest on our laurels when it comes to safety,” said Julia Brownley, school board president. “There is access to (Roosevelt) school and that raises an issue if the school district needs to be more vigilant when it comes to the safety of the children there.”
Roosevelt parents said they routinely tell their children not to go to the rest-rooms without four or five friends with them.
“I have to have talks with my children about safety issues and going to the bathroom in teams because I don’t think the area is completely safe,” said Wolvek. “But as a concerned parent I want to stop the crime before it can happen. I want to protect my children before somebody can get to them.”
Deputy Los Angeles County District Attorney Suzanne Tragert, who sends her children to Roosevelt, worries about the high number of sex offenders that live in the neighborhood.
“In the vicinity of Franklin and Roosevelt elementary schools, there are 50 registered sex offenders living nearby,” she said. “And the majority of those individuals prey on children under the age of 14 years old.” Franklin Elementary is located on Montana Avenue near 24th Street and Roosevelt Elementary is located on Montana Avenue and Lincoln Boulevard. The area is considered one of the safer and high-end areas of the city.
Rosenthal thinks the area’s homeless population poses a threat, as well.
“There are significant issues with some of the homeless who are not just homeless but also have mental illnesses,” he said. “These are mental issues we do not want to expose our children to, and we need to find a way to bring a security presence to campus to protect them from them.”
Tragert pleaded for the school board to enact serious security changes before another child could be harmed.
“Please do your job and help make our schools safe for our children. I know you want to do the right thing and I want you to realize we are all on notice,” she said. “It’s not a matter of if something could happen to our children — it’s only a matter of when.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 23, 2002. Read the original PDF.