School officials say shooting social, not campus, problem

Terry Webster

Tuesday, Oct. 12, 1999 | 11:31 a.m.

Every school administrator's worst nightmare came to life Monday for Clark High School Principal Wayne Tanaka when two of his pupils were wounded in a schoolyard shooting.

"You're always afraid of situations like these," Tanaka said. "We have had some gang incidents away from campus, and you just hope that these things don't fall into the school."

Clark County School District officials were quick to label the shooting a community -- not a school -- problem.

That doesn't mean they aren't worried. Two students were injured in the shooting, which police believe was gang-related, but other students were still on the campus.

"We are concerned about all acts of violence in the community, especially when they are that close to our schools," said Superintendent Brian Cram. "We will be watching (Clark High School) very closely.

"We just want to make sure everyone feels safe."

That includes parents and students.

"This had nothing to do with what was going on in the school environment itself," said Leonard Paul, assistant superintendent for secondary education. "This was completely unexpected."

Paul said gangs don't have an obvious presence on school property.

"In my mind's eye, it's not like the old "West Side Story" where either sides are jockeying on both sides of their turf. That is a neighborhood influence," he said.

School officials said they were told the victims left school grounds to go to a nearby convenience store and then were attacked when they returned to school property.

"We haven't seen anything gang-related in quite some time," Paul said. "The last one I remember was about two years ago."

Pamela L. Riley, the executive director for the Prevention of School Violence in Raleigh, N.C., said gang-related violence in schools does appear to be on the decline.

"Over the past two years, we have seen gang-related shootings taking place off of campuses," she said.

Riley attributes the trend to increased security in schools.

"It seems that more and more urban schools are doing a better job with security," she said. "They are saying, 'It can happen here.' "

Even gang members are starting to realize schools are not the places to start trouble, she said. School measures such as banning gang clothing also deters gang activity.

In Clark County, a network of teachers and other school personnel are trained to keep their eyes and ears open to identify any potential for violent outbursts in schools, Paul said.

"We try to provide the most safe environment that we can," he said. "We have over 100,000 secondary students in 65 schools everyday. We feel that we are pretty safe."

The district's arsenal of security measures include the use of gun-sniffing dogs and metal-detector wands. But the wands are primarily used for special school events, Paul said.

Statistics for 1997-98 show that district-wide, there were 2,288 reported student suspensions for acts of violence against other students. These figures are the most recent available, a school spokeswoman said. The district also employs educational programs that address the dangers of gang involvement and carrying weapons.

Last October the district started "Z-squared," or Zero Weapons, Zero Tolerance, a national program aimed at keeping guns out of schools by educating parents and students about gun safety.

"We launched the Z-squared program at Clark, which has been a great school in cooperating with police and the district," School Police Chief Dan Reyes said. "Principal Wayne Tanaka has been very good about working with us."

Because of this cooperation, Clark High School has "come a long way," according to Metro Police spokesman Steve Meriwether.

Meanwhile, the school crisis team is ready to respond, if administrators feel it's necessary.

"What this does is it makes kids feel more vulnerable," said Rosemary Virtuoso, an administrative specialist with the district's Psychological Services division. "Unfortunately, this is happening across the country."

The number of students who witnessed or were involved in an incident usually determines the level of counseling that is needed, she said.

"It comes down to seeing what people's reactions are going to be," Virtuoso said. "If it's gang-related it's often not quite as scary as something like a random shooting."