Seattle schools scramble to outsmart gangs

A police officer now stands sentry every day near the front door at Garfield High School.

The school didn't schedule a basketball game this year against Rainier Beach because of worries that gang feuds might erupt after the game.

And classes at Garfield start earlier than at other high schools partly because Principal Ted Howard II doesn't want his students getting off Metro buses at the same time as rivals from South Seattle high schools.

A proposed merger of Rainier Beach and Cleveland high schools was postponed in part because of concerns about violence.

"Putting together two comprehensive high schools [in a plan] that integrates neighborhoods, communities, gangs and rivalries is not recommended," Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson wrote in a recent report on school closures.

As Seattle struggles with heightened violence attributed to street gangs, the city's schools are increasingly shaping policies to keep the problem from spreading onto campuses.

While school officials are quick to stress that most of the city's youth violence does not occur on school grounds and that schools are a haven for many students and an antidote to the problem, they're implementing new prevention programs, including a stronger police presence in schools.

This month, four police officers will be assigned to middle schools in the Central District, South End and West Seattle. School officials hope the officers will head off problems such as truancy that are often precursors to gang involvement, while also helping students feel safer in or near schools.

Those four officers, along with officer Bennie Radford at Garfield, mark the first wave of action in the city's $8 million initiative to prevent youth violence. Mayor Greg Nickels and the City Council are still hammering out details of the plan.

The council also wants to assign police officers to four high schools in addition to Garfield, according to Councilmember Tim Burgess, chair of the council's public-safety committee.

But the city, facing a $30 million shortfall, and the district, staring at a $24 million budget hole, are at an impasse over who should pay what share of the officers' salaries, Burgess said.

The council would be happy if the district paid "even a small percentage of the cost," he said.

Gangs trying to get in

One of the chief problems at Garfield is gang members coming on or near campus to recruit, to settle a dispute or for unknown reasons, Principal Howard said.

"That happens daily," he said, and rattled off names of gangs "prevalent" at Garfield: the Low Profiles, the Hundreds, the Deuce-8s, Black Gangster Disciples, Bloods and Crips.

In one January incident, Howard said, four known gang members walked into the school at noon. The four had been removed earlier in the year from the school for trespassing by Officer Radford, who was assigned to Garfield shortly after student Quincy Coleman, 15, was fatally shot near the school on Halloween.

But this time Radfrod was out patrolling the perimeter of the campus when Security Specialist Pam Frazier confronted the gang members. They mouthed off to her, Howard said, but Frazier got them out of the building while calling Radford for assistance.

The four then gathered across the street from Garfield. Radford radioed for help, police responded, and the gang members left.

It's not just gangs Howard worries about. He said a former female Garfield student, now 17, had tried to recruit students to become prostitutes. The former student was a victim of coercive violence by her pimp, who had poured acid on her after she tried to run away, leaving the petite girl with a grapefruit-sized scar on her arm. In an interview, she said her pimp made her recruit girls, but she denied doing so at Garfield.

Another issue for Howard is a simmering feud between Central District and South End gangs that has been blamed for several fatal shootings last year. Because of those hostilities, Garfield, in the heart of the Central District, and Rainier Beach, a South End school, didn't schedule a basketball game this year.

"We decided it wouldn't be appropriate at this time," said Robert Gary, principal at Rainier Beach. He said the concern wasn't students but "outside elements" who might make students afraid to go to a game at Garfield or Rainier Beach.

The feud also was a reason why Garfield starts its day at 7:40 a.m. while South Seattle high schools start at 8 a.m., Howard said.

"I didn't want to put students in a situation where they would be running into rivals. That was a real issue for our kids," Howard says.

Concerns about rival gangs also played a part in postponing a proposed 2009 Rainier Beach-Cleveland merger.

The fear wasn't so much about what would occur inside the school, but what might happen to students as they traveled to and from neighborhoods not their own, Gary said. Rainier Beach is in Rainier Valley and Cleveland is on Beacon Hill. Each area has its own gangs that sometimes clash, he said.

Problems, though, aren't confined to Garfield, Rainier Beach and Cleveland.

School records show Roosevelt and Ingraham High Schools in North Seattle have reported more safety and security incidents this school year than Central District and South Seattle schools.

The reports cover a broad gamut of incidents from "aggression" to "suspicious circumstances." Many incidents at Roosevelt and Ingraham deal with graffiti, marijuana use, and iPod and cellphone theft in or near schools. Some also concern gang-related fights and threats.

But police, city leaders and outreach workers believe that youth violence is more severe in South Seattle because of the rivalries and shootings between gang members in that part of the city.

Patrolling on campus

The district has hired six new security specialists, including two to focus on gang-related problems — although school security specialists aren't armed and can't touch or arrest students. Superintendent Goodloe-Johnson has also reorganized programs to better coordinate services for students and families struggling with truancy, drug use, bullying and violence.

Principals are innovating, as well, on a tight budget.

Princess Shareef, principal at Cleveland High, is creating a peer-mediator program so students can calm some disputes among themselves before they ignite violence.

Howard wants to institute a "walk about" program that would enlist parents to walk through the school at lunch and after school, freeing up staff to patrol the outdoor campus while creating mentoring opportunities for parents.

Kaaren Andrews, principal at Madrona K-8 school, has students wear a light-blue school shirt as a way to build spirit and keep students from sporting gang colors.

Andrews and principals at three other middle schools soon will get more help, as police see middle schools as particularly important to fighting violence and gangs.

"Peak recruitment into gang membership often occurs between the fifth and eighth grades," says a Seattle police report.

"The data shows middle school is where you see an increase in fighting and violence," adds Deputy Chief John Diaz.

More middle-school students than high schoolers were disciplined for violent behavior last school year in Seattle; there were 1,065 middle-school suspensions and expulsions for offenses such as fighting, robbery and bullying, while 480 of the same sanctions in high schools.

The city expects to dispatch police, called school-emphasis officers, as early as this week to four middle schools — Madrona, Aki Kurose, Washington and Denny.

The officers, wearing khakis and polo shirts more than uniforms, will primarily focus on preventing truancy and violence by developing relationships with students. They'll also be armed and "fully function" as police, Diaz said.

Madrona students will likely welcome their officer.

Andrews invited her middle-schoolers to share their concerns about gangs and violence in November. All but four of the 152 students picked up pens and poured out fears and questions.

"Should I join a gang?" one seventh-grade boy wrote. "I ask you this question because sometimes I need the protection not to get jumped or shot in my neighborhood."

An eighth-grade boy added: "I used to walk to 23rd and Jackson. Now I'm scared I am going to get shot or if I tell I found a bullet on the ground then I might get [shot] because of that. Sometimes I'm scared for my family. Maybe you could have a self-defense person come in and teach us about that."

Bob Young: 206-464-2174 or seattletimes.com">byoung@seattletimes.com