Gang Kids Can’t Be Barred, Anaheim Schools Are Told

ANAHEIM —  A proposal by the school board president to bar gang members from schools is unconstitutional, according a report presented to the Anaheim Union High School District board Thursday.

Students may be expelled because of their deeds but not because of their status, according to the report from district administrators responding to Board President Harald G. Martin’s suggestion.

Martin, a local Anaheim police officer, proposed the ban amid concerns over safety that started in October, when gang members walked onto the Anaheim High School campus and fired shots at each other. None of the individuals involved were students.

Martin proposed the district identify gang members and expel them for committing gang-related offenses on or off campus.

Critics question how the district would identify gang members, and say a criminal record alone would not suffice. They also wondered if expelling them might not create worse problems.

“I would hope that if we have kids affiliated with gangs in our schools that they stay in our schools and not on the streets,” said Joanne L. Stanton. “It’s a far better place to be.”

The number of gang members enrolled in the district of 26,600 students is unknown, but officials of the Anaheim Police Department said it could be a few as 50 students per campus.

Districtwide, there are more than 80 gangs in the neighborhoods around the schools.

But, Martin said, “it only takes 50 students to intimidate and make a campus unsafe for the rest of the school.”