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No parents at Richmond dance where girl raped

http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_13680095?nclick_check=1

No parents at Richmond dance where girl raped
By Karl Fischer and Todd Perlman
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 10/31/2009 08:00:00 PM PDT
Updated: 11/01/2009 09:23:47 PM PST

The world surrounding Richmond High School teemed with outrage after
last weekend's gang rape of a 15-year-old girl outside her homecoming
dance, and those in charge still don't know where to point the finger.

But they did notice one thing about the Oct. 24 dance.

"We had no parents at this event," Richmond High Principal Julio
Franco said.

The same night, less than a quarter-mile away, Salesian High School
held its homecoming dance without incident, and with parents in
attendance. Same for El Cerrito High School, which two nights earlier
fielded 10 volunteers along with the usual complement of
administrators, teachers and police.

Richmond High struggles perennially to engage its families, most of
them residents of diverse but poor flatland neighborhoods in San
Pablo, unincorporated North Richmond and parts of Central Richmond.
Three years ago, a principal even tried a doorbell campaign.

It remains difficult to sustain parental commitment, Franco admitted.

"That's one of the things we're working on, last year and this year,
is trying to get more parents to come to our events," he said.

Franco said many Richmond High parents usually cannot attend evening
events for their high schoolers because they have other kids at home
and no one to watch them. A newsletter mailed to parents a few weeks
ago outlined upcoming events, but no parents volunteered.

"We welcome parents at any time, but sometimes they cannot come," he
said. "That's why we make sure we have officers and site supervisors
and as many teachers as we can get."

Perimeter checks?

At the homecoming dance in the school's gymnasium were six teachers
who volunteered to chaperon. There also were two vice principals and
two site supervisors. In addition, four Richmond police officers —
school-resource officers who work on the city's campuses daily — spent
most of the night at the dance on overtime.

The police, Franco said, help provide security.

"One of the assumptions we make is that they do the perimeter checks,"
he added, meaning they patrol around the school.

Nobody told the police, apparently.

"Obviously, in this case there has been miscommunication between the
(West Contra Costa) school district and the Police Department
regarding what role school-resource officers play at these events,"
Richmond police Chief Chris Magnus said. "As far as patrolling the
campus, providing perimeter security, that sort of thing ... that's
not what they're there to do."

The police kept an eye on the gym and the parking lot to deter fights,
alcohol consumption and similar disruptions, Magnus said. They do not
provide after-hours security for the entire campus, which spans
multiple city blocks. That is the school district's responsibility, he
said.

The distinction matters because a group attacked the victim in a
courtyard across campus as music played and about 250 students danced
in the gym. And some of the suspects did not attend — the school
allowed only students, and two of those arrested were older than
school age.

The victim, a student, left the dance about 9:30 p.m. Before she
called for a ride home, a classmate called her over to the poorly lit
courtyard, where a group of young people were hanging out and drinking
alcohol.

The girl drank a large amount of brandy quickly and soon collapsed;
while helpless, she fell victim to repeated rape, beatings and robbery
at the hands of several people. Richmond police by Friday had arrested
six suspects, four of whom prosecutors charged.

'We have to be the people'

"Cameras and gates will not solve the problem. You've got to have a
parent presence. You can't expect a bankrupt district to have the
people to send. We have to be the people," said Michele Jawad, a
longtime parent volunteer in El Cerrito schools and a member of the
school district's safety committee.

Jawad helped organize the volunteers at El Cerrito High's homecoming
dance, along with 24 volunteers at the football game the next day.

"We just have to have more parents, grandparents, retired people,
neighbors involved. They have to step up for the kids. There's no
excuse. If kids don't have parents (available), then others should be
willing to step in," Jawad said. "The days of sending kids to school
and forgetting about them are gone."

Much planning goes into security for school dances and sporting events
at East Bay campuses. At Northgate High School in Walnut Creek, for
example, administrators used random Breathalyzer testing to curtail
student drinking at this year's homecoming dance.

Most schools work closely with local police to prepare. Individual
campus administrations generally work independently from their school
districts to craft safety plans tailored for their sites. Some
schools, such as Liberty High School in Brentwood and Hercules Middle/
High School, employ chaperon-to-student ratios as guides for planning
dance security.

Calls, escorts

Such high schools as Concord and College Park call the parents of
students who don't show up for a dance for which they purchased
tickets. No students may leave until the dance ends without calling
their parents. Those who walk to their cars in the parking lot are
escorted.

Concord High doesn't use parent chaperones, in part because students
don't want them. But attendees are carefully monitored and may not
come or go without permission, Principal Gary McAdam said.

"It's a school event," added Barbara Oaks, principal at College Park
in Pleasant Hill. "Attendance, if you say you're going to be here, is
required. It's very labor intensive, but these things are nighttime
events that you have to be very careful about. We want everybody to be
safe and have a good time. It's very unfortunate that what happened
(in Richmond) happened."

Staff writers Theresa Harrington, Chris Treadway, Rowena Coetsee, Tom
Lochner, Peter Hegarty, Robert Jordan and Katherine Tam contributed to
this story.

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