By Lorraine Gabbert. San Jose Spotlight.
After numerous intruders attacked students and staff at a San José school, outraged teachers and parents are demanding immediate security changes.
Two separate life-threatening incidents have rocked James Lick Middle School in the East Side Union High School District. In response, the school community is insisting that the district implement increased security, bring police back to campus and install perimeter fencing.
Teacher Michael Gatenby said eight people came to campus on Aug. 7 and assaulted two staff members and a student after two students got into a verbal dispute and one asked for outside help. The intruders arrived in two cars and attacked the student, he said. The attackers fled after a school worker broke up the fight, but when another teacher tried to photograph one of the car's license plates, the driver jumped out and assaulted her, sending her to the hospital with a severe concussion.
“We were unable to prevent eight people from entering our campus with violent intent,” Gatenby told San Jose Spotlight. “One of our teachers was sent to the hospital with pretty significant injuries and our campus monitor and the student who was assaulted needed medical attention.”
Ten days later, on Aug. 17, seven intruders attacked two students with knives on the physical education blacktop, Gatenby said. Two students were stabbed and could have died had it not been for the physical education teacher's actions, he added.
“Those children are lucky to be alive,” he said. “If the teachers weren't putting themselves in danger, they very well may not be.”
Gatenby said teachers are demanding that the district implement safety reforms, including additional security and an annual update of the school's safety plan. He said more transparency is needed. Until he posted a video on social media, parents didn't know about the first assault at James Lick, he stressed. To give the community a voice and hold the district accountable, she started the East Side SJ High School Reform Coalition on Facebook.
“The time for words is over,” he told school board members at the Sept. 7 meeting. "It is time to act".
At the board meeting, physical education teacher Courtney Garcia said she and another teacher used their bare hands to apply pressure and stab wounds a student suffered to his back, abdomen and arm to save his life. Garcia said the district never asked him about the attack.
“Instead, we received generic emails about how safety remains paramount,” he told managers at the board meeting. “You refuse to provide us with a safer learning environment. I have no reason to believe something worse won't happen tomorrow. Similar requests last year were ignored. As a professional, I don't feel safe, considered, listened to or taken seriously. “.
The doors are closed
District spokesman Sergio Diaz-Luna said the incident remains an ongoing police investigation and the doors to James Lick are closed during the school day. Staff are monitoring hotspots and the district has provided additional staff. He said site and district leaders are reevaluating school climate and perimeter security.
Board President Lorena Chavez stressed at the meeting that she wants the district to immediately address all aspects of campus safety. It wants to ensure that a collaborative dialogue exists between administration, parents and teachers and leads to a comprehensive approach to school safety. He asked the administration to provide the board with a safety plan at a future meeting.
“Each of you deserves and has the right to learn and work in a safe environment,” he explained. “I look forward to the administration immediately developing a process to convene interested parties… with the most immediate emphasis on the James Lick community.”
Gatenby said he knows some members of the community have a difficult history with police, but safety must be the district's priority.
But not everyone agrees. At the board meeting, Father Alberto Camacho said he is against having police on campus and that officers are prone to stereotyping.
“As a school culture… we cannot consider these children as criminals,” he said. “Support students who are often overly criminalized and the community we serve.”
A dangerous situation
The school's security team consists of teachers, administrators and a campus monitor trained to observe and report, but the monitor has no formal training, Gatenby explained.
“The only thing we have are whistles and walkie talkies,” he said, “to try to defend ourselves from knives and, God forbid, guns.”
Mark Adams, a teacher at James Lick Middle School and president of the East Side Teachers Association, said teachers feel helpless and frustrated.
“Our campuses are not as safe as they should be,” he said. “We don't know how to defend our students. “We’re just not equipped.”
Last year, the teachers association voted to recommend the district reconsider campus enforcement, he said.
“We need to act with more urgency,” he told San José Spotlight. “Parents…just want their kids to be safe. In the past, many students told me that campus was the safest place in their lives. I feel sorry in my heart because I think we have lost that place for them.”
Parent Gina Gutiérrez said teachers have become security guards by default, putting their lives in danger to protect students. He stressed that police are needed on campus before someone is killed.
“My hope for the future,” he told San José Spotlight, “is that we fix this now for those students who are in our elementary schools, so they don't have to go through what our students are going through now.”
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