1. Children are not born as the “bad seed”. They are products of their environment, which means families, schools, and neighborhoods.

2. Gangs are homegrown terrorists. They exist to hurt people and poison our community with drugs. Their goal is to control the community. For confirmation, go to http://www.youtube.com and punch in Watsonville (or the name of your town) and then “norte” or “sur”.

Since our families, schools and neighborhoods produce these homegrown terrorists, I am offering some ways we can reduce our “harvest” of these criminals.

Problem #1: Hurt People Hurt People

In my experience, most (not all) teen risky behavior (drug use, binge drinking, early pregnancies, gang affiliation, suicide, eating disorders, vandalism, violence, and other criminal, antisocial, and self-destructive behavior), originates in unhappy relationships at home. The majority of “at-risk” students have been emotionally, physically and/or sexually abused. Many will eventually populate our prisons and the welfare rolls. Most commonly, what I saw in my 22 years in continuation education is that dad beats mom and the kids. The domestic violence abuse issues are about 80% correlated with alcohol abuse, and sometimes illegal drugs. Thankfully, sexual abuse of children is finally coming out of the closet. From my work with many counselors and the Survivors’ Healing Center, I estimate that over half of the students in continuation-type high schools are victims of sexual abuse. So, when I see an arrogant punky cholo strolling in the street or flashing colors, I try to remember where this antisocial self-hate came from. They have a reason to be angry. Every child is born innocent. “There but for fortune go you or I.”

What can we do?

1. Child abuse needs to be treated as a critical public health issue. If our society can nearly eliminate smoking in one generation through the dissemination of health information and peer pressure, we should be able to tackle the root cause of most violent crime, murders and even wars. Spouse abusers and child abusers should be shunned at LEAST as much as tobacco smokers.

2. Organizations such as Women’s Crisis Support and Child Protective Services need to have many more resources to lower the community’s tolerance of the abuse of women and children. Since most of this abuse occurs when people are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, I recommend we fund these agencies through greater taxes on alcohol and the confiscation of drug dealers’ assets. As with smoking, money raised by the alcohol tax could also fund anti-gang and anti-child abuse campaigns.

3. Healthy, responsible, caring men need to be involved mentoring other youth besides those in their own family, through coaching sports, Big Brothers/Sisters, or just taking their neighbor or nephew under their wing. This a perfect project for churches. The payback for this kind of work is what gets you into heaven. Most men have no awareness of how important they are to children. A small, consistent expression of interest over time in a child often means a lot. This anti-gang initiative would cost nothing.

4. Men need to be held financially accountable for their children. Notice on daytime TV, when Oprah, for instance has a mom and her out-of-control daughter on. There is still seldom any mention of the missing dad. Children need fathers. Of the over 1500 students I interviewed for admission to New School, over 75% had serious issues around their fathers, ranging from dad being absent to dad having abused them.

Problem #2: How do you spell love? “T-I-M-E.”

The second most common reason for youth to be destructive is that mom, (and often dad, if he’s present) works two shifts to give the kids everything they want, when all the kids really want is their parents’ nonjudgmental time. Regardless of what the kids say–they may parrot TV’s ads–but they really want to spend time with people who love them. Often, though, since the father has disappeared and offers no financial (or emotional) support, mom is forced to work so much that her time with the kids is very limited, and the children don’t get enough guidance. They are, in some cases, raised in the streets, and some streets are controlled by gangs and drug dealers.

What can we do?

1. Unless we want the state to take over raising these children, their parents must take the time to raise them well. I would like to see the parents of troubled students (starting in elementary school) mandated to parenting classes. Many schools and agencies offer excellent parenting programs, such as Family Wellness, Positive Discipline and “Cara y Corazón”, but the parents who most need the help seldom attend. They are only mandated to attend after they have been caught neglecting or beating their children or committed other crimes, or their children are convicted of crimes. By this time, the damage to children is already done. Most of the “at-risk” students can be identified in elementary school. It’s the parents of the little guys and girls sitting outside the principal’s office waiting to be disciplined who need the help. That’s the best time to intervene. Social service agencies, law enforcement and schools need to work more closely together to “motivate” these parents to recognize their family’s dysfunction earlier. The precedent is already there. Our school district’s Student Services office has taken parents of chronically truant students to court. Why not require parenting classes for the parents of students who are severe discipline problems? When these classes are taken seriously, they can dramatically improve the quality of family life for both parents and children.

2. Many of the families I deal with get state and federal aid, (including subsidized housing, food stamps, WIC, etc.). Most local, state and federal aid is intended to help poor parents raise their children. Parents are not doing their job if their children are failing in school. If they’re not raising them well, let’s require parenting classes as a condition of benefits. WIC, for instance, requires mothers to view videos on good parenting to receive their services. At present, most of the social service agencies operate independently from law enforcement. I say, for the good of the children, these agencies should work together so that innocent kids have a healthy home. This precedent is already set with our SARB (School Attendance and Review Board). At monthly meetings, the most egregious truant students are brought before a collaborative group that includes social service agencies and law enforcement. When law enforcement gets involved, most parents stop playing the system and take more responsibility for their children. Taxpayers do not want to subsidize the training of criminals.

For the record, in my experience, all of these family issues: abusive males, substance abusing parents, and parents working long hours and therefore neglecting their kids are not correlated to class, race, or income. Wealthier families have more resources for hiding the results. They send their problematic kids to private schools and expensive treatment centers, and of course they don’t wear gangster uniforms, but they have their own antisocial, self-destructive “dropout” styles and behaviors. Although I have taught in all-Black and all-Chinese schools, I speak Spanish so most of my experience has been with Mexican immigrants, but the factors that create dropouts are at work in every school and community.

Problem #3: Underfunding of Education

I know that this sounds like whining during the current budget crisis, but it must be said. When I started teaching, California was #1 in per/pupil funding in the USA. For the last ten years, we’ve been near the bottom. Next year we’ll surely be #50. This means that Californians “value” their children less than Americans in any other state. Is this really true?

What can we do?

1. California voters need to consider what kind of future (e.g. children,
neighbors) we want to have. “Equal opportunity for all.” costs money. Among all the competing interests for my tax dollar, I put a top priority on children.
Propositions 1A and 1B have failed, but I don’t think that means that California’s voters have abandoned public schools. Although it will take many years to recover from the damage already done, I am optimistic that eventually Californians will recognize that a quality public education program is the foundation of our economic recovery.

2. Over the course of my career in education, as budgets are cut, dropout prevention programs are the first to go. According to the California Dropout Research Project (http://lmri.ucsb.edu/dropouts/), good dropout prevention SAVES society lots of money. Since “at-risk” students disrupt classes and lower test scores, many schools just want to get rid of them. Many school staff don’t want to admit that their school has a drug problem or a gang problem. These “problem” students are not going away, though, and the best solution is to provide creative, consistent programs that employ excellent teachers. These programs usually cost more money up front, but the payoff to society is huge.

3. Taxpayers (WE) need to recognize that it may be a little more expensive to serve troubled students, and develop dropout prevention programs that are permanent. These students don’t need a fresh start at more of the same; they need a smaller, different school, away from the big schools. And that’s what the serious students in traditional schools deserve—a chance to learn free from disruptive students. When given a real shot at changing the direction of their lives, as we offer at New School, many youth actually recover.

Again, since alcohol and illegal drugs play a big part in most dysfunctional families, I propose a large tax on alcohol to help fund the “social service” functions and dropout programs of schools. I would also dedicate the coming tax on legal marijuana to schools. Since we already have lottery money funding schools, we might as well continue with the “sin tax” for social good concept.

Problem # 4: Many Students Left Behind

High academic standards are great, but combined with diminishing resources, they have become the only focus of most schools. Character education and vocational education are almost gone.

The idea that schools should have a part in forming the character of the child has all but disappeared because of testing pressures. It was only a few years ago that public schools dropped the “Citizenship” grades we all used to get. I understand the thinking that holds that schools can’t be saddled with the burden of correcting all of society’s ills, but there is no one else to do it (when the parents have abdicated). It’s like why people rob banks: School is where the children are.

Likewise, with academic testing pressures and less money, vocational education programs have suffered. Schools now operate on the “Pour the information in to the brain and they spew it out later.” model. Students are not really expected to DO anything. This starts in elementary school. For example, as far as I know, we in the USA have the only schools where children are not expected to clean the classrooms.

What can we do?

Schools need to return to their original purpose of developing responsible, capable citizens, not just teaching academics. Currently, elementary schools do have sporadic “overlay” anti-bullying programs, but I believe that universal (not religious) values, such as integrity, persistence, punctuality, hard work, amiability, empathy, honesty and non-violence need to be re-infused in the K-12 curriculum as they once were.

Most “at-risk” students need remedial work on understanding these universal cultural values, because in their world, (dysfunctional families, the streets, and prison) values are different. For instance, in the world of good citizens, “respect” means civility, truthfulness and kindness, but in the some families (and on the streets) “respect” means power through fear. Likewise, in my world, stealing is wrong, but in some families, it’s OK to take something if you need it. Another example is telling the truth. Many “at-risk” families expect children to lie rather than to “rat out” themselves or friends. My point is that many children live in families that “teach” antisocial values, and those values that children bring to school can be modified. Public schools exist to educate responsible citizens, and that starts with character. If a youth’s first allegiance is to a gang, s/he’s not going to need a diploma.

Problem #5: “Gangs and Drugs Destroy Families”

After interviewing over 1000 students to enter our (New School) dropout program, I know that between ½ and 2/3 of students in similar programs have substance abuse issues, usually alcohol and/or marijuana. These students came from traditional secondary schools where they were getting loaded and underperforming. Many were never caught.

Just as we should have zero tolerance for gang behavior in schools, I would like to see a real zero tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol in our schools. Just like gangs, students that are “intervened on” about their substance abuse at the age of 14 are much less likely to turn into lifelong addicts than those who continue to use throughout their school “career”. Allowing students to be in school loaded is just ignoring their cry for help, and I believe that most classrooms in traditional high schools have at least one student under the influence in them. Teachers are unaware and sometimes turn a blind eye. Ask high school students if there are loaded kids in their classrooms.

What can we do?

1. Many secondary schools have been using “drug dogs” for years. We use them at New School. Twice a year, students leave their backpacks in the classroom for a “fire drill” and a highly trained dog and handler enter. If the canine smells something (alcohol, illegal drugs, gunpowder, it just sits down and the handler fills out a report for the school administrator. From there, it’s up to the principal. There are no Gestapo tactics. I can’t imagine that many parents would object to this serious attempt to really keep our schools “drug free”. Right now most schools have a “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” policy which is ineffective because addicts lie.

2. I believe all “dropout” programs should offer urine drug screening (only about $5 each) at the request of parents. When administrators suspend students for disruptive behavior, parents should be able to purchase a drug screening kit for about $3 from the school. We have done this for 8 years at New School, and it is very effective in keeping our campus a clean and sober environment. More importantly, it helps us to identify youth who need intervention in their relationship with illegal drugs or alcohol before it gets to be a blind, self-destructive love affair. One dirty test calls for a parent conference and a strict contract. Students who test dirty a second time are dropped to a local substance abuse program, where they can focus on their sobriety, which is of paramount importance to their schoolwork and future life. Today many jobs require drug screening. School is a student’s job, and they can’t perform to their ability if they are loaded.

Problem #6: Community–Distrust of the Cops.

There are “bad apples” for sure. Most cops, however, can be trusted.

What can we do?

1. Help everyone understand that fighting crime without cops is like going to war without a weapon. Marches and speeches are nice to raise awareness, but they don’t stop much crime. So, my conclusion in this war to preserve safety in our streets and schools is to TRUST THE COPS AND COOPERATE WITH THEM. It’s that simple. Their job is to fight crime. If we don’t support them, we allow crime to infest our schools and neighborhoods.

2. Publicize (especially in Spanish) the WPD Anonymous Tip Line telephone number (728-3544), and emphasize the anonymous part. The main reason that crimes are not reported is the fear of retaliation. Police often get little cooperation from bystanders who witnessed a stabbing or shooting, because they know that the gangs control the neighborhood, and they or their family be hurt if they tell the truth. Police are frustrated when witnesses don’t cooperate, but they don’t understand that if the police controlled the streets in that neighborhood, witnesses would be forthcoming. I can’t help but note the parallels here with the Taliban in Afghanistan. People will cooperate if they know you are staying and they will be safe.

3. Protect those that DO cooperate with law enforcement against the bullies (drug dealers and gangsters) in their neighborhoods. Use ALL of the government’s power (including housing regulations, permits, etc.), coupled with county probation, and school officials to bear down on drug houses and the homes of the bad actors that rule their neighborhoods with fear. Many of my students and their parents know who the bad actors in their neighborhoods are. They should feel safe to report them, and the cops need the tools to take action. Last year, I witnessed the aftermath of a gang knife assault in an alley during the high school lunch hour. There were five witnesses, but only one brave lady would come forward to ID the perps. She covered her head with a towel, because she knew that her neighborhood was controlled by these thugs and that “ratting them out” (telling the truth) can be very dangerous.

Problem #7: Community—Criminal Justice System.

In my community, the various county and city criminal justice agencies have different philosophies and as a result, most police officers don’t feel they have the support they need. This results in many unruly juveniles playing the system and frustrating many police and probation officers. The police often feel THEY are wearing the handcuffs. As an example, a few years ago a former student of ours, R— came by New School at our old Main Street site flashing a red bandana and challenging some of my students to fight. When the cops came, the sergeant was clearly frustrated, because R— had just gone to the police station and demanded that they return his bandana, which they had confiscated during a previous arrest. Since the judge had failed to place probation “gang terms” on this youth, the sergeant had to return his bandana. R— (who all the cops knew) was clearly “down” for red, and had been for years. That’s why we had dropped him from New School. But, somehow the system allowed him for years to sink further and further into the street life. Of course, R— is now in prison, but I wonder if he had felt real consequences for his gang affiliation earlier if that might have diverted him from the gang lifestyle.

The sad, unrecognized fact is that the longer these youth are allowed to continue with their self-destructive behavior, the less likely it is that they can be salvaged. In my experience, if a youth realizes at the age of 14 that gang banging or drug/alcohol use is causing him/her trouble, s/he has a much better chance of quitting than if s/he were to continue to use and “bang” until the age of 18.

Gang involved youth know very well that if they commit a crime in Monterey County, they are in for hard time, whereas in Santa Cruz County, they are often let off with a slap on the wrist. As Jack Borges, a former Santa Cruz County Probation Officer said “Most people need to feel the heat, before they can see the light.” We need to “motivate” youth in Santa Cruz County to stay away from gangs.

What can we do?

1. Elected and appointed officials, City Councils, Board of Supervisors, judges, and the DA need to work together to resolve this issue. The cops on the street need their FULL support. The criminal justice system needs to speak with one voice, and that voice needs to support the officers on patrol. This issue could be resolved at little cost to taxpayers if only all of the players could be on the same page. The recent crackdown on taggers is a great example of agency cooperation and the criminal justice system speaking with one voice. We can do the same with gangsters. Cops know the gangsters and drug dealers and where they live, but they don’t have the legal backup to do much about it.

2. Judges and the District Attorney need to enforce already existing laws to make life more uncomfortable for the gangsters. Two laws immediately pop into mind:

a. It is a violation of probation (and therefore a crime) for two youth on probation with gang terms to be together. Many young gangsters openly congregate together after school in consistent hangouts with no consequences.

b. “The area within 1000 feet of a school is considered a School Zone.” (Penal Code 653g) “Drug offenders, sex offenders, or gang members are not permitted in these zones.” (PC 626.85, PC 626.8, PC 13826.3) “Anyone in a physical fight in these zones will be arrested.” (PC 241.2) “It is illegal to loiter in these areas.” (PC 653g)

Cops would arrest youth for these offenses IF the DA would prosecute and the judges would convict, but it often seems the kids have immunity.

Santa Cruz County has been a national model for reducing the incarceration of juvenile offenders by using other methods, such as ankle-monitors and “treatment” programs. One of the unintended consequences of this policy is that juveniles feel that the law can’t touch them. Juvenile gangsters know that if they commit a crime in Monterey County, they will serve “hard time”, but not in Santa Cruz. This is partly because of a disconnect in the criminal justice system in Santa Cruz County. Law enforcement officers in this county do not get the “back-up” they need from the District Attorney, Probation and the judges because of different philosophies. If all of the players in the criminal justice system could speak with one voice (that supports the police officers on the streets), gangs would not operate with such impunity.

Problem # 8: Community–Neighborhood Safety.

I met a principal at a workshop in Sacramento who runs a Community Day School (like New School) in Compton, a “bad” part of LA. I asked her how she dealt with students who “claim” gang membership (tattoos, colors, etc.). She didn’t really understand my question since in her area EVERY student has to pick sides, or s/he is not safe walking to school. In other words, in her neighborhood of Compton the streets are completely controlled by gangs, and youth must affiliate to survive. Most of Watsonville is not there yet, but we have to decide how bad we’re going to let it get. Some of my students’ families don’t even let their elementary age children go outside the front door without an adult. Low income youth deserve the same safety as others, but their neighborhoods are often controlled by gangs and drug dealers. Middle class people don’t see this, because most are oblivious to the signs. If you can read the graffiti in your town, you can tell that some parts are claimed by one gang or another. As more and more of the voters in town live in semi-gated communities (with one road in and out), security in low-income neighborhoods diminishes. What I’m saying is that low-income neighborhoods BREED gangs because the thugs control the streets.

What can we do?

1. Ignore politics, change our paradigm, and do the right thing. Concentrate police and other services in the areas of greatest need. The highest crime-rate areas should get enough police protection to equalize the crime rates around the city. Of course, this would take time and persistence to eliminate many of the bad guys in the poor neighborhoods, but why should innocent children be less safe in one neighborhood than another? (Check out the Megan’s Law map of your town. Guess where the vast majority of the sex offenders live?) Everyone deserves equal protection under the law. View the crime statistics map on your city’s website. Equalizing the crime rate in all neighborhoods would undoubtedly have other consequences. I bet many of the anti-tax folks would understand the need for better funding for police, probation, and recreation.

2. In Watsonville, Chief Terry Medina and Captain Manny Solano have been trying to introduce “Community Policing”, where the police know their neighborhoods, talk to the residents, and residents can trust them for protection. This kind of trust is essential if police are to receive information about what’s really going on in every neighborhood. This is what it was like when most of us were growing up; when you could walk alone downtown at night. I believe this is the major factor that has kept Watsonville from turning into Salinas: Community Policing, and bilingual/bicultural cops. Community Policing costs money though, and that’s the reason it hasn’t been very well implemented so far—not enough officers. WPD needs more officers (with good “people skills”) to continue implementing the community policing idea. Funding for police and school security needs to increase. Again, a large tax on alcohol, with the revenues going to crime prevention and suppression would help.

Problem # 9: Community–Parks and Recreation Funding.

The voters of our town have repeatedly refused to fully fund recreation centers and libraries. In many of the low income neighborhoods, there are few safe, healthy places for youth to be after school. One of my students lives with four sisters in an apartment complex downtown. All five of the girls have been “flashed” in the complex, and are thus not allowed outside the door alone.

The City’s libraries and recreation centers provide safe space and relationships with responsible, caring adults for many of our kids, making gang affiliation and drug use less dominant in their world. In the last five years, I have seen the services of these public facilities diminish. As hours are cut, OUR youth spend more time in the streets. Time in the streets has completely different meanings, depending on the neighborhood.

What can we do? I am in no way blaming the City or the Libraries or the Recreation Department. They need MUCH better funding. Middle class voters need to understand that low-income immigrants are not going away. (Of course the reason is that we—middle-class folks–refuse to do the “grunt” work in this town. This is one of the unintended consequences of our broken immigration system.) The experiences immigrant children have in their neighborhoods will help to shape them into either our neighbors or our burglars.

Allowing dysfunctional families to abuse their children, and allowing schools, police, recreation programs and libraries to continue to be underfunded ensures that we will continue to produce our own homegrown terrorists.

I hope these observations will spark some debate about long-term, integrated, community-wide, gang-abatement and our support of this valley’s youth.

Sincerely,

Don

Don Eggleston
Former Principal of New School
301 Pleasant Valley Road
Aptos, CA 95003
831-722-7645

PS: In 1960, Eddie Belleroe, a Cree Elder from Alberta, Canada, recalled a conversation with his aging grandfather. He asked: “Grandfather, what is the purpose of life?” After a long time in thought, the old man looked up and said “Grandson, children are the purpose of life. We were once children and someone cared for us; now it is our turn to care.”

Attachment: Gang Map of Watsonville

Teen reports being shot near beach, drives himself to hospital
By Jennifer Squires
Posted: 06/26/2009 04:50:26 PM PDT
Updated: 06/26/2009 04:50:40 PM PDT

LA SELVA BEACH – A teenager with a gunshot wound drove himself to Watsonville Community Hospital early Thursday, telling sheriff’s deputies that he was shot during a botched car-jacking near the beach.

But investigators said Friday they have no leads on the shooting, which occurred around 12:30 a.m. in a residential beach-front neighborhood.

The victim, a 19-year-old Watsonville resident, told deputies he was alone watching the ocean from a park bench near Playa Boulevard and Vista Drive when a Latino man wearing a black T-shirt and jeans approached him, according to the Sheriff’s Office

“The guy says to him, ‘I’m jacking you. I’m going to steal your car,’” Sgt. Greg Lansdowne said.

The teen told deputies he took off running toward his truck and heard a gunshot ring out. When he got into his truck, he realized he had been shot, Lansdowne said.

The teen drove himself to the hospital, where he reported the shooting and was treated, then released.

He told deputies the would-be carjacker never threatened him with a gun and that he didn’t see a gun before he was shot, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies went to the neighborhood to look for evidence and witnesses, but came up empty-handed. No one called 911 around that time to report gunshots in the La Selva Beach area.

“Apparently nobody saw or heard anything,” Lansdowne said, adding “we’re still actively working the case.”

Nothing about the account led investigators to believe the shooting was gang related. Lansdowne declined to discuss the possibility the shooting occurred elsewhere.

Investigators ask that anyone with information about the shooting call sheriff’s detectives at 454-2311.