Community Council members and concerned residents discussed Palisades Charter High School’s open-campus policy at last Thursday’s Council meeting, prompted by community fears after an attempted mugging that occurred in town last Monday, May 9. The suspects were not PaliHi students but Jack Sutton, executive director of PaliHi, said that the incident ‘sensitized’ the school to the issue of student relations with the community. The victim of the attempted mugging, Palisades resident Kaden Foster, attended the meeting with her neighbor Gary Boyle, who played a key role in apprehending the two juvenile suspects (‘Youth Arrested After Attempted Robbery; Neighbor Plays Key Role,’ Palisadian-Post, May 12). In an emotional account, Foster recounted for the Council what happened the evening she was walking home from the market at 8:40 p.m. in the 800 block of Haverford. She was approached by two African American males, ages 15 and 16 respectively, who demanded money from her while stating that they were armed with a gun. When Foster observed what appeared to be a handgun in one of the suspect’s pockets (later discovered to be an air pistol), she screamed for help and both suspects fled on foot. Boyle came to her aid, called 911, and drove around the area to look for the two suspects, providing the police with information about two possible suspects whom they ultimately detained. Boyle voiced his concern about students roaming the village throughout the day and causing trouble. ‘As taxpaying citizens, I don’t believe the students’ rights should outweigh our rights,’ he said. The current open-campus policy at PaliHi allows 12th grade students off-campus privileges. However, Council advisor Sam Stigler, a former Pali student, said, ‘Pali probably doesn’t have enough people checking to see if the students in the village are only seniors.’ Boyle suggested that the PaliHi administration call an assembly to discuss with their students the idea of seniors policing themselves, an idea that Council Chair Norman Kulla supported. Youth representative Stephi Magur suggested that the school install a patrol guard to check IDs of students leaving campus and that school guards also patrol the stairs from the Methodist Church to Haverford, a path commonly used by students going to and from the village. Lighting the stairs area would also be helpful, Magur said. Another resident and former PaliHi student, whose children attend Palisades Elementary, said that PaliHi should ‘come up with a program where students volunteer to be informal watch people.’ Listening to these suggestions, Sutton said, ‘We will pursue looking into the issue with the LAPD and Palisades patrol. It’s our responsibility to take care of this.’ He added that the school’s board of directors would discuss the issue. The Council generally agreed to work towards fostering mutual respect between students and the community before revisiting the idea of closing the PaliHi campus to eliminate off-campus privileges for all students (which was the practice until the late 1970s). Kulla concluded that he would follow up with Sutton to encourage students to take greater responsibility for their conduct in the village, monitor the current open-campus policy, and seek improved supervision of students off-campus via peer review and LAUSD police/security patrol, including monitoring of the school parking lot.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
