Today’s Los Angeles Times has a front-page article on my daughter’s school. The issue is fences. You see, most schools in Los Angeles Unified are surrounded by fences that keep the “bad folks” out, and the “students” in. Guess the only school in the district that doesn’t? My daughter’s.
It’s been a big bone of contention. The school has been unfenced for 44 years, and turned its back this spring on a $300K plan to surround the school with a security fence. More than 600 students wrote letters and circulated petitions opposing the proposed fence. Teachers and parents also protested. It’s not just about aesthetics, they said, but also about the notion that freedom promotes responsibility, and students rise to the challenge.
How do I feel? I didn’t want the fence, and neither did my daughter. I think having the fence makes a statement. There is already enough fear in our society today, and the problem elements find their ways to attack their targets regardless of a fence.
The article notes that the 20-acre campus — in an upper-middle class neighborhood along a busy thoroughfare, midway between a freeway exit and a shopping mall — has for years been a shining light in a district under fire for its foundering middle schools. It has the highest test scores of any district middle school, even though half of its 2,200 students are bused in from other neighborhoods — some to attend the school’s math and science magnet and others to get away from crowded inner-city schools. Its attendance record is always among the district’s best and there is little crime or vandalism.
Addressing that last point: My daughter has told me of the zero-tolerance for violence. I hear of more violence indicents at other schools than I do at hers. And as for vandalism: there is the occasional tagger, cleaned up the next day.
The neighborhood is a key factor. Locals know who the students are… and if a student is seen off campus, the school is called immediately. Very effective.
They even interviewed my daughter’s PE Teacher, Mr. Tovey. I never realized he had been teaching there for 38 years!
Interesting article. Of course, I’m not sure I wanted the fact that her school doesn’t have fences publicized. It’s like saying “Hey, vandals, … Over here!”.
In any case, all together now…
I want to ride to the (north)ridge where the west commences
And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
And I can’t look at hovels and I can’t stand fences
Don’t fence me in
