Grossmont dealing with mostly rumors

March 16, 2001

Threats following the Santana High School shooting appear to be subsiding, prompting officials to call off extraordinary measures that stationed an officer at most of the county's middle and high schools.

San Diego city schools police Chief Tom Hall reported a drop this week in reports of threats and instances of students toting guns to school. Last week, police arrested at least 15 students.

"It's calmed down, thank heavens," Hall said. "All last week was like a blitzkrieg. Effective (Wednesday), we are back to staffing as normal. Certainly we will have units out and available."

The Sheriff's Department also reports security staffing at county schools is returning to the level that was being provided prior to the Santana incident, Lt. Glenn Revell said.

Alarmed at the fatal shooting of two students and the wounding of 13 others on the Santee campus, teachers, parents and students had deluged authorities with reports of possible danger at their schools.

In the 96 hours following the shootings, San Diego city schools police received 124 telephone calls that mentioned the Santana shootings and possible sightings of weapons. Hall said that in an average week his department receives two or three such calls.

The Grossmont Union High School District has dealt primarily with rumors since the shootings, and they've decreased each day, Superintendent Granger Ward said.

In Maryland late last week, police arrested an 18-year-old man accused of sending threatening e-mails to students at two Santee high schools.

"We're going to be dealing with repercussions of this throughout the remainder of the spring. That is the pattern of any of these incidents in other places," Ward said.

Even ambiguous signals such as inscrutable graffiti found on a wall at Valhalla High School in El Cajon on Tuesday have caused speculation, he said.

Lt. Don Hunter of the Chula Vista Police Department said officers are receiving calls daily related to threats on campus. He said officers' follow-up visits to schools may help police find troubled kids who otherwise would have gone unnoticed.

"We've got a golden opportunity here to identify these kids and respond with some compassion," Hunter said.

The Sweetwater Union High School District's Safe Schools Office last week handled three violent threats, compared with the average of about one a month, said Wes Braddock, Sweetwater's Safe Schools coordinator.

"Students are reporting things to us, teachers are reporting things they've overheard, parents are calling in far greater numbers than ever before," Braddock said.

"Those parent phone calls are usually the result of conversations they've had with their children," Braddock said. "If that means parents are communicating more with their children, that's a good thing."

In San Marcos Unified School District, officials said there was an increase in reported student disputes in the middle and high schools, and at least two suspensions in the past week.

A San Marcos High School student turned in a fellow freshman classmate for writing a "hit list" of ninth-graders he said he wanted to kill. The case is under investigation.

San Marcos Superintendent Larry Maw alerted all school officials to a crackdown on threats and teasing.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has ordered tours of the county Coroner's Office for students caught making threats or taking guns to school.

Though the number of calls and incidents declined this week, authorities were still responding to threats and reports of weapons.

A 17-year-old student was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of bringing a pellet gun to Palm Summit School in Otay Mesa, said San Diego police spokesman Bill Robinson.

The pellet gun was found after teachers at the school searched a backpack, said Rick Kasper, Palm Summit's head teacher. The student, on probation for illegal gang activity, told officials he was worried about being attacked and brought the gun to protect himself.

A day earlier, nearly 2,000 students skipped classes at Aliso Viejo High School in Orange County because e-mails warned of a student's plan to go on a shooting spree. The Sheriff's Department received more than 100 e-mails from students alerting officers.

Hall compared the post-Santana attitude to what's happened at airports.

"We don't kid in line anymore -- 'Oh, I got a bomb in my suitcase!' -- because they're going to drag you off to the security room," Hall said.