Gilroy High School under scrutiny by civil liberties group over
allegations of gang profiling
A San Jose-based civil liberties group is investigating
allegations that Gilroy Unified School District is using
questionable criteria for identifying Latino youth as
”
gang affiliated.
”
Gilroy High School under scrutiny by civil liberties group over allegations of gang profiling
A San Jose-based civil liberties group is investigating allegations that Gilroy Unified School District is using questionable criteria for identifying Latino youth as “gang affiliated.
A San Jose-based civil liberties group is investigating allegations that Gilroy Unified School District is using questionable criteria for identifying Latino youth as “gang affiliated.”
The Public Interest Law Firm reported that it had roughly a dozen concerned parents contact the group and complain that their children are being singled out as being affiliated with gangs without evident motives, said James Zahradka, senior attorney for the PILF.
However, the lawyers are being secretive about what, exactly, the district is allegedly doing, and declined requests to cite examples.
The advocates are trying to figure out what Gilroy Unified is doing and whether or not there is any wrong involved.
The public interest lawyers, who represent the civil liberties of youth, filed a California Public Records Act request – similar to a Freedom of Information Act – to obtain documents about the Gilroy School District’s policies regarding its identification of students as “gang affiliated.” Parents allegations date back to 2005, PILF reported.
Multiple calls over the span of several days were placed to GUSD Superintendent Edwin Diaz requesting comment. He did not respond.
Zahradka said that PILF has been in touch with the GUSD’s lawyer and that the lawyer had said that the district would comply with the request.
“We didn’t file a lawsuit. We’re just trying to get information at this point and get the word out there that we’re looking for information,” said Kyra Kazantzis directing attorney with PILF.
PILF is working in unison with Legal Advocates for Children and Youth (LACY) to determine whether Gilroy’s policies illegally discriminate against Latino youth.
If the district is racially profiling, they’re breaking the law, Kazantzis said. If the district has set rules and guidelines only looking at one specific group, then the actions are both over-inclusive and under-inclusive, she said.
“Over-inclusive because there are lots of kids [of certain races] that are not in gangs, but also under-inclusive because I think there are kids who are not Latino who are involved in gangs. That’s the under-inclusive nature of looking at gangs,” Kazantzis said.
“If you grow up in a certain neighborhood and you hang out with certain people, it doesn’t matter what color your skin is,” Kazantzis said. “We don’t know what Gilroy is doing, but if they’re using ethnicity as a marker for gang activity, it’s illegal and a bad idea, because it includes people that shouldn’t be included and overlooks people that should.”
The problem – if there is a problem – is not necessarily limited to the Gilroy campus.
“We’ve also heard of other districts in this area with the same problems, but we’re still investigating,” Zahradka said “We can’t say at this point whether this is anecdotal, because there are too many instances, but we really want to know if this is wide-spread enough to require closer examination.”
The lawyers allege that schools identifying students as “gang affiliated” has consequences because characterizations of being gang affiliated are then shared with law enforcement agencies and the courts.
While students may not be a gang-member themselves, if they hang out with friends who have suspected affiliations, they may be wrongly identified.
Those identifications, in some instances, can have serious criminal-law ramifications and could result in deportation if the students do not have legal residence status.
“Schools’ inappropriate labeling of students as gang affiliated not only puts their educational future at risk, it is a threat to their physical well-being,” Kelleher said. “We need to know if the Gilroy School District is acting in a discriminatory manner, and, if it is, put an immediate stop to it.”
Zahradka said that the request for records was required to be acted on last week and if the district chooses not to release the files, LACY could take legal action, but they want to wait and see how the district responds first.
