If San Benito High School officials do not see enough examples
on their own campus
– and there are plenty – they had a prime example down the road
in Gilroy on Feb. 27 showing the district made the wrong decision
against committing funds to the new gang coordinator position.
If San Benito High School officials do not see enough examples on their own campus – and there are plenty – they had a prime example down the road in Gilroy on Feb. 27 showing the district made the wrong decision against committing funds to the new gang coordinator position.
The closed-campus Gilroy school had to call for a lockdown that afternoon after fights erupted, some gang-related.
Whether school officials want to see the link, the reality is that Gilroy’s problems with gangs have been San Benito County’s problems for many years. They are an inherent, serious deterrent to the learning environment at the high school, as they are in Gilroy and Salinas, and the problem will only get worse considering the poor economy.
The inevitable spill-over reached us long ago, and these organized criminals remain the primary cause of failure for many students. Something so consequential should be school officials’ No. 1 priority. But San Benito High School District trustees and administrators apparently do not understand how deep this influence runs and have shunned the needed funding commitment to this partnership.
Trustees’ decision to deny the requested $20,000 allocation toward the new coordinator role shows that high school officials’ priorities are off base.
While it is easy to compare Gilroy to San Benito High School in light of the lockdown, because they have a similar scope of related problems and threats, such an event here holds potential for a much larger disaster due to the open campus being near downtown homes and businesses. A violent quarrel conceivably could spill over nearby for blocks.
Other local agencies including the Hollister School District, the San Benito County Office of Education, San Benito County and the City of Hollister all recognize the need for a full commitment – funding is the crux of any government decision – to this new partnership.
Those agencies understand it is time to end the reactionary attitude toward gangs. It is just too bad they will attempt to do so without support from officials overseeing the biggest gang hot-bed in San Benito County.
We hope the unfortunate situation in Gilroy opens trustees’ eyes to the potential for even worse in Hollister. We hope they see the need to commit to this community’s primary anti-gang effort, the coordinator role.
