Teen gangs are on the minds of local residents since Los Altos High School junior Alejandro (Alex) Fernandez was gunned down on Rengstorff Avenue in Mountain View Sept. 24.
Four youths were expelled from local high schools last week but not for involvement in gang activity, according to officials of the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District. District administrators and Mountain View High School Principal Pat Hyland declined to say what the students had done to merit expulsion.
“Gang participation was not a factor in the decision-making about those expulsions,” said Superintendent Rich Fischer Thursday. “Everyone denied gang activity. We had no evidence that tied the activity to gang activity.”
Brigitte Sarraf, associate superintendent for educational services, said that an Alta Vista High School junior and three Mountain View High freshmen were expelled and a Mountain View High senior was suspended by district trustees last week. Three of the four expulsions were related, she said. The lead administrator on the expulsion cases would not say whether the incidents involved violence.
“I cannot confirm the rumor that the incidents were gang related. We considered the possibility as part of the investigation, but we do not have any definite evidence,” Sarraf said.
One of the expulsions was considered mandatory under the California Education Code, Sarraf said. According to Education Code 48915(c), an expulsion is mandatory if the student:
* possesses, sells or otherwise furnishes a firearm
* brandishes a knife at another person
* sells a controlled substance
* commits or attempts a sexual assault or sexual battery
* possesses an explosive
Alan Nelson of the Mountain View Police Department said Monday that none of the expulsions were a “police issue.”
The Alta Vista junior whose expulsion was mandatory has been barred from all district schools and programs for 365 days from the date of the trustees’ decision, Oct. 12. The Mountain View High freshmen were expelled for the remainder of the school year, Sarraf said.
In addition to exclusion from school life, each student must participate in a rehabilitation plan, and each must provide evidence of having met its conditions before he can return to the district, she said.
Trustees also suspended the expulsion of a Mountain View High senior for defacing a bank of lockers with an ink pen, Sarraf said.
Gang-related activity, including the wearing or displaying of signs of gang affiliation, is prohibited in district schools. Fischer said district policy requires faculty and administrators to report any sign of such activity to the district office. Education Code Section 48906 requires a referral to law enforcement for a student found with a firearm.
Atmosphere calmer atLos Altos High School
Los Altos Police Agent John Korges, the police liaison with Los Altos High School, said Friday, “There haven’t been any major disciplinary issues at LAHS since the homicide. I talk to a lot of students and staff, and life seems to getting back to normal. Kids are going out to lunch, filling out college applications – life goes on.”
Korges said the uniformed officers who were an appreciated presence on campus after Fernandez’s murder are no longer there. Korges, however, spends a good part of his day at the school.
“All the principals are out there at lunch time talking to the kids and making sure they know of any change in the atmosphere,” he said. “We’re not seeing the (gang) presence there, mostly because (Principal) Wynne (Satterwhite) and her staff are doing a great job.”
