CSUN Gathering Addresses School Safety Concerns : Education: Suggestions for combatting campus violence are aired before members of a new state Senate subcommittee.

NORTHRIDGE —  Members of the newly formed state Senate Subcommittee on School Safety gathered Monday at Cal State Northridge to hear suggestions from teachers, administrators and experts about ways to combat increased violence on school campuses.

In the all-day public hearing, senators Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara), Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) and Teresa Hughes (D-Inglewood)--the subcommittee chairwoman--listened to testimony from representatives of programs that attempt to curb violence by teaching about prevention, mediating conflicts, counseling by peers, and involving parents.

The Subcommittee on School Safety replaced the state Senate’s Task Force on School Violence on Nov. 8. The creation of a more powerful subcommittee was intended to emphasize the pressing need to find ways to stop campus violence, Hughes said.

“Our children are dying. This is warfare and our kids are on the front lines,” she said. “We cannot tolerate this anymore.”

The subcommittee is working to develop a package of legislation by January that, if approved, could support several school safety programs already being implemented across the state, provide funding for new ones and impose stricter punishment on students who are caught with weapons at school.

State Treasurer Kathleen Brown began Monday’s hearing by outlining her proposal to create disciplinary schools for juveniles caught with guns on campus, which she said would be named the Ensley-Rice Academies after the two youths shot and killed on Los Angeles campuses last year. Demetrius Rice, 16, was killed at Fairfax High School on Jan. 21 and 17-year-old Micheal Ensley was killed at Reseda High School a month later.

The death of Micheal Ensley in February prompted one of the school’s teachers to form a group of students called Weapons Are Removed Now (W.A.R.N.), said Robert Kladifko, principal of Reseda High.

Members of the student group, which has received inquiries from school districts all over the country, visit elementary and middle schools and perform skits to illustrate the group’s motto: “Break the Code of Silence.” The message urges children to tell an adult if they know a classmate has a gun.