Compton : Speakers at Forum Address School Security, Cleanliness

More than 200 parents and students cheered speakers who complained during a recent Compton Unified School District board forum that Whaley Middle School was dangerous and dirty.

“There should be more security in the morning before the children arrive,” parent Margaret Comer said. “We also need police here at least until all the children leave the school and all the buses are gone.”

School board members promised to help.

“School safety and security will be our major priority,” board President John Steward told the gathering. He urged parents to help by using video cameras to record acts of vandalism. “You have to be vigilant,” he said.

Many parents complained that gang members, some of whom attend Whaley, loiter around the campus. They also spoke of the need to ease racial tension between black and Latino students.

“You can put blacks and Hispanics together, and you need to teach them to get along,” parent Keith Williams said.

Other speakers at the forum Saturday focused on school cleanliness, complaining of graffiti-covered walls and dirty bathrooms. “How do teachers and administrators think that we as students can get our education when we don’t have a decent place to use the bathroom?” seventh-grader Princess Denmon said.

Steward said later that he was somewhat encouraged by the Whaley forum and two others held recently. “The community is speaking more positively about the school system and what we’re delivering. . . . The parents’ concerns are always valid. That’s where we get our direction from.”

Principal Naomi Ferns said she was also pleased with the forum. Past hearings had been the scene of shouting matches between blacks and Latinos, but not this time, she said.

“I think people will feel good that they had an opportunity to express themselves. The issue of security really brings out the messiness of the problem that we have here, and we need help.”