TOUGH-LOVE TEACHER HAS IDEAS TO COMBAT GANGS

SAN BERNARDINO - A tough-love teacher explained his methods to the
county Gangs and Drugs Task Force on Wednesday morning as part of an
ongoing effort to combat gang violence in neighborhoods and schools.

Paul D. White runs a community day school an alternative public
school for at-risk children in Canoga Park in Los Angeles County. His
students fall into at least one of the following categories former
drug addicts, gang members, or lawbreakers.

But once they get into the West Valley Leadership Academy, they learn
to shape up or ship out.

"We set up clear rules and clear consequences," White said.

The schoolchildren are never absent, never tardy and don't dare
misbehave or even chew gum.

That's because the rules are strictly enforced. If children are even
one minute tardy, they are kept after school for an hour.

"We let them know we're going to sweat the little things," said Larry
Rothstein, a probation officer who works in the school with the children.

White brought about a dozen neatly dressed students to the
presentation. One of them, Amoury Carrera, is a former gang member.
He just recently had his gang tattoo removed.

"I had problems with tequila, marijuana," Carrera said. "Not anymore.
They got consequences for every action you do."

There are lessons in each of the rules. If kids show up to school
with gum in their pocket, they are encouraged to let the teacher know.

"(The rules) are about character-building and honesty," Rothstein said.

Students also must sign a list of requirements that include starting
a savings account, being employed or taking occupational classes, and
getting a driver's permit at age 16.

"If you like what you hear, and what we've been able to do, you could
do it tomorrow," White told the audience at the sheriff's
headquarters on Third Street.

Many attendees at the early-morning Task Force meeting have been
active participants in a community effort to find a solution to the
area's crime and gang problem. Grassroots action groups, including
one named after an 11-year-old girl who was killed, have sprung out
of the community's concerns.

Ontario Mayor Paul Leon collaborated with Lonnie Lardner, founder of
the non-profit children's group Hope's Nest, to bring White's message
to the Inland Empire.

White's philosophy is based on three tenets:

* Schools should be built on morals, values and character, not only
academic standards.

* Children need and want rules.

* A child can only be effectively redirected if people view that
child as if he or she were their own.

Parents and the school must be involved in the child's life, White
said. Crime problems, he said, stem from weak links in the
home/school/law enforcement triangle.

"Law enforcement is the only strong leg on the stool. The others are
doing virtually nothing," he said. "We cannot ask a handful of cops
to take care of society."

If parents want their children to attend West Valley, they must be
100 percent committed to participating in the school activities and
must attend every monthly parents meeting in order to maintain the
child's enrollment in the school.

White also emphasized that there should be no tolerance when it comes to gangs.

When authorities or community groups try to reason with gang members,
it just legitimizes their actions in the gang members' minds, he said.

"I respect anybody who thinks that works. We don't think it does,"
White said. "When we sit down and talk with them like they're the
Young Republicans Club or something, it gives them the wrong idea."

Superintendent of Schools Herbert Fischer, who attended the
presentation, has toured White's school. He was impressed with its
students' progress.

"He's an exceptional teacher," Fischer said.

There are about 40 community day schools in San Bernardino County,
and they are important because they present a last chance for
students to be successful, Fischer said.

"The success is incumbent upon the relationship between the student
and the teacher," he said.

Some San Bernardino County schools are already using grant money to
try to make that connection before it gets to the "last-chance" point.

A federal grant called the Smaller Learning Communities aims to break
down the large comprehensive high schools into classes to improve
student achievement. Ten schools have embarked on this program, said
Lucinda Sheppy, grant coordinator.

"It allows the teachers to get to know the students better," she said.

Fischer said the ideal would be for all students to have the benefit
of smaller classes.

"But it really has to do with resources," he said. "We have to be
able to follow through."

White urged county residents to give his method a chance.

"There will be people in your community who will want to fight you on
this. Don't listen to 'em," he said. "The future of these kids is in
your hands."