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CONTRACT'S COST:
Teenagers, adults talk gang contracts and student behavior
Part
two in a two-part series
Read part one
Monterey
County Herald | March 13, 2006
Copyright 2006 Monterey County Herald. All Rights Reserved. Posted with
permission.
By GEORGE B. SANCHEZ
Herald Salinas Bureau
One young man in Salinas says he signed an anti-gang
behavior contract five years ago when he was 13. He remembers there was
a rumor of a fight at his middle school that day.
The assistant principal reacted by pulling aside students suspected of
being "southerners," or affiliated with Sureño street
gangs. All of them, said the young man, were asked to sign the contract
with the Salinas Union High School District.
"I didn't understand it. I didn't care for it either," he says.
The young man said he was "threatened" with a three-day suspension
if he didn't sign the contract.
He wasn't a gang member then, nor is he now, but he said he was suspected
because of his classmates.
"We weren't necessarily friends, but we all lived around the neighborhood."
There was no fight that day, but things were different from then on, he
says.
"When you were on a gang contract, you couldn't be a regular student.
You didn't have no room to mess up."
Early signing|
"I've never heard of anyone leaving a gang because of the gang contract,"
said one teenager.
The young woman, who admits to "gang banging" when she signed
the contract at age of 13, said young people, like adults, leave gangs
because they want the change for themselves, not because of someone's
advice, order or instruction.
She says she joined a gang because her father was an alcoholic. The gang,
she said, was a distraction from a dysfunctional family life.
Despite her family's pleas, she remembers, he didn't stop drinking until
she was about 14. "When my dad stopped drinking, I stopped banging.
I'm out. I don't want any more problems."
That was more than a year ago.
Teachers and counselors vouch for her change. Friends support her decision
to stay away from gangs.
She stays out of trouble because that's what she wants, but she has to
remind herself that the contract is still on her record and its consequences
still follow her.
The father of a 14-year-old on the contract says he signed because he
thought it was for his son's good. In fact, he said in Spanish, he was
afraid if he didn't sign the contract, his son might get expelled.
A Mexican field worker who speaks no English, his experience is not unlike
that of other immigrants.
Language barrier|
Isolated by a language barrier and unfamiliar with the American education
system, he nearly comes to tears describing the hopelessness he says he
felt the moment he signed the contract.
"Now I'm beginning to understand why there are so many kids who drop
out of school," he said in Spanish. "There's a lot of pressure
from principals, from the police, from the colors, from everybody. I want
him to get ahead, but if the doors are closed on him, how is he going
to?"
One school employee, who asked not to be identified, questions the practicality
of anti-gang behavior contracts. The employee says they don't prompt a
student to leave gangs, and nongang members have been wrongly identified.
"We have gang members on the contract and we have nongang members
on the contract as well."
Icons or images not listed on the anti-gang behavior contract, like the
Virgin of Guadalupe and the Playboy bunny, have been considered gang-related,
the employee says.
"It's almost laughable if the consequences weren't so serious."
The school employee said many students pegged as gang members are actually
"school bangers," a term used to describe gang "wannabes,"
who are just that: students who may pass themselves off as young thugs
but are not committed gang members with a criminal history.
The term is well known among gang-intervention experts and law enforcement
officials alike.
Dale Bartoletti, principal of the county's alternative education programs,
which serves expelled and at-risk youths, said many students that school
officials suspect to be gang members are "wannabes."
Mostly 'wannabes'|
No more than 40 percent of the 500 students in the alternative education
programs are gang-affiliated, Bartoletti said. Of those students "aligned"
with a gang, most are wannabes, he said, adding that "maybe 10 percent
are actually active gang members."
"They're looking for inclusion and identity and (gang affiliation)
brings status," said Bartoletti. "But most will leave that behind
when they find something more meaningful, like a job or marriage."
There are about 70 students at the community school, with seven or eight
active troublemakers, he said. Bartoletti's words mirror the observations
of law enforcement.
"There's a lot more wannabes -- people who hang around -- than associates,"
said Salinas police Sgt. Victoria Gray, former supervisor of the School
Resource Officer's unit.
"Some of them have been hanging around gang members their whole lives
or grew up together," she said.
In that sort of environment, Gray said, young people follow the examples
before them, good or bad, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for change.
"Five percent of the kids cause 95 percent of the problems on campus,
but a lot of kids are fascinated by the (gang) life," Gray said.
"I don't know of any certified gang members at North Salinas High
School," said school resource officer David Yates. "Most kids
I deal with fall into the wannabe category."
"It's a very small percentage of the kids that are causing a vast
majority of the trouble. It's just like the streets," Yates said.
Law enforcement and school officials also agree that most students can
change.
"Let's face it, if you take most of these kids out of the (gang)
element, they're fine," said retired Salinas school administrator
Rudy Perez, one of creators the contracts. "I have put kids on contracts
that in four years have graduated and are doing fine and have families.
That's the beauty of high school. You have them for four years and you
can make a difference."
Alisal High Principal John Ramirez said the same.
"Kids turn around. I see kids turn around all the time."
Officer Yates said adults need to put student behavior into perspective
before writing off a young person as a criminal.
"You've got to remember they are kids. They have the same problems
you and I had when we were in school."
Read part one
George B. Sanchez can be reached at 753-6771 or gesanchez@montereyherald.com
.
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