Palisades High School Board of Trustees met and heard public comments about juvenile activities at a meeting in Gilbert Hall on the school campus on March 19.
Photo: CHAZ PLAGER
By CHAZ PLAGER
“What Pali High doesn’t understand is that by letting a student get away with so many violent and criminal acts they are essentially giving permission to other students to act in the same way. They are very clearly conveying students can and will avoid getting in trouble despite committing criminal and violent acts,” one parent said at a special Palisades High School Board of Trustees meeting on March 19.
Tensions were high in Gilbert Hall at 5 p.m. The meeting was held to address the growing epidemic of teen violence, which CTN has reported on: https://www.circlingthenews.com/pathetic-childre…ity-zoom-meeting/ https://www.circlingthenews.com/violence-was-pos…s-tiktok-account/ https://www.circlingthenews.com/attacks-of-senio…teens-unprovoked/
About 30 parents attended the meeting, as well as several students from Pali’s Student Council. Seated at the far end of the room were nine Pali representatives and faculty: Andrew Paris, Rustin Kharrazi (student representative), Sakem Sherkhanov (parent representative), Karen Ellis, Dr. Pamela Magee, Sara Margiotta, David Pickard, Maggie Nance and Tyler Farrell.
The meeting focused on a video which had circulated in the Pali community, which depicted a boy being savagely beaten by a group of students in the parking lot behind Bank of America.
The meeting began with time allotted for open public comment.
“What is PCHS doing to stop this?” parent Carrie Dolan asked. “What are students’ rights to act in self-defense?”
“This is an ongoing epidemic, not just some ‘boys will be boys’ mischief. I am in fear for my family’s life. Excuse my forceful verbiage, but I am pissed off,” an anonymous email wrote. The email was read aloud by another parent, who wished also to remain anonymous.
One parent said, “The scary thing about the meeting is that it never would’ve happened, if the video of one of these students’ many fights wasn’t posted on Nextdoor.”
Pali was forced to address an issue which parents learned the school has had knowledge of for many months. In fact, one student’s issues go all the way back to last year when he picked fights at Paul Revere Middle School.
Many in the audience wondered if PaliHi would have avoided holding a meeting to address these issues all together if the video was never posted. Parents allege that two children, one adult and a senior were assaulted and sent to the emergency room.
A Santa Monica High School Security officer also spoke during public comment. “I think we’re robbing kids of opportunities – both the victims and the perpetrators. I deal with troubled kids every day and I make sure to hold them accountable. What’s happening here? It’s just sad.”
Several speakers told stories of a teen, who apparently has possession of knives and guns, who allegedly held students hostage and has not been expelled despite it being 10 months since his first reported incident.
Once the public comments were complete, the Pali representatives spoke. “We hear your concerns, and we are working on this,” said Dr. Pamela Magee, PaliHi executive director/principal. “There is misinformation floating around and I would prefer it if you all took some time to verify sources before you believe them. We are committed to safety first.”
Dr. Magee did not answer any questions asked by public speakers at the time. “We’ll go over those next meeting,” she said. “We can’t answer those questions just yet.”
“Why not?” the audience chorused.
“Board meetings are simply not designed for back and forth,” Pali teacher Maggie Nance chimed in. “We need to process these things before action can be taken.”
Additionally, the board operates under the Brown Act, which means they can’t address anything that was not on an agenda, which has to be posted 72 hours in advance.
Doors to the hall closed at 5:25 p.m. while the Pali representatives conferred, then reopened at 6:05 p.m.
Time was allocated for more public comments, during which more parents blasted PCHS for its handling of the situation.
Once the topic was exhausted, community speakers turned to the high amounts of teen theft at CVS Pharmacy. Speakers suggested extra security cameras, random backpack checks, metal detectors, and other preventative measures.
“Let us know what we as community members can do about this,” Annine Maddock said. “We have tons of volunteers to help with the CVS situation. Help us help you.”
The meeting ended around 7 p.m. once everyone had their chance to speak.
After the meeting Magee explained to this journalist that neither she nor the board could speak about action the school taken regarding minors because the privacy of school records is protected by federal and state laws which cover nearly every type of pupil record maintained by the school and include information about attendance, health, grades, behavior, athletic ability, or activities in class. The law prohibits the release of pupil records information without written consent of the parent, or student (18 years or older).
It seems the administration st Pali High is not grasping the seriousness of the parent body’s concerns.
Cindy,
I think the school appreciates the seriousness–but the laws that rule what can be done with minors (and no help from the criminal system), is a real problem right now. I think one reader’s advice about starting to sue the parents of the perpetrators civilly might be the quickest way to get action before something awful happens.
Sue
Honestly, The community deserves to know whether we have a psychopath in the community or not. The evidence is pretty clear that the choice of weapon that was in the picture was a very large buck knife – someone needs to ask openly if that kid has mutilated or killed any of his family pets or his neighbor pets. As we all know there’s a clinical signs of a psychopath in the making.
I also actually believe the kid is very loved at home and that’s why I do wonder if he is showing some clinical signs of psychosis now, during his high school years which is pretty classical. The weapon of choice was odd.
It took us 10 months to identify the kids and we still don’t know who the parents are…
Instead of funding a public charter school I vote for funding a local police station. Kids should not be brought in from outside the neighborhood if we don’t have the infrastructure to ensure everyone’s safety. A facebook with the names of all kids who attend the charter school from outside our neighborhood (and their guardians contact) should be provided to everyone in this community by the end of the year.