PICO-UNION / WESTLAKE : Schools Campaign to Protect Students

Reading, writing and arithmetic are tough enough. Elementary school students shouldn’t have to deal with some of life’s rougher subjects on their way to and from school, local educators say.

So Hoover Street and Esperanza elementary schools are enlisting parents and other members of the community in campaigns to protect students who must walk past drug dealers, panhandlers and cigarette and liquor advertisements at convenience stores.

“Schools are realizing that it’s not enough just to say ‘no’ to drugs and liquor if you have stores advertising liquor and you see drug dealers selling on the street every day,” said Isabel Vazquez, a Hoover Street teacher and coordinator of the Hoover Parent Center.

Hoover Street’s strategy is two-fold: encourage parents to volunteer for safety patrols around the school and persuade store owners to do business more responsibly.

Four parents have already volunteered for the morning patrols and have even made their own red vests with “Hoover Security” written on the back, Vazquez said. More volunteers are needed to establish afternoon patrols.

Teachers and parents are also lobbying store owners to put up “no loitering” signs, install better lighting, remove graffiti from their stores, and refrain from stocking fortified wines or selling single cigarettes, which, Vazquez said, encourage loitering.

A community meeting to discuss these matters is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. May 6 at the school, 2726 Francis Ave., Room 41.

Esperanza Principal Rowena Lagrosa is recruiting parents and businesses to help implement a “safe corridors” program for students walking to and from school.

“We need adults to act as guardians for the students,” Lagrosa said. The area around the school contains dozens of bars, pool halls, liquor stores and alleys where drug use and transactions are common.

Some routes to the school at 680 Little Street are better than others, Lagrosa said, so she tells parents and children which streets to avoid.

In addition, the school plans to offer students uniforms in the school’s colors--turquoise, white and gray--to make the students more noticeable in the neighborhood.

Lagrosa is also looking for stores or businesses to volunteer as havens for students who might be in need of assistance.