Tuesday, March 27, 2001

By Mark Oliva, Okinawa bureau

Mark Oliva / Stars and Stripes Kubasaki High School recently received bomb threats, the most serious school violence issue to surface at base schools in the Pacific. But despite growing fears of gun violence at school in public schools in the U.S., students feel safe at base schools.

CAMP FOSTER — Andrew Ward considers himself fortunate to go to a base school on Okinawa. Schools are behind fences, gate guards limit access and guns are unheard of.

HIs worries are more trivial, such as getting to his after-school job on time.

"I never really thought about school violence until Columbine," the 17-year-old Kubasaki High School senior said.

But even Ward admitted the latest violence at schools in San Diego County, Calif., hit home. Shots rang out Thursday at Granite Hills High School in El Cajon, Calif. The school shooting is the second in less than three weeks and within the shadow of bases Ward knows his Marine father could have been stationed.

"It would be a concern in an area like that," he said.

Jason Hoffman, the alleged gunman, was wounded by police after shooting and injuring two teachers and three students with a shotgun and pistol.

The shooting comes about three weeks after Andy Williams, 15, opened fire and killed two classmates and wounded 13 others March 5 at Santana High School in Santee, Calif. Granite Hills High School is six miles from Santana High School.

Williams’ father, Jeff, works at San Diego’s Naval Medical Center as a civilian technician. Before moving to Santee, the Williamses lived in Twentynine Palms, Calif., with Andy’s grandfather, a retired Marine. Twentynine Palms is home to a sprawling Marine base.

The day after the fatal Santee shooting, two teens in Twentynine Palms were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit murder after authorities found a "hit list" of 16 students in one of their homes and a rifle in another.

But the news is particularly disturbing to the military because shootings are happening in areas with significant military populations and likely to be attended by military families. Both Santee and El Cajon are within 15 miles of Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, and within 30 miles of several other military bases, including Naval Station San Diego. In all, the military maintains 10 separate bases inside San Diego County. No on-base schools exist in Southern California.

Could it happen here?

Even Pacific school officials admit area schools are vulnerable to the threat of violence. Kubasaki High School received back-to-back bomb threats March 15 and 16. Searches by military police turned up nothing, but prompted school Principal Tim Kilkenny to ask administrators to review school safety initiatives.

"We’re very serious about school safety," he said in the wake of the threats. "We’ll have to sit down and take a careful review of safety and security policies in general."

Military police still are investigating the bomb threats against Kubasaki, which are not the first to force school evacuations.

One Yokosuka teen was expelled from Japan after bomb threats caused chaos at base schools there more than a year ago. About the same time, a series of bomb threats disrupted classes in Department of Defense Dependents Schools in South Korea.

Ward chalks up threats against his school to malcontent students.

"Most of the time it’s the kids who don’t want to be here," he explained. "The first day, it was cool to get out of class. The second day, it sucked. [Administrators] threatened to take away spring break."

Safe Schools

Safety is a burning issue for DODDS, despite fences and gates. Two years ago officials started a Safe Schools initiative aimed at "increasing the capacity of area principals and school and community members to identify problems that threaten school safety and security," said Dr. Steven Bloom, assistant deputy director for DODDS-Pacific.

"Our schools work with the military commands and [base] agencies to develop the Crisis [Intervention] Plan and address issues and develop responses to any event that might threaten the safety of our students," Bloom said.

The crisis plan provides staff checklists for various crises and identifies staff roles and responsibilities.

But Safe Schools is more than plans and checklists.

The initiative teams educators with military police, school psychologists and base officials to recognize the signs of violence and ways to step in.

"At Kadena High School we have a committee of administrators, counselors, school psychologists and the nurse who meet weekly to look at a wide variety of behaviors," said Principal Debby Berry.

"We discuss students who are showing signs of depression, change of grades, erratic behaviors, classroom change of behaviors. We look at the tempo of the student population and listen when students come forward with concerns about violence, and classroom teacher observations of student comments, student journals, discussions and actions."

School officials can levy a variety of measures against students suspected or involved in violent acts. They include counseling, suspensio, commanders declaring the child "persona non grata" and expelling them from overseas bases.

Student feels no threat

But after threats and scares, Kubasaki High School student Ward finds base school on Okinawa safer than most public schools in the States

"There’s not much of an element of violence here," Ward added. "You can’t go and get a gun on the island."

He said the gravity of the issue is becoming more apparent. Gun lectures weren’t always a part of his studies.

"Teachers bring it up every now and then," Ward said. "They tell you to get under the table, lock the doors and be quiet. It’s not a joke anymore. Anyone caught joking is automatically busted."

The Associated Press and Steve Liewer contributed to this report.

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