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Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009
San Jose Mercury News: Gang rape highlights need for parent involvement
The gang rape of a teenage girl outside a Richmond High School dance last month has become a national outrage, as well it should -- raising questions about the culpability of bystanders who watched and did nothing for more than two hours.
It has forced the immediate community into deep and overdue introspection and perhaps inevitably has led to finger-pointing.
The West Contra Costa Unified School District knew the campus wasn't safe: It had approved, but not implemented, a plan to install new security cameras and fencing. And while school officials thought the police were responsible for patrolling the grounds during the dance, it appears no one bothered to tell the officers that. Equally distressing is there were no parents among the 14 adults at the dance.
Principal Julio Franco says most parents can't volunteer for events because they have other kids to care for at home. Perhaps it took an incident like this to make clear just how badly parents are needed in schools, particularly in light of California's budget cuts.
And over the weekend, in the barren courtyard where a 15-year-old girl leaving her homecoming dance was brutally beaten and raped, floodlights were finally installed.
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