"Disturbing trend" noted by police chief is downplayed by principal as an increase in staff awareness and action.
By JENNIFER FARRELL
Published November 18, 2003
[Special to the Times]
These weapons were seized at Clearwater High. Arrest numbers this year have been "alarming," Police Chief Sid Klein said.
CLEARWATER - Clearwater High School has seen a dramatic spike in crime, with arrests for the first three months of the school year nearly doubling over the same period last year.
From Aug. 5 to Oct. 31, Clearwater Police made 91 arrests, an average of more than one a day, compared with 47 arrests through Oct. 31, 2002, records show.
In just three months, this year's arrests are approaching half of 2002's total 209.
The arrests included charges for lewd and lascivious conduct, battery, burglary, child abuse, and disorderly conduct, according to Police Chief Sid Klein, and several weapons have been seized. Students were also arrested for drug offenses - cocaine, marijuana and prescription drug possession - as well as resisting arrest, theft, school disruption and trespassing, he said.
On Sept. 10, one student was arrested, and later expelled, for bringing a homemade bomb to school. The bomb was found in a student's car and was strong enough "to blow your hand off," police said.
The day before, seven students were arrested in gang-related fights.
To help combat the problem, city and county officials have agreed to assign a second school resource officer from the Clearwater Police Department to the campus on Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard.
Klein sent an extra officer to the school in September after noticing an increase in crimes involving violence. But he pushed the school board to kick in, too. Under an agreement expected to be approved Thursday by city commissioners, the school board will contribute $26,484 toward the $35,312 cost for the officer's salary and benefits through the end of the school year.
But the agreement is temporary; there is no guarantee the officer will return next year. Calling the arrest numbers, "alarming," Klein is pressing for a long-term deal.
"They show a very disturbing trend," he said. "I'm hoping the school system will step up to the plate and recognize they need to fund this permanently."
On Monday afternoon, Clearwater High principal Nick Grasso downplayed the arrest statistics, saying numbers don't tell the whole story.
"The last thing we want is to make Clearwater High not look like a good school," he said. "People here do an awful lot to keep it a great school."
Grasso said the arrest numbers could reflect the strong connection staff has with the student body.
"It's not that things are going wrong," he said. "We are being made more aware of things, and we're acting on it."
Police pointed to an influx of new students after the county's school choice plan was implemented as a possible cause for increased tension.
"The choice plan has brought in different kids," said school resource officer Christian Zarra. "You put them all in the same area and things are going to happen, just like you have in the street."
In January, school officials are preparing for Oak Grove Middle School to move its students nearby, to 56 portable classrooms set up on Druid Road, at the back side of Clearwater High's campus. The relocation is expected to last up to two years while Oak Grove is rebuilt.
Zarra said school and law enforcement officials will take steps to make sure high school and middle school students don't mix. He blamed a tiny portion of the Clearwater High student body, just 1 percent to 2 percent, for causing most of the problems.
"It always turns out to be the same kids," Zarra said.
Grasso said school administrators have not identified specific causes for the increase in arrests.
"From time to time," he said, "some students, they have their share of conflicts."
