RESEDA : High School’s Anti-Violence Efforts Praised

The national spotlight is again focused on the hallways and classrooms of Reseda High School, but this time for a good reason.

From the “Donahue” show to the “NBC Nightly News,” the school is gaining fame for its unique anti-crime program launched last year in the wake of the shooting death of a 17-year-old student.

“We turned a bad thing into a positive thing,” said Koroush Mohajeri, member of Weapons Are Removed Now or WARN, a school group that aims to persuade peers and younger students to break the code of silence if someone they know has a gun.

WARN members say the death of Michael Ensley at the school in February, 1993, was a wake-up call--some students knew that his killer had a gun before the shooting and said nothing. Since the group’s inception, it has performed anti-violence skits for politicians, appeared on local news and national shows, and prompted calls from schools across the country interested in starting similar programs.

On Thursday, teacher Jay Shaffer, who started WARN; the school’s principal, Robert Kladifko, and two members of the group were in New York City for the taping of Donahue’s show. Linked by satellite to New York, four WARN members in a Reseda classroom performed one of the skits they use to show younger children the dangers of weapons on campus.

The New York audience, filled mostly with students from local schools, asked the in-studio Reseda guests questions on topics ranging from dress codes to the random use of a metal detector on campus. Also mentioned was the fact that the school was one of the first in the Los Angeles Unified School District to ban baggy pants and institute an anti-graffiti program that paid students to inform administrators of tagging on campus.

A few students in the audience said WARN would not end violence on their campuses in New York because students there wouldn’t tell on their peers, out of loyalty to them or fear of retaliation.

Afterward, students at Reseda High who watched the taping via the satellite link strongly defended WARN.

“We’re trying to help,” senior Farhad Yazdani said. “WARN is the first step; nobody said it’s going to solve the problem.”

The taped program will air in May.