KCAL Investigates: Stabbing that went unreported for hours raises concerns about school safety
The recent rash of violence at Van Nuys High, where two students were stabbed on Wednesday, has placed safety within the Los Angeles Unified School District at the top of many minds this fall.
However, at yet another LAUSD school, there was another stabbing and how that one was dealt with is also causing concern.
The principal of the school, politician overseeing the district and police chief have all been reluctant or refused to speak to KCAL News after this stabbing was caught on the first day of class.
Some sources have told KCAL News that this stabbing went unreported for nearly an entire day — neither school police nor LAUSD police were called right away.
It began on the first day of class during a lunchtime brawl at Polytechnic Senior High School that was caught on camera. In the confusion of the punching and kicking, a student was stabbed. Moments later, in the video, you can see something witnesses say was possibly a screwdriver in another student's hand.
However, despite it happening on campus, the video and five stab wounds — one at least two inches long — the victim's mother was further hurt after she said no one immediately called police.
"I was thinking of going to the police station, but I didn't have the name," the mother said in Spanish. "They didn't want to give me the name. I couldn't do anything. So, I had to wait until the next day."
She said police were called nearly 24 hours later.
"I wanted to report it the first day, but they told me that they had to investigate to see which boy it was that was carrying the weapon," the mother said.
Even though the victim's injuries were not life-threatening, more than 20 years of school police experience tells Officer Gil Gamez this was deadly serious.
"Immediately, it should've been reported," said Gamez. "You had a victim of a crime."
Gamez said the apparent lack of officers, adults or supervision is a significant issue.
"I'd be outraged," he said. "Of course, it could've been worse. Of course, they could've been killed."
When KCAL News asked Polytechnic's principal, Walter Rich, he referred us to his operations team and did not answer any questions.
Additionally, our call to LAUSD was not immediately returned, leading Gamez to believe there may have been a cover-up.
LAUSD's reporting of public information has been generally lacking, too. It took KCAL News months to uncover crime data from 2021 through December 2022. However, the information obtained showed six assaults with a deadly weapon, eighter batteries and two fighting calls, all at Polytechnic Senior High.
Now, more than a year later, the district has still failed to produce the complete records of those incidents. When KCAL News' attorney pointed out that LAUSD completely ignored its own deadline, the district responded by giving us a new, even later, deadline.
We've brought this issue to Superintendent Alberto Carvalho on other requests.
"Anything that's publicly available should be made," said Carvalho.
However, the district has not released LAUSD's current crime data, which we requested nearly two months ago. But, according to new public statements, on-campus crime has almost doubled.
"Actually, pretty significant, almost a 200% increase in crimes on campus," said LAUSD Police Chief Steven Zipperman.
The police chief had little to say about campus crime rising, as well as the allegations of a cover-up.
"I'm aware of an incident that happened on that campus," said Zipperman. "I am not privy to how long it took them to call."
Regarding the allegation that it took about 24 hours to inform police, he said:
"I'm sure if that's the case that it will be handled by school administration for proper training."
He added that "it should be concerning for anybody."
In just the past few months, we've uncovered a brutal fight, shooting and stabbing that happened during the first months of this school year in Board Member Kelly Gonez's district. Her district has had the most fighting and physical aggression, with 118 incidents, according to LAUSD's data.
"I'm not supportive of schools' ability to opt-in to have a police presence on campus," said Gonez.
This happened after Gonez helped defund school police, cutting its budget by nearly 20% and its officers by 33%.
"This is a direct result because of this," said Gamez.
Gonez also appeared to have difficulty acknowledging the problem when confronted by parents. Now, they want more help protecting their children and solving this problem.
"I don't like the school. It's not safe," said the Polytechnic High victim. "I want the police to come back."
The police union, which officer Gil Gamez speaks for, also wants officers permanently back on campus. They believe this stabbing may have been prevented or could have been mitigated if there was an officer there at that school.
We gave Chief Zipperman, Superintendent Carvalho, Board Member Kelly Gonez and the entire district several opportunities to speak with us. Still, none of them would sit down and answer our questions — or parents' questions on camera.
When asked, LAUSD spokesperson Shannon Haber didn't give us a single example of when Carvalho has spoken publicly about the rise in crime. However, she did send KCAL News a vague statement about how the District takes "immediate steps" to address incidents, but she did not answer any of our specific questions.
"We are disturbed by any act of violence that impacts our school communities and we recognize that the safety of our students relies on a collaborative approach among the District, our schools, local law enforcement, community organizations and families. Los Angeles Unified remains steadfast in our commitment to promote the safety of our students on campus and in our school communities," Haber said in the statement.
Haber added that the District immediately meets with school and law enforcement officials to help communities affected by violence.
"When conflict arises between students, the school engages in restorative practices to foster mutual respect and understanding. When appropriate, the school may also implement the District's discipline procedures, which may include other means of correction, suspension and expulsion," she added.
If any incident happens off-campus, the district claims that they continue their collaborative relationship with law enforcement and community leaders to help protect students.
After the recent stabbing at Van Nuys High School, Carvalho said schools can now temporarily request police. However, the union said those temporary requests have always been an option that doesn't really address the serious issue.
