Willow Glen Resident

News

Parents confident about homecoming dance security, despite chemical bomb incident

By Stephen Baxter

News of a homemade bottle bomb lobbed outside Pioneer High School's homecoming dance on Oct. 13 rippled through other San Jose schools in recent days, but many parents say they have confidence in security measures at school events.

Members of parents clubs at Willow Glen, Lincoln and Pioneer high schools said school administrators and police at dances normally check student IDs and lists of approved guests at the door. The two boys suspected of tossing the chlorine bomb outside the Pioneer dance were not invited and never came in, school officials said.

A San Jose Unified School District spokeswoman said policies would not change at dances, but parents who chaperone dances said they would be more vigilant, a timely response with Willow Glen High School's big homecoming weekend and dance on Oct. 27.

The dance will be in the gymnasium from 8 to 11 p.m., and like all dances, at least six parent chaperones and other school officials will be present.

"I'm one of those parents who really worries," said Diane Moran, whose twin daughters are seniors at Willow Glen High. "But when it comes to school functions at Willow Glen, I have the utmost respect for the principal and the staff."

The boys accused of throwing the bomb attend Bellarmine College Preparatory and are ages 16 and 17, prosecutors said.

On Oct. 17, they were charged with one count of throwing a destructive device and three felony counts of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury. Their names have not been released because they are minors, however both are juniors at the elite all-boys private school.

Bellarmine school officials would not comment on the incident.

Santa Cruz County Superior Judge John Salazar ordered the teens to stay at juvenile hall until their next court appearance. The case is not being heard in Santa Clara County court because a court commissioner is related to one of the boys.

Karen Fuqua, a spokeswoman for San Jose Unified, said administrators at Pioneer responded appropriately to the incident and that no further precautions at dances would be taken.

At about 9 p.m., a plastic bottle filled with chlorine and other chemicals was tossed at a patio where students were gathered outside Pioneer's homecoming dance, Fuqua said. The bottle detonated but no one was injured, and staff members chased the boys but couldn't catch them. Descriptions were given to authorities.

Some parents at Lincoln High said chatter has been swirling about the case and its implications.

"The odds are that nothing's going to happen [at future dances], but maybe it's a good wake-up call that this happened," said Amy Sporer Schiff, parent of a sophomore at Lincoln High. She is also vice president for activities in the school's Parent Teacher Student Association.

"It's hard when you have teenagers. You want to pay attention to what they're doing, but you also want to give them freedom," she said. She and several other mothers from Willow Glen and Pioneer high schools said security is usually tight at school events.

Sporer Schiff and about 20 other parents attended a meeting on Oct. 18 with police and school officials at the San Jose Unified School District office on Lenzen Avenue.

Officials at the monthly brown-bag meeting assured parents that events are safe. Knowing where children are often keeps them out of trouble, parents said.