Locals linked to gun activity

School: Gang issues result in expulsions

Springdale school officials are aware of at least five students who are linked to gang-related shootings that have taken place since March, a deputy superintendent said.

Twelve students have been expelled for issues related to gangs or gang-related activity since the start of this school year, said Jared Cleveland, deputy superintendent for personnel who also handles student discipline. Eight were students of Springdale High School, one of Har-Ber High School and the remaining three were junior high students.

“That’s difficult for me personally,” Cleveland said.

“I have to deal with some very severe instances. Sometimes it just breaks your heart. I love these kids. I want to save every one.”

Some of expulsions began prior to changes the Springdale School Board made Sept. 8 to its disciplinary policy on gangs and gang-related activity. Students identified or arrested for gang-related activities outside of school now are subject to the same disciplinary actions as if they had occurred on school grounds. The policy now applies to social media, such as videos posted on YouTube or threats on Facebook.

Penalties include counseling, calls to parents, informing law enforcement or placing a student in an alternative or home-bound setting. The maximum penalty is expulsion.

Since the policy was updated, two Springdale High School students have been placed in alternative settings, Cleveland said.

The changes were intended to give principals options for personalizing discipline to draw students away from gangs, Cleveland said.

“We don’t just troll the Internet all the time,” he said. “They’ll hear something from someone and begin to check up. We try to counsel kids all we can.”

Cleveland would not identify students who have been expelled because of federal student privacy laws, he said. He said students who are expelled are still considered students of Springdale School District.

Teenagers police have identified and arrested this year in connection with gang-related crimes who are listed as students of Springdale School District students are Jose Delatorre, Rodolfo Martinez, Cristofer Nicasio and Octavio Soltero, Cleveland said. Another teenager, Hector Saul Ramos, was a student last school year, Cleveland said.

Fabian Rodriguez, who was killed at age 18 in March in a gang-related shooting, also was a student, Cleveland said.

Some students are fascinated by gang culture because of what they see on social media, in music and in clothing, but that doesn’t mean they are part of a gang or being pressured to join a gang, said Southwest Junior High School Principal Shannon Tisher.

“If we’re aware of things going on on social media or over the weekend, it gives us the opportunity to be proactive,” Tisher said. “We just start conversations and counseling.”

Springdale High School Principal Pete Joenks said the policy changes respond to a concern about school safety. Students were informed of the changes during their advisory classes, he said.

“If we can get to a kid and take a student we’re worried about falling into this situation, we can start working with the child and parent,” Joenks said.

Some students unfortunately make poor choices, Joenks said. When it’s best to separate, Joenks hopes students learn from their choices, return to school after serving the expulsion and become productive students.

The expulsions last for a year, Cleveland said. When an expulsion ends, school officials evaluate the student and create an educational plan. After a full year, the student would be behind and could be placed in an alternative education setting or a homebound setting.

“We have to have safety and educational places for each of those children,” Cleveland said.

Ramos, 17, is charged with shooting Fabian Rodriguez and two other people, both of whom survived. He pleaded not guilty March 17. Police have said Ramos and Nicasio are being held in the Washington County Juvenile Detention Center, but juvenile detention would not answer questions about its detainees.

Delatorre, 18, and Martinez, 18, are among three men charged with accomplice to capital murder in the driveby shooting death of Jimmy Rodriguez, 20, on April 11 at 609 Savage St. Police have said the men mistakenly shot Jimmy Rodriguez while looking for a member of a gang known as Wicked Brown Suspects.

They have pleaded not guilty. They are being held at the Washington County Detention Center. Their trial is set for Jan. 13.

Nicasio was arrested in connection with attempted murder in an Aug. 19 shooting near Springdale High School in which a 16-year-old was shot three times, but survived, according to a police accounts and a police report. Nicasio has pleaded not guilty.

In separate interviews with police, both students told police the shooting stemmed from an earlier incident at school when one student saw the other student staring at him, and one student suggested they fight, according to the police report. The student who was shot worried the other student might have a weapon. The shooter told police he thought he was going to “get jumped” by several other males and pulled the gun out of his waistband and started shooting, according to the police report.

Others interviewed as part of the investigation told police the gun came from George Ceja, a leader of the “WBS” gang, according to the police report. Ceja also was arrested by police in connection with crimes related to guns and firearms.

In June, a 14-year-old was shot and injured while riding a bicycle near Marylyn Street and Crawford Avenue. Jose Yanez, 18, of Rogers and Hector Vega, 20, of Lowell were arrested on charges of attempted capital murder and engaging in gang activity on July 1 in connection with the shooting. The shooting was connected to a chance encounter between “rival gangs” at a nearby Kum & Go convenience store at 1010 N. Thompson St.

The day of the shooting, police arrested Soltero, who police saw running with another boy near the store just after the fight, according to an arrest report. The two were not involved in the shooting, but a police report from the shooting identifies Soltero as being a member of a “TLS” gang and a participant in the fight, along with Yanez and Vega, who were identified with the “WBS” gang, according to a police report.

On Aug. 16, a 42-year-old man, David Maddison of Springdale, and Soltero, 18, were wounded in gunfire near 1101 N. Pleasant St., said Springdale Police Lt. Derek Wright. They previously had not been identified.

No arrests have been made in that case. At the time of the shooting, police said the 18-year-old had a connection to local gangs, but the 42-year-old did not.