Last month three fourth-grade boys were suspended from Vae View Elementary in the most visible exercise of gang activity in Davis County elementary schools to date.
Using as examples movies depicting gang activity such as "Colors," and possibly influenced by older boys, the 9- and 10-year-olds apparently decided to start their own gang, officials said."It was the video or TV that all three boys indicated influenced them," principal Kent Beckman said.
On April 1, the boys rounded up six classmates who were interested in joining the gang and retired to the boys bathroom to "jump them in." The six were jumped in over different recess and lunch times.
Jumping someone into a gang means, basically, beating them up. If the prospective member takes the punishment like a man, he's in.
"It shows they want to be in the gang bad enough to take a licking," said David Turner, one of the school district officials who regularly deals with gang activity. "They were literally in the bathroom beating the crap out of them."
As in most gangs, the ritual had guidelines set ahead of time. It lasted exactly 20 seconds, and the prospective member was allowed to face the wall and put his arms in protective position around his neck while the three instigators hit and kicked his back and legs.
None of the six boys was hurt badly enough to go to the hospital, said Charlie Nelson, chairman of the case management team over the incident.
A parent of one of the six boys told Beckman of the incident that night, and it was investigated the next day. All of the parents were eager to cooperate, Beckman said.
"Everyone involved saw that this was potentially a big problem that was nipped in the bud," he said. "We feel very lucky."
Taking their youth into account, the three instigators were given three-day suspensions and a continuing disciplinary plan whereby they have to meet with school officials weekly to monitor their progress. None of the six was punished.
"Instead of turning it into a big punitive thing we tried to talk to them," Turner said.
Although similar incidents have occurred in Davis secondary schools, most recently in North Layton Junior High and North-ridge High, "this is the biggest deal I know about" at the elementary level, Turner said.
Layton police officer Andrew Fresh, part of the city's two-man gang unit, said gang involvement in the county is starting at earlier ages than ever before. He conducted a gang awareness night May 1 at Vae View after the incident. Sixty people attended.
Educators had previously seen gang activity in Davis elementary schools, but more along the lines of displaying gang colors and clothing rather than violent activities, Turner said.
"There are a lot of wannabes trying to be cool," he said.
Even those kinds of things, however, have decreased recently as the district has cracked down on gang activity. Especially with the passage of the recent hazing policy, educators say they are attuned to gang-type practices. Thus, while a student might display a gang-related bandanna, it would be peeking out of his jacket pocket rather than boldly wrapped around his head.
"We've hammered them so hard that they'll say they're not in a gang," Turner said. "Their visibility is reduced - they're being very low-key."
David Doty, the district's assistant to the superintendent for policy and school law, said the "jumping in" incident likely was an aberration. Nevertheless, educators need to be aware of such activities at increasingly young ages.
"We haven't seen it become a widespread concern, but it certainly is a growing problem," he said.
Fresh estimates that some 700 Davis County residents are involved in gangs, including 200 who are very active. That's down 500 from the estimated 1,200 gang members of a few years ago.