2007 Colorado Automotive Teachers' Society Convention takes a candid look at high school violence

            Salida, Colo.--Few involved in the daily business of repairing broken cars realize that many Colorado high school vocational programs are now threatened by increasing incidents of violence. For better or worse, student violence was the message delivered to 38 automotive technology teachers attending the 2007 Colorado Automotive Teachers' Society (CATS) Conference held in Salida on March 23. Tragically, the subject was particularly timely in light of the mass murders on April 16, in which a lone student gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Tech before taking his own life.             The annual CATS conference was kicked off at 10 a.m. by CATS President Todd Hetherington welcoming attendees, vendors, and presenters. Ben Nesbit, Colorado SkillsUSA state adviser, followed with details and revisions for the annual SkillsUSA competition held at Colorado State University of Pueblo in April. After soliciting input from attending teachers, Nesbit said that last year's issues regarding sponsors and student participation would be resolved before the 2007 Skills USA contest takes place. Criminologist Richard D. "Dick" Tracy and Mick McCormac of the Buena Vista Correctional Complex Intelligence Department followed Nesbit with a talk on how juvenile and gang violence is affecting high schools, communities, and prisons. Tracy began by covering the motivations of individual students committing high school shootings. Tracy said the shooters typically felt isolated from the school's social mainstream and sought to vent their frustrations in violent, anti-social behavior. Moving into gang violence, Tracy and McCormac said high school gangs are very well organized and formed around a strictly enforced "code of ethics." Gangs also use street slang to conceal their meanings from outsiders, and all use a "moniker" or nickname to conceal their identities, he said. Tracy said some of the graffiti on school buildings are code words identifying locations for criminal activities. The number "420," for example, is painted on corners of buildings to indicate availability of illegal drugs at that location, he said. Most high school gangs are run by adult criminals, many of whom emigrate from drug-trafficking nations in South America, he added. Tracy and McCormac concluded by reviewing how factors like gangster rap music and Internet communications tend to spread the violent, drug-laced culture among vulnerable teenagers. A new influence, for example, is foreign students from terrorist countries importing their own brand of violence onto school grounds, they said. Tracy and McCormac concluded by addressing the similarities between high school and prison environments. Both, for example, are now using metal detectors and armed guards to control violence, they noted. Bob Sidebottom of Automotive Youth Educational Systems (AYES) told the conference, "We have the job openings; all we need are the students." He added that although AYES could easily place 50 students in Colorado, several Colorado automotive technology programs are now on probation for not meeting AYES standards. Ten Colorado high school auto-mechanics programs participate in AYES. Sidebottom said in a later interview that the AYES interns are placed with veteran mentor-technicians who flag the intern's productive hours while paying the intern an hourly wage and providing hands-on instruction. The program is supported by many sponsors such as Snap-on Tools, which sells a $4,000 starter tool set to an intern for about $400. During the afternoon session, Barry Hollembeak from DaimlerChrysler and Dennis Wagner and Tony Schafers from the Ford Automotive Student Service Educational Training (ASSET) program of Southeast Community College in Milford, Neb., updated teachers on light diesel engine technology. Highlights included coverage of the new low-sulfur diesel fuels, basic maintenance requirements, and basic testing. Wagner said that about half of all light trucks sold by Ford are now diesel-powered. The conference concluded with a 2006 business meeting at which new officers were installed and plans made for the coming 2007-08 school year.