Police Investigating Death Threat Against School Administrator

THOUSAND OAKS —  In another troubling incident on a Ventura County high school campus, an assistant principal at Westlake High School found his office window smashed by a brick and a death threat scrawled on the sidewalk outside his office.

Police on Wednesday were investigating the incident, which the school official blamed on a nonstudent he was to testify against in an assault case.

Joe Pawlick, an assistant principal who also is Westlake’s athletic director, discovered the damage when he came to work Tuesday about 6:15 a.m.

The message sprayed in red paint on the sidewalk said: “Die Pawlick” and the numbers 187--the state penal code for homicide.

Sheriff’s deputies have made no arrests in the case. Although officers say such threats are usually empty, Pawlick’s home has been placed on a 24-hour police patrol.

Pawlick says he has an idea of who sent the chilling message.

In mid-February, he said he intervened when three young men were assaulting Westlake High students at a bus stop on Thousand Oaks Boulevard. He believes they are gang members.

Pawlick said he identified the three in a photo lineup and was to testify against them Tuesday--the same day he found the smashed window and the threatening message. However, the hearing was canceled.

Police would not comment on Pawlick’s theory. However, if Pawlick is right, whoever threatened him could be charged with a felony count of intimidating a witness, authorities said. If it wasn’t retaliation, the person still could be charged on a felony count of threatening a school official.

Sitting in his office with a boarded-up window as his backdrop, Pawlick said many students and staff members have been supportive of him, knowing this must be especially hard for his wife and two children.

“Most kids are angry at this intrusion, that their campus has been violated,” he said.

Pawlick canceled this year’s wrestling season over a hazing incident last December. The move was controversial, but he rejected the idea that the vandals might be Westlake students.

In the last three months, campuses across the county have been hit by violence, often from nonstudents.

“This is a perfect example of community violence spilling over into the schools,” said Ventura County Supt. of Schools Charles Weis. “Ninety-nine-point-five percent of our kids play by the rules, but everyone should have an absolute fear-free environment. Kids shouldn’t have to come to school scared.”

Called to action by recent drive-by shootings, stabbings and beatings at local high schools, Weis is sponsoring a summit on the issue today. School officials, city leaders, police, parents, students and residents are to brainstorm on how to stop violence on campus.

Weis said the forum stems from such incidents as a February gang attack on students in front of Ventura High School and a gang stabbing at Rio Mesa High School in March.

The summit also will address recent vandalism in Conejo Valley schools.

On Monday, a Thousand Oaks High School student, three Westlake High School students, a Los Cerritos Middle School student and a youth from Northridge were arrested on suspicion of spraying graffiti on more than a dozen buildings around Thousand Oaks. The damage, which affected Redwood Middle School, Westlake Elementary School and the former Thousand Oaks city hall, was estimated at $15,000, according to authorities.

A team of Westlake High administrators, including Pawlick, helped the Sheriff’s Department capture the youths. About six weeks ago, Pawlick noticed a symbol on a student’s notebook that was similar to some found in the graffiti spree. He said his tip to deputies helped in Monday’s arrests.