Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco called school administrators from across the Coachella Valley together Thursday for a first-of-its-kind anti-gang summit.

Pacheco and his staff wrapped up a series of three sessions called “Say No to Gangs” Thursday evening with a meeting of about 30 school administrators at College of the Desert in Palm Desert.

During the two-hour presentation, the district attorney's office informed the administrators about gang symbols from the 25 gangs active in the Coachella Valley, discussed the state statutes used to prosecute gang members and offered to help customize anti-gang campaigns within area schools.

“Some of these kids we're just not going to save. It's not possible,” Pacheco said. “But we can get these numbers way down, and we can prevent this county from being overrun like Los Angeles County.”

The anti-gang campaign, which Pacheco hopes will become an annual event marked each November, began earlier this month.

Stephanie Garthwaite, executive officer of the district attorney's office, said she wants to “plant the seed” for collaborative efforts and establish working relationships between the schools and district attorney's office.

“We want to stand up and say we're not going to tolerate this anymore,” Garthwaite said.

Summit leaders said 22 to 25 gangs are already active in the Coachella Valley. Census estimates show the population of the county will swell by 2015, and with that can come more gang activity, they said.

“Our kids are not getting the message,” said Gerry Lopez, deputy district attorney.

“We have to do a much, much better job of really communicating with our students that the gang life is all a big illusion.”

Michael Wong, student assistance program supervisor for the Palm Springs Unified School District, was eager to invite the district attorney staff for a meeting to customize anti-gang efforts in his district.

“We have to work hand-in-hand to help the kids,” he said.

The summit will continue with presentations to Coachella Valley students and parents on Nov. 17. It will begin at 4:30 p.m. at the Indio Teen Center, 81-678 Avenue 46. It is free and open to the public. Call (951) 955-8398, or e-mail events@rivcoda.org to RSVP.