Lincoln Heights school on lockdown for rest of year

A rash of daytime violence around Lincoln Heights Elementary School has prompted a lockdown through the end of the school year and has some worried the school may permanently close.

School officials sent a letter home to parents this week explaining the decision. The lockdown began Wednesday following a school board decision Monday night. The school year ends June 2.

It came about a week after two people were shot nearby at Behles and Leggett avenues. That mid-morning gunfire occurred just a few months after a random bullet soared into the back window of an empty school bus at a middle school stop, lodging in the front of the bus next to the driver's head, said Princeton City Schools Superintendent Gary Pack.

In August, right after the school year began, a young child was shot inside a vehicle, he said.

"We feel that it is necessary due to the continued random shootings in the neighborhood and the fact that bullets don't have eyes," Pack said. "Those are continuing to happen in the village, and they are happening during the day when school is in session."

The lockdown eliminates recess and extracurricular activities for the school's 200 students in preschool through fifth grade. Visitors must be buzzed in at the main entrance.

"We must ensure the safety and security of all students, visitors and staff," the school's principal wrote in the letter to parents. "Please be aware that the violent acts within the community are random, and still occurring with some frequency."

District officials have asked Lincoln Heights village leaders to step up patrols around the school and supply a school resource officer to walk the halls. If that is not approved, the school district plans to ask the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office to do it.

"We are trying to do our best to finish the school year and keep folks as safe as we can under the circumstances," Pack said, adding that the school's 20 staff members also have expressed concern for their safety as they drive in and out of the village.

Lincoln Heights Police Chief Conroy Chance declined an interview request from The Enquirer and referred questions to Village Manager Stephanie Summerow Dumas. She said school officials are unhappy with the time it takes officers to notify them of nearby shootings.

"Part of the justification for the school was that we don't respond quick enough, we don't call quick enough, but that's not true," she said. "There's no benefit for us to not call right away."

Parents and community members attended a meeting Friday afternoon at the Lincoln Heights Municipal Building to discuss the situation. One possible solution discussed was to shut the school down all together and distribute the kids among neighboring elementary schools, but residents do not consider this a valid option.

"They're getting ready to sign petitions and let the board members know they don't want the school closed," Dumas said.

Neema Coleman has lived in Lincoln Heights most of her life. She attended Lincoln Heights Elementary School and has two children, David, 8, and Shekinyah, 4, who attend it now. She walks her kids to school every day and does not want them to have to leave the community for school.

"They've been talking about closing Lincoln Heights for two or three years now," she said as she walked David home from school Friday. "It started in a little ball, and now it's just erupted."

Coleman said the school has some security measures. There are cameras inside and outside the building, and she has to sign in and out every day when dropping off and picking up her kids from school.

"Everybody in Lincoln Heights school is doing what they have to do," she said. "They make sure those kids are safe and well during school hours.

"All they want is help from the police. If they had that, Lincoln Heights would be a safe school."

Dumas said the police department would not release any crime statistics until after the school board made a decision next week, but she said police presence had increased in the past two years.

"We're willing to provide what they need, but i don't know what the agenda is," she said.

Princeton school board members plan to meet again Monday at 6 p.m. to discuss the next steps.