By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
March 30, 2011

“I’m so excited to see all these people to solve some of the problems we have in this neighborhood,” James Elementary School Principal Jo Nemeth said.

Nemeth addressed the more than 40 attendees during the March 24 Safe Schools Program Community Forum at James Elementary library.

Safe Schools selected James Elementary for its pilot project to create a 2,000-foot safe zone around schools in Kansas City’s urban core and address community concerns.

Four-hundred forty students attend James Elementary, Nemeth said, and a major concern is attendance.

Everyone must work together to address this issue, she said, which will allow faculty to make more progress.

“The neighborhood is so important for everybody; that is why we are here tonight,” James Elementary Vice Principal Manuel Solano said. “We need and we are looking for solutions. Many of the things we have been researching point to things like if we let a neighborhood go down, we let the school go down.”

If citizens don’t invest in the school and neighborhood, it creates a ripple effect in which property values decline and the crime rate increases, he continued.

“That is not what we want to happen,” he said.

Amber Trzinski, event organizer and neighborhood attorney for Legal Aid of Western Missouri, stressed that creating a 2,000-foot safe zone around James isn’t solely for students.

“We’re trying to create a safe zone for you, a safe zone for your kids and a safe zone for everyone who comes around James Elementary,” she said.

Trzinski divided attendees into small groups and Safe Schools representatives addressed each group, asking questions related to safety concerns and neighborhood issues.

One group cited their disgust with graffiti, abandoned houses, arson and trash.

“People feel they can come up and mark property that’s not theirs,” Northeast resident Bettie Jeffrey said. “I feel bad for the people who don’t take it off immediately because that’s like saying, ‘It’s okay,’ and it’s not.

“You need to let them know they don’t have your neighborhood.”

Another resident added, “In my block, after a while, you don’t have to worry about it because they burn them (abandoned buildings) down.”

Following the forum, Northeast News interviewed Nemeth, who said graffiti has also affected James Elementary. During this school year, the school has removed graffiti from the building on three separate occasions, she said.

Another issue is ensuring her students walk to and from school safely, she said. In her small group, some cited concerns over loose dogs and fast moving traffic, she said.

Students also need to practice crossing the street safely and walking the safest route home, she said.

Major Anthony Ell, division commander with Kansas City Police Department’s East Patrol, attended the meeting and said concerns he heard revolved around abandoned homes, blight, speeding cars, drug activity, prostitution, among others.

As citizens listed concerns, however, they expressed avenues in which they could help the police department like volunteering as crossing guards, being active in Neighborhood Watch and their neighborhood organizations.

The next step, he said, is to look at the neighborhood concerns in more depth and find solutions.

“What are some of the things we can do as a police department and how can the community help? What role does City Hall play?” Ell said. “It’s very informative sitting there with the residents and listening to what’s going on.”

Nemeth agreed.

“I think this meeting is so powerful because it’s bringing together neighbors from different sections of the Indian Mound Neighborhood – parents, staff, agency representatives, youth – all in the same meeting to talk about from a variety of perspectives how they can collectively begin to re-imagine what this neighborhood should and could be,” Nemeth said.

Nemeth commended the diverse partnership for the new program, which includes the Kansas City Police Department, Don Bosco, Indian Mound Neighborhood Association, KC Metropolitan Crime Commission, Newhouse, Mattie Rhodes, among others.

Ell added that the success at James Elementary will later spread to other schools.

“If we can be successful in the area that’s established around James, then you can expand from the next school to the next school and from neighborhood to neighborhood and so on,” he said. “And if you’re successful, in a matter of time the entire Northeast becomes a better place.”

Above: A Safe Schools representative leads a small group discussion during the Safe Schools meeting at James Elementary March 24. The goal is to create a safe zone around James Elementary and address neighborhood safety concerns. The next Safe Schools meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 7, at the James Elementary School Library, 5810 Scarritt. The April 7 meeting will focus on solutions to community concerns. Leslie Collins