On the first day after Spring Break, attendance at Chicago’s Crane High School remained low and security tight. We report from our West Side bureau.
Police charged a Crane 10th-grader with gunning down a classmate near the school March 7. Since then, many parents have kept their children home from the school amid fears of gang reprisals.
This morning, police and parents escorted a half-dozen students from a public-housing complex called ABLA, where the alleged shooter lived. Those students included three of Michelle Johnson’s kids. She gave them some advice.
JOHNSON: Just have faith, faith in God this morning, and just focus.
A school district official says just more than half of Crane’s 1,400 students attended today. They found more police officers and unusually rigorous weapons screening.
ambi: Screening.
Classes let out this afternoon with about a dozen police cars lined up around the school. ABLA parents say they’ll continue escorting kids to and from Crane as long as necessary.
