SOUTH OZONE PARK, Queens (PIX11) — PIX11’s Howard Thompson has an update on the situation in South Ozone Park where rampaging teens have become a fairly common occurrence.
They get out of IS 226, The Virgil I. Grissom School, and the fireworks start. It happened Thursday, across the street from New Era Lumber. PIX11 now has some surveillance camera video.
New Era is the store where dozens of junior high marauders invaded on April 28th. They were chasing a classmate who took refuge there. At least one employee was assaulted as he and others tried to get the kids out of the store.
The NYPD didn’t respond to our official inquiry. When we called the school to speak with Principal Rushell White, we were told to contact the Dept. of Education. We did. We asked one question:
“What, if anything, the school is doing now to control the students?”
“Our borough safety director has been working with the school. And we continue to work with school safety division and the local precinct,” was the Dept. of Education’s response.
When we called for IS 226 Principal Rushell White Friday, we just wanted to confirm what the folks at New Era told us. That is, that the principal visited the store. She apologized and said she’d pursue suspension hearings for kids involved in the melee.
After the woman who answered the phone told us to contact the DOE, she hung up. We called back. She hung up again. We called again. This time she repeated the bit about calling the DOE, refused to provide her name and hung up.
Late Friday evening we received a response to our follow-up question to the DOE. What are they doing to control the students?
“We are working with the school and local precinct to address incidents following dismissal. “
