Northeast student hangout angers neighbors, school says solution is working together
The corner of 64th and Holdrege has been a hang-out for Northeast students for decades, area residents said.
“It’s where I hang out, basically if I have nowhere to go I’m usually here to hang out with friends,” a Northeast High School junior said.
But those students’ lunch spots are right next to many neighbors who aren’t happy.
“We get 20 kids over lunches and that’s all the lunches and the group gets so big that they stand in the street and won’t let people pass,” Stephanie said.
She said there’s been property damage over the years as well.
“Throwing trash, garbage and cups on the ground, cigarette buts on the ground and all over the street,” said Bob Kirkpatrick who’s lived at 63rd and Huntington since the 1980’s.
School officials said they aren’t blind to this problem, and students said it’s just a few of them who are disruptive.
“We understand their concerns,” a student said.
“We try and tell people they want the music quieter we don’t want to disturb the neighbors, we try to do our best but we can’t control everybody.”
In effort to open up lines of communication and set better expectations, last year Northeast High School brought in mediator Mike Renn from the LPS District Office.
“Neighbors were talking to the school or police but not the kids, and the kids were hearing from the school or police but not neighbors,” Renn said.
He said once those lines of communication opened up and students better understood what the neighbors were experiencing, and vice versa, things got better. Kirkpatrick agrees. He said he’s seen students sweeping up the street and helping neighbors first-hand.
“With talking to them, it’s getting better,” Kirkpatrick said.
Renn said they tried to set expectations together.
“Students came up with alternatives, trying to get people off the street, stay on the sidewalk, pick up things when they leave,” Renn said.
In addition to encouraging both sides to be generally friendlier, and more open to one another.
For some residents, like Stephanie, this isn’t enough.
“We’ve been through so much, and us neighbors want to know why nothing is being done,” she said.
She’s asking for in-school suspension so students can’t be outside. The principal of the school, Keri Applebee, said this wouldn’t be a good approach because students aren’t breaking the rules. She can’t force kids to go to class, and upperclassmen are allowed to leave during lunch. Northeast School Resource Officer Ryan Duncan echoed her concerns, he said he monitors the corner and tries to build relationships with the students instead of punishing them.
Stephanie said she’ll be going to a city council meeting this month with another idea.
“No parking from N. 66th, that’s Cotner, to 63rd and from Leighton to Huntington,” she said.
She said if they do that, officers can ticket or tow students away from the neighborhood. Kirkpatrick was worried that’d just move the problem to somebody else’s front yard. Renn said this isn’t about who is right or wrong, or about punishments.
“It’s about having that civil discourse,” Renn said. “We may not agree with each other but we have to co–exist.”
Renn will continue to hold meetings between neighbors and students. He hopes to get more students on board to help push those expectations further.
To find out when that meeting is, call Northeast High School at 402-436-1303 and ask for School Resource Officer Duncan.If you live in the Bethany neighborhood and want to attend the city council meeting, Stephanie said she’s proving updates at this website: https://nextdoor.com/neighborhood/bethany–lincoln–ne/
