Enloe students urged to be wary

Warning follows campus beating

RALEIGH -- Enloe High School students are being warned not to walk alone on campus following the recent beating of a student that has heightened fears among students and parents.

Students need to pay attention to their surroundings at all times and "should never walk alone, anywhere, any time," according to an e-mail alert sent this week by Enloe's Parent-Teacher-Student Association. The e-mail message says gang activity in Wake County is on the rise and Enloe, which had a large gang-related fight earlier this year, is no exception.

"[Gangs] are not an isolated thing," said Adrienne Lumpkin, Enloe's PTSA president, in a phone interview Thursday. "It's not just at Enloe. We're suggesting parents to be aware."

The warning comes at a time when some parents and students say violence at Enloe is getting worse.

"I don't feel completely unsafe at school, but it has been getting worse," said Abbie Swank, 17, a senior. "It wasn't this bad when I first started here."

Enloe draws students from across Wake County who are attracted to the school's many unique academic programs.

Enloe has a magnet program because school officials feel it's needed to keep the school academically healthy. The school is on Clarendon Crescent in East Raleigh, surrounded by low-income neighborhoods.

The PTSA message also warns about "a rash of break-ins on and around campus."

"The school cannot totally protect our children," according to the PTSA message. "Parents must be mindful that these kinds of situations can occur and should speak to their children about using common sense and intuition to keep them out of harm's way."

Lumpkin said the warning was sent at the urging of the mother of the student who was assaulted last week.

On Nov. 25, Grey Idol, 17, and three female classmates were approached in the school parking lot by three males, according to Jim Sughrue, a Raleigh police spokesman.

The suspects pushed Idol to the ground and kicked him repeatedly, Sughrue said. He said one of the suspects may have been recording the beating on a cell phone.

The suspects fled and haven't been caught. The assault happened around 2:45 p.m., about a half-hour after school ended.

While the e-mail message says the suspects were gang members, Sughrue said that has yet to be determined. Sughrue said it's also unknown if the suspects are Enloe students.

Idol's parents declined to comment.

Students who know Idol say incidents like last week's beating are becoming more common.

Swank said she had classmates walk with her to her car after school when she had to park off campus last year.

Danielle Jeffreys, 17, a senior, said she recently saw a female student on campus holding a knife. It has made her wonder who else might be armed.

Enloe parent Rob Little said his older son was confronted after school by several people who demanded his wallet. He said other students have been beaten up and robbed on campus.

In the most high-profile incident, police say an on-campus, gang-related fight involving 30 students in September led to the arrest of six students.

Now, Little is debating whether to allow his two sons to participate in after-school activities when fewer people are on campus.

"I'd like the school to be more aggressive at dealing with the problem," Little said.

Enloe Principal Beth Cochran did not return calls.

According to the school district's figures, gang-related incidents are down at Enloe, with 11 such incidents between the start of this school year and Dec. 1. School officials say there were 15 incidents during the same time period last year.

Districtwide, there have been 329 gang-related incidents in schools from the start of the academic year until Dec. 1, compared to 308 through the same time period in 2007.

Despite having sent the warning, Lumpkin tried to downplay concerns about campus safety.

"These were isolated incidents," Lumpkin said. "The sky isn't falling on students."