Dulles School Warns Students, Staff To Leave Grounds Immediately After Recent Violence Nearby

South Side School Hustling Students Out The Door After Nearby Violence

An elementary school on Chicago's South Side is warning students and staff to immediately leave school grounds after classes end each day on the heels of recent violence -- including a murder -- nearby.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the Dulles School of Excellence, 6311 S. Calumet Ave., informed its staff in a memo sent earlier this month that they should clear and vacate the school and its parking lot immediately after classes are dismissed at 3:30 p.m. each day. Afternoon football practice has been canceled until further notice.

Dulles is run by the Academy for Urban School Leadership and is one of about 50 CPS' "welcoming" schools and took in students from the closed Betsy Ross Elementary nearby beginning this fall, WGN reports. The school is a participant in the district's "Safe Passage" program.

The Sun-Times notes that the Dulles warning came ahead of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's planned ribbon-cutting at a new playground and football field at the school. A field that students won't be able to use, for the time being, outside of school hours.

The homicide that has Dulles staff on edge and fearing retaliatory violence is the Aug. 27 murder of 17-year-old Pierce Curry. Curry was shot in the head while in the backseat of a vehicle passing through the 6200 block of South State Street about 1:30 a.m. that day, about four blocks from the school.

Curry's murder is just one violent incident that has taken place near the school in recent weeks. A map created by the Sun-Times charts more than 20 other incidents that have taken place within a half-mile radius of the school between Aug. 23 and Sept. 5.

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