Lawrence Elementary is a safe haven for its students in a gang and drug infested area:

Senior Bishop Tyrone Harrington and pastor of Greater Morning View Church, located across the street from Lawrence Elementary, said he wants to save Lawrence from closing “for the sake of young lives.”

Lawrence sits in the middle of three major parks that are gang and drug infested, he said.

“We are asking you to save these 410 children for the sake of not having to perform 410 funerals,” Harrington said, adding that last year he officiated eight funerals for young people in the Jeffery Manor neighborhood.

Many of those young people died from gang violence because they traveled “outside of what’s called their own blocks into other blocks,” he added.

Lawrence is a “safe haven” where the students can go, Harrington said.

“Find other avenues to help push this budget, to find something else to give these children hope for tomorrow,” he said.

Although it has been on academic probation for a number of years, 4 of its 5 Essentials are increasing, and it is rated Moderately Organized for Improvment.

Find Lawrence on schoolcuts.org here.