In an email to parents Jan. 23, Principal Peyton Chapman updated the community on steps being taken to address vandalism around the campus on Jan. 20.

Dear Lincoln Parents,

Thank you for all of your support and suggestions as we work to ensure campus safety. I have forwarded many suggestions from parents and students regarding security cameras, main entry security guards, and other ideas to PPS Security Services as we are in budget preparation season and we will be starting the master planning process for the 2016 Bond and it’s a great time to be thinking about security as we plan new school buildings, not just at Lincoln but across PPS.

I did want to let everyone know that we have received a lot of helpful information from students and parents and we have many good leads about the various acts of vandalism and the hate speech. We no longer believe that they are connected and we are interviewing students who may have been involved.

Finally, many people have expressed concern that the threat of violence indicated a specific date that harm would come to our campus. Because we are in the middle of an investigation I can not be as specific as I’d like but the threat indicated harm between the time it was written and a specific date and we don’t know how long ago it was written. The threat did not reference our dance or any off site locations.

I hope this update helps assuage some fears but please also know that we are continuing to work with the police and PPS security. Our students have been particularly helpful and we can’t say how thankful we are to work in a community that comes together in support of one another and whole school safety. 1500 students wrote thoughtful responses to our writing prompt. I could quote 100 of my favorites but I thought I’d share a few quotes with you.

“Hate speech of any kind is considered a threat of violence under the 2009 Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and Lincoln, in cooperation with the District, must do its best to protect the interests of its students and maintain a pleasant learning environment safe from any threats.”

“ For some students Lincoln is their dafe place, and the fact that these actions have changed that upsets me to my core. These actions are not just physical. They have broken trust and have affected us all…I hope the school can find these students so the school can reclaim its status of being a happy place.”

“I think we should be able to love everyone around us more. We all are Lincoln Cardinals, a big family, and we should treat everyone with respect. Hopefully that will be enough to sway people to stop acting in such a horrific way.”

“This reminds me of an epigram I read that said, “Destruction is a form of creation” I wonder if this is what they ere thinking.” (Prompted my thinking…We are working to create a better community or they created new fear at Lincoln?)

“I think it is important to not even joke about such things and if overheard, step in and say something.”

“I have been here three and a half years and nothing like this has happened before and I’m sorry it has happened now as I have always felt safe at Lincoln.”

“I think these prompts (writing) are a great start to keeping our school safe. We are bringing attention to the issue and the discussions in class will show those who did these acts that their peers do not ares with these forms of interactions.

We have great students and a great community. Hopefully we will be free from hate and violence because we are shining a light on what’s happened and we are discussing it as a community.