LOS ANGELES — The September 2021 shooting at the "crime magnet" motel flanked by two schools crystallized the urgent mission at hand for the campus community.
A police officer had shot and wounded a motel occupant, and the investigation forced a last-minute, all-day shutdown of KIPP Academy of Opportunity, a middle school. Staff members scrambled to notify parents and to create a holding area for students, who were already arriving on foot and by car.
"I got a call early morning that there was a police-involved shooting at the motel," said Principal John Coleman III. "I can't open my school. I can't even come anywhere near my school."
