Violent crimes surround school where girl was stabbed

The school is on Oakridge Drive just southwest of the intersection of Gettysburg and Hoover. That area struggles with crime issues, and the school’s mission and vision statements both mention a commitment to a “safe learning environment.”

According to crime reports on the Dayton Police website, there have been 26 violent crimes within a half mile of the school in the past two months — one murder, six aggravated assaults, three robberies, three menacing reports and 13 simple assaults.

District spokeswoman Jill Moberley said World of Wonder usually has one DPS security guard in the building, but the individual wasn’t there Friday, so security responded from Thurgood Marshall High School two blocks away.

James Frusher III works nearby on Gettysburg Avenue and acknowledged that “of course this is a high-crime area.”

“For this neighborhood, when something happens in the news or something bad, it’s usually shootings or drug-related and adults, you know?” Frusher said. “You don’t hear about grown men running up and stabbing children. That’s a whole new level of crime. … It’s astonishing. … It makes you sick.”

The area around the World of Wonder is tough, but there are residents who look out for the neighborhood and their neighbors.

A man mowing grass for a resident across from the school’s main entrance gathered his lawnmower, gardening shears and a weed trimmer and made his way down Oakridge Drive. He identified himself only as “the electrician,” and said he mows the lawns of abandoned homes.

“This is the, quote, hood,” he said. “But I really want to make sure our areas are safe, too. That’s why I try to beautify it. … If you look good, you feel good. And if you feel good, you do good.”

There are two visibly abandoned houses on the block around the school, but the Residence Park neighborhood has much more significant issues with blight.

A 2014 Dayton Daily News story about "nuisance properties" listed 16 Dayton streets with at least 20 blighted properties. Seven of those streets are within a quarter-mile of World of Wonder, including Oakridge and Kammer, which bracket the school to the north and south.