NEEDLES, CONDOMS FOUND AT SCHOOL ENTRANCE

Parents were outraged and police and school officials were scrambling
to investigate and clean up needles and condoms found in an east-end
London schoolyard yesterday.

The drug- and sex-trade paraphernalia were found at a rear entrance
to Lorne Avenue elementary school.

"We're thinking about pulling our kids out of there. I've had enough
of this," said one parent who declined to give his name.

The man and a friend were visiting the school when they found needles
and condoms in an entranceway pupils use daily.

By the time the media arrived, needles in the sunken entranceway
hidden from street view had been removed.

But a condom was still on the cement walkway and a reporter found a
cache of at least a dozen used needles inside a slotted drain beside
the doorway. The lid was easily removed.

Principal Gregg Bereznick said police were contacted.

"Unfortunately, we have people using the school grounds for
inappropriate activities," Bereznick said.

Bereznick, who started at the school this month, was at a loss to
explain why the debris, some of which had clearly been on the grounds
a long time, was in the yard.

But he said it would be cleaned up. "This is a continuous problem
we're trying to resolve," he said.

"Our custodial staff do a sweep of the grounds when they arrive every
day to ensure it's a clean, safe environment for the students."

A London police spokes-person said police are aware of the issue and
the force's community-oriented response unit is investigating.

"It's certainly not a new problem," said Const. Amanda Pfeffer. "This
is a great concern to police that this type of paraphernalia is being
left for children to trip over. We will address this issue."

Greg Thompson, past president of the Old East Village Community
Association, said it's possible the schoolyard has become
an"injection site" after residents cleaned up a site closer to Dundas
Street recently.

"Maybe because that other site is gone, they've been using the school
instead," said Thompson, who lives less than a block from the school.

"We've always had this issue in the community, but this is
disturbing. And in the last six months, the drug use has become a
real concern in the area."

As well, Thompson said, prostitutes frequenting the area "aren't the
women we know. I see new faces now all the time."