'THEY DIDN'T TELL US' ABOUT CRACK

As police searched for the mother of a first-grader who passed out crack
cocaine at his Chicago Heights school on Friday, believing it was candy,
other parents expressed outrage Monday that they weren't notified about the
incident.

"I was really upset they didn't tell us," said Nancy Flores, 26, whose
third-grader attends the public school, Lincoln. "There are numerous things
that can happen. He could have taken it home, he could have ate it.

"Thank God nothing happened . . . but they took away from us the ability to
be alert," she said, referring to school officials.

Lincoln Principal Elmer Joyce said a letter explaining the situation was
being sent home with all students on Monday, and one wasn't sent out
earlier for several reasons.

"By the time everything had been settled [on Friday] . . . school was
over," Joyce said. "And we didn't really know exactly what the substance
was; it hadn't been tested."

Besides, police had asked the school to stay mum "because it was an open
investigation," he said.

Chicago Heights Deputy Police Chief Michael Camilli said, "I can't comment
on what an officer might have told them at the time, but from the police
department's standpoint, we would have wanted to notify the families as
soon as possible."

Home With Crack

The boy, 7, lives in a public housing complex in the south suburb, and
crack frequently is in his home, police said.

The youngster lives with his mother, although other relatives might also
stay there, and the child is told crack is "candy," police said.

Someone stashed up to 40 packets of crack in the boy's book bag, then
apparently forgot, police said. The boy took the bag to school Friday,
discovered the "candy," and showed it to classmates, handing out some to at
least one child, who then alerted a teacher, officials said.

The boy, whose name the Chicago Sun-Times is withholding because of his
age, attended an after-school program across the street from Lincoln, at
Jones Memorial Community Center, Thursday. Some students have relayed to
adults that the boy handed out crack there as well, a source said.

But Cheryl Roop, executive director of the center, said, "We never saw
anything here or had any reason to believe there were drugs here."

There also is concern that police did not interview or search all the
students at Lincoln after the discovery of the drugs. Joyce, however, said
the child was only around first-, second- and third-graders, so they were
the main focus. The school has just under 200 kids in kindergarten through
eighth grade.

Social workers and counselors were at the building Monday "to do crisis
intervention with our first-, second- and third-graders, because those were
the children out on the playground who were in contact with what happened
on Friday," the principal said.

One person, however, didn't view the counselors as very helpful. Among the
messages they conveyed to children: Don't talk to reporters about this case.

'He's Just A Boy'

Referring to the boy, Roop said: "It's just sad. This child, whatever he
thought it was, whatever his involvement, he's innocent. He's just a boy."

The child was taken into custody by the Illinois Department of Children and
Family Services, which placed him with a relative, DCFS spokeswoman Diane
Jackson said. The boy has two siblings: a 14-year-old sister and 4-year-old
brother, she said. It's unclear where they are, but Jackson said her agency
fielded a 2003 complaint involving the mother abusing the 4-year-old.

The abuse complaint was substantiated, but the courts would not let DCFS
remove the 4-year-old from the home, Jackson said. The agency tried
offering the family "services"; however, the mother was "not cooperative,"
she said.

When asked whether her agency dropped the ball with this family, she said:
"We try to act on the information we have and try to do the best job we can."

While DCFS was trying to figure out where the two siblings are, police were
trying to find the boy's mom and at least one other relative in their
criminal probe. "They seem to be evading us," Camilli said.

Police say the area around the school isn't crime-ridden -- but that
counters the bleak image portrayed by residents. Roop said her husband,
while driving near her work, once was propositioned by a hooker.

Flores echoed that, saying, "There's lots of crack dealing . . .
prostitution, too. I live right across from the school. . . . The
prostitutes are right outside of my house, across from the school, at 5
o'clock in the morning. It's crazy."