LOCKLAND, Ohio — The Lockland Local Schools Board of Education is requesting a third-party investigation of Evendale and Lockland police after the district saw footage of the neo-Nazis who were on an I-75 overpass Friday afternoon on school property during school hours following their demonstration.
"As you may or may not be aware, the U-Haul truck transporting the Terrorist group from the site of the civil unrest ultimately ended up directly adjacent to the Lockland Local School District Educational Annex building that serves students in grades preschool through grade four," the district's school board said in a public service announcement released Wednesday night.
WATCH: Surveillance footage of the moments the U-Haul pulled onto Lockland Schools property
Photos were circulating online over the weekend showing the U-Haul parked in Lockland with a police cruiser in front of it. Lockland Mayor Mark Mason Sr. said in a release over the weekend that the officer was not a Lockland officer. Evendale police said it was one of their officers, who was following the group and told them to "leave the area."
Thursday afternoon the district's superintendent took questions from the press hours before the school board was set to meet.
“Our call for a third party is not an attack," the school board vice president Lauren Costanzo said. "But we investigating ourselves is not and will never be good enough for the people!”
Read our story detailing what local police said occurred that day here.
The school board said their security cameras show the neo-Nazis "engaging in a conversation with the Evendale officer." The board said the officer is then seen leaving. Before the U-Haul leaves the scene, the board said video shows the U-Haul and the neo-Nazis "ON school property."
"(Our) elementary school students were dismissed within minutes of all of this occurring," the board said. "Most importantly to note, the school district was not notified of this potentially dangerous situation occurring on our school grounds."
Watch our full breakdown of the latest on the calls for a third-party investigation:
The school board said it has turned over the footage and is requesting "an independent, third-party investigation of the Village of Evendale and the Village of Lockland Police Departments, specifically in reference to the events that occurred in the afternoon of Friday, Feb. 7."
“I don’t think I can appropriately put into words how heartbreaking that there are students every day now, from both our schools that walk home and have reason to question their safety," Lockland School Superintendent Bob Longworth said Thursday. “You’re [hate groups] not welcomed in the Village of Lockland; you’re not welcomed in this region. This behavior is unacceptable and should not be tolerated.”
A parent questioned the district's own transparency at Thursday afternoon's Board of Education meeting.
Leah Cooper asked Longworth why parents weren't notified of multiple soft lockdowns on Monday as protesters marched against the neo-Nazi presence in Lincoln Heights.
"Is it fair for us to ask that, whether it be something minor or major, that parents be made aware? We should always know what's going on in our children's school," Cooper asked.
Longworth explained soft lockdowns are common and often not communicated to parents, and he said he didn't want to increase anxieties in the community.
He said the policy of largely not notifying parents when schools enter soft lockdowns would be reviewed.
"We always reflect on the way we do business, and the parent that came tonight gave us a great opportunity to do that as early as tomorrow morning," Longworth said.
The superintendent said they were not made aware of the neo-Nazi presence near campus Friday or they would have immediately gone into a hard lockdown, called 911, and notified parents.
The Lockland police chief tells WCPO his department was unaware until later of the Evendale officer’s actions
“A Lockland officer was never involved in that U-Haul getting from highway to the school and then, you know, out of the area," Lockland Police Chief Michael Ott told WCPO.
“I need to know what law enforcement knew and when did they know," lifelong Lincoln Heights resident Bill Franklin said. "Did they know in Columbus? Did they know in Hamilton County? Did they know in Evendale?”
Watch our report from the school board meeting here:
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