‘I’m just a kid trying to get to school:’ Student’s walk home from Laney High could land him a trespass charge

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — A mom in New Hanover County is calling for change after her child was kicked off private property while walking home from school.

Jennifer Hajtovik says her son, Makai, was walking home from Laney High School on Tuesday, following a route he’d taken countless times before as a student at Trask Middle School last year.

To make it home he, and other students who use this route, have to cross the parking lot of the State Employees’ Credit Union on Northchase Parkway.

On Tuesday, a New Hanover County Sheriff’s Deputy and an employee from the bank met students in the parking lot telling them they were not allowed on the property if they were not doing bank business.

“How else am I supposed to get home? There’s another trail that goes into a parking lot that also says trespass,” Makai Hajtovik said. “And confused because I didn’t do anything wrong so what’s the point of kicking me off?”

After Makai got home, Jennifer went to find out what was going on. She says a bank employee told her students crossing the parking lot had become a nuisance, naming an instance when kids made gestures at tellers. However, Jennifer says the employee told her that Makai had not been an issue and was respectful on his walk home.

Additionally, the employee told Jennifer that parents parking in the SECU lot waiting for their students to get out of school had become an inconvenience for bank customers — which Jennifer says she can understand.

What upset Jennifer the most — she says the bank employee told her barriers had been put in place to discourage students from walking through the Credit Union’s lot.

“She was like, ‘And to let you know, they put up prickly, ugly bushes and they’re going to poke the kids and get them if they come through there.’ I was like, ‘Really!?’ And she was like, ‘Yup, and we have motion-censored sprinklers that are going to soak them if they come near this property.’ And I was like, ‘And the bank financed this!? THIS bank financed doing this to children trying to walk home from school?’ ‘Yes!'” Jennifer Hajtovik said.

With this route eliminated, Makai and other students are left with limited options — packing already overcrowded buses, walking through other private lots, or walking along busy College Road.

“It feels like they’re trying to push us off to basically get killed. They’re pushing us off the side of the road to get hit,” Makai said. “And people, a crossing guard and a student, has already gotten hit last semester.”

The State Employees’ Credit Union shared a statement that reads, “Safety is a priority for SECU – the safety of our members and everyone in our communities. With the start of each school year and especially this year, the parking lot of our Wilmington North College Road Branch experiences an excessive amount of pedestrian and vehicle traffic related to dismissal of the nearby schools, creating safety concerns for all involved, in addition to impacting branch access for members’ conducting Credit Union business. To address these concerns, SECU has been diligently working with local school officials and local law enforcement for a safe resolution for all.”

Jennifer says can understand not allowing people to cross private property, but believes the tactics used to keep the children off the property are in poor taste.

“Learning that they have actually trademarked the slogan, ‘People Helping People’ and ‘Doing the Right Thing,’ I feel like they have very far skewed from what their beliefs are…because people helping people don’t put sprinklers out to soak children walking home from school and doing the right thing is not putting prickly bushes up trying to hurt children trying to get home from school,” Jennifer said.

The concerned mom hopes the school district can work with other agencies to find a safe solution for children walking home from school.

WWAY reached out to New Hanover County Schools for a statement, but we have not yet heard back.