Mrs. Lucretia Coates

"In one swoop, to lose an entire family, it's just devastating," said Lucretia Coates, the principal of Bernard Harris Sr. Elementary School, in which four of the children were enrolled.
...
Mrs. Coates said Keith Dawson loved putting together puzzles at the school's after-school program.
...
"In this community [children] deal with a lot of death and violence," Mrs. Coates said."They understand death but were very upset by it.They wanted to know more about the fire, how it started."

"In one swoop, to lose an entire family, it's just devastating," said Lucretia Coates, the principal of Bernard Harris Sr. Elementary School, where four of the children were enrolled.

State Sen.
...
"In this community they deal with a lot of death and violence," Coates said."They understand death but were very upset by it.They wanted to know more about the fire, how it started."

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press.All Rights Reserved.

Lucretia Coates, Principal of Dr. Bernard Harris Sr. Elementary School, is pictured with her 30 honor roll students.

When Lucretia Coates became principal at Dr. Bernard Harris Elementary School in East Baltimore five years ago, she was dismayed to find no playground.

But in a few days, when Coates and the school's nearly 625 pupils in prekindergarten through fifth grade return from holiday hiatus, two new playgrounds are expected to be completed.

...
At Bernard Harris, officials with Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD) helped raise money for the playgrounds -- a tot lot for ages 3 to 5 and a larger playground for children 5 to 12, Coates said.

Coates also credited parents and community residents with helping make the playgrounds a reality."We're hoping that if the weather stays nice by the time we return to school from Christmas break or soon thereafter they'll be ready.The kids are excited.It's hard to keep them off of it," she said.

Copyright © 2001, The Baltimore Sun

Politicians carried on, children sang, preachers prayed, and Lucretia Coates, the charismatic Harris principal who was born in the hospital that once stood on the playground, shouted for joy.