Safely the Best: Leniyah Jones Reads Her Winning Essay in Police Contest

Updated at 10:45 a.m. Thursday

Leniyah Jones is a hero at Rolando Elementary. And why not?  Wednesday morning, a La Mesa police officer came to her third-grade class and made the announcement: Leniyah had won the police essay contest on the topic “Why I feel safe at school.”

On top of a high-tech pencil and gift card to the movies, Leniyah won goodie bags for everyone in Melinda Swulius’ class. Gasps followed that revelation, and Leniyah read her essay to the class—watched with pride by school Principal Jim Parker.

Announcing the winner was Jennifer McNamara, a school resource officer in the La Mesa Police Department. McNamara has a special affinity for Rolando—she attended school there in 1990, when she was Jennifer Benson.

Parker said Leniyah—daughter of Linesha Landry and Leonard Jones—won among four finalists and 104 third-graders at the Tower Street campus.

In her 114-word essay, Leniyah wrote: “I feel safe at school because of the duties, safety patrols and volunteers.”

Playground “duties” are aides who watch for horseplay and hurt students. Leniyah saluted safety patrols, who help children cross the street. And she cited Mr. and Mrs. Swulius, her teachers.

“We have rules in the classroom that keeps us safe like no hitting or no kicking in the classroom,” she printed neatly.  “I feel safe at school because we practice safety and continue to practice safety every single day.”

The police essay contest was a first for Rolando—and all elementary schools in the district, McNamara said.

The idea was hers, along with police Sgt. Brian Stoney and Officer Claudia McDaniel. The trio also chose the winning essays, McNamara said.

 “The goodie bags had a police badge sticker, Peacebuilder wristband and a coupon for a free Baskin Robbins ice cream,” she said.