Stephen and Jacqueline McCoppy share a backyard fence with the former Kandy Stripe Academy campus in Sunnyside. They say a fire behind the vacant property in 2025 put their home at risk, and they want the building demolished before another incident occurs.
In its report, KHOU 11 quoted Stephen McCoppy, who is in his 60s and attended the school when it was Fairchild Elementary. He described the building as little more than a shell and said the fire could have cost the couple their home. The campus later operated as Kandy Stripe Academy, a charter school whose contract the Houston Independent School District voted not to renew in 2018, leading to its closure, the station reported.
Jacqueline McCoppy told KHOU that the vacant grounds have drawn people experiencing homelessness, pests and illegal activity. She described seeing people in parked cars engaging in sex in broad daylight. Stephen McCoppy said people enter the couple’s backyard and move around at night, while trucks go in and out of the property.
Neighbors Take Security Into Their Own Hands
The McCoppys have chained the gates in attempts to restrict access, but people still enter the campus, according to KHOU’s report. The couple also reports illegal dumping and overgrown grass. Cleanup crews have periodically cleared the site and removed people staying there, the station reported, but they tend to return…