Chicago ( CNN ) -- A 15-year-old Chicago girl walking to her high school in pre-dawn darkness was hit on the head , dragged between two houses to a yard and raped , police said , with the assault taking place just a half block away from one of the city 's `` Safe Passage '' school routes especially for students . The incident put another spotlight on the city 's problem with violence . Just this fall , local officials pledged that an expanded Safe Passages program -- with its big yellow signs above sidewalks patrolled during key times by paid , trained workers -- would be a sanctuary for children walking to and from school . Local authorities noted , however , that the 15-year-old victim was walking to school Tuesday morning a half hour before her nearby Safe Passage route was staffed with patrols . The girl was in serious condition Thursday at a hospital . A resident found the girl half-naked and bleeding from the head on a snowy walkway on the side of his home . She lay for about two hours in the cold before she was discovered . She was conscious but barely moving when she was found , authorities said . `` Just opening up the door , and take a morning sweep of the sidewalks and to find something like that is just shocking , '' said Michael Klockowski , the resident on the city 's Northwest Side who found the school girl . The snow outside his home was still stained Thursday . Parents and residents are now questioning the safety of the program in a city that has been plagued by gun-related murders . `` Everybody is scared . It can happen to any of our kids , so everybody is worried , '' Ada Cambron , a parent , said Thursday . `` In the morning , you never see police walking around and stuff like that . '' When told that police officers were patrolling the Safe Passages on foot on Thursday , Cambron acknowledged the police presence but noted it took the rape of a student to prompt the patrol . `` It should n't be that way , '' she said . City and school officials doubled the number of Safe Passage routes this fall to accommodate more children being forced to walk greater distances to school because the school system closed a record 48 elementary schools amid a $ 1 billion budget shortfall . About 12,000 students are attending new schools this year because of the budget crisis , and many of them must walk through some of Chicago 's most violent neighborhoods . Another parent , Sharon Rafael , said she liked the program but was skeptical of its monitoring as she stood outside a school with her small daughter and held a pink `` Pretty Princess Puzzles '' book . `` I think it works , but it just needs a little bit more security on it , '' Rafael said . `` Like , OK , you can patrol it right now , but later on , like in a few weeks , they 'll forget about it . And they wo n't be around anymore . '' Ariel Reboyras , the alderman representing the area where the assault occurred , defended the Safe Passage program . The student rape occurred about 6 a.m. when it was still dark outside . `` We ca n't say it was a result of a problem with Safe Passage , but we know that it 's not supposed to happen , '' the alderman said . Police were still searching Thursday for a suspect . CNN 's George Howell reported from Chicago , and Michael Martinez wrote and reported from Los Angeles .
A 15-year-old girl is dragged , beaten , raped on her way to high school . She was just a half block away from a `` Safe Passage '' route to students . But she was walking a half hour before patrols began on the Safe Passage . Alarmed parents say the passages are not as patrolled as the city claims .