The School Board election has been over for almost two weeks.
In a few weeks, two new Board members will be sworn in. Hopefully the whole Board can work together now for child safety. Child safety always has been an important issue for me. Safety was the reason I requested the city enforce the helmet rules at the Culver City Skate Park.
School safety was so important an issue that back in 2008 I showed a video at a CCUSD School Board meeting. A Los Angeles City Councilwoman had spearheaded a “School Safety Valet” program in North Hollywood.
Basically, it was a curbside drop-off program to prevent people from double- and triple-parking around schools. It was a program to make it safer for children around schools and to protect the neighborhood.
The program later was expanded to 29 schools in the area. The startup cost for each school was around $500.
The police and Dept. of Transportation trained the volunteers. I figured it was a no-brainer for the CCUSD to implement a similar program at all of the schools in the District, a win-win for the community.
During the School Board meeting, a representative from now former U.S. Rep. Diane Watson’s (D-Culver City) office even gave his sympathy to a Board member whose son had been hit by a car near school.
Four of the five Board members and one Student Board member spoke about the traffic issue. One Board member said she would like to see the city/Board Liaison Committee reactivated. Another member apologized for not remembering who was on the city Liaison Committee, but felt that there never was much accomplished by the meetings.
At least, I thought, the Board was paying attention.
After more than three years, do all District schools have School Safety Valets? No.
Are cars illegally parked around schools today? Yes.
I guess not much was accomplished at the CCUSD meeting.
When I showed a video again last month, I also handed each Board member and the Superintendent a DVD copy. The video showed an ongoing problem around our schools: Eight cars double-parked. I got a snicker when I showed a car triple-parked.
After showing the School Safety Valet video, I got only one public reaction from the School Board, “That looks very familiar. That actually looks like the El Marino Drop Zone.”
How about every school in the CCUSD getting a similar program?
As I said earlier, it cost LAUSD $500 per school to start the program.
Can we not afford that?
Do we not have enough parent volunteers?
Two Mondays ago I gave the City Council the City Manager DVD copies and showed the video I had shown the School Board.
Private schools in Culver City operate under a conditional use permit that requires a program. I don’t care who picks up the ball and runs with it.
Someone needs to implement or require the program.
Mr. Anderson may be contacted at Cary@CulverCity.TV
