When I was a member of the School Board, annually we spoke about the
http://www.walktoschool.org/ program that ultimately puts the responsibility on getting children to school safely where it belongs – on the shoulders of parents and then the community.
The whole idea is actually a way to remind parents of their responsibility to teach their children one of the safety measures that always fell to them – getting their children to school safely.
Parents should map out, try out, and then demonstrate the very safest route they want their children to walk to school.
The majority of families are within walking distance.
Those that are not still need to find the best and safest route to travel.
One Solution
Families that do live more than a mile from the elementary sites can carpool to help eliminate the large number of cars in front of the sites each morning.
Schools can alter their start times to help eliminate the large number of cars jockeying to park right at the front door’s path.
But parents still have to get out of the house slightly earlier if they are driving their children to school, and kids must leave their homes on time to arrive before the bell.
The start time for school is already set for this school year, so I am not suggesting such a dramatic fix for now, but as a consideration for the next semester.
The Walk-Your-Child-To-School Program encourages PTAs to select a date and help families and neighbors work together to get the children to school safely.
Simply Cooperation
There is no magic, just cooperation on the part of those concerned, the kids, and driving, and the walking parents.
In the “old days,” PTAs helped set up carpools if families individually chose to share addresses. Families attending our schools on permits seem to arrive earlier, and the older students take public transportation and walk a few blocks.
The sad event that brings this subject to the forefront is really no one’s and everyone’s fault.
Kids need to get out of the car on the sidewalk side and walk to the corner.
Parents should never double-park to drop their kids off; kids shouldn’t dart between cars and on and on.
All of us who live near schools, and I happen to live next to the bridge on Ocean, watch parents completely forgetting the rules that they learned as children when they choose to drop their children off in unsafe situations.
What’s the rush?
A few years ago, the School Board/City Council Liaison Committee spoke on more than one occasion about how we could work together to get children safely to schools, and we also concluded the same.
It is the responsibility of the parent.
The city did apply for and won a grant that paid for some new signage and also those great speed signs on Sawtelle that help slow traffic.
To suggest that elected bodies take over individual responsibilities is not the correct solution.
