HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-06-21-STAS-minAd Hoc School Transportation and Safety Study Committee
June 21, 2013 at gam
Lower Conference Room, Central Administration Blg
Meeting Minutes
1. Attending: Elaine Celi, Judy Crocker, MaryEllen Dunn, Craig Weeks
Guest: Bonnie Brown
2. Meeting minutes for May 2 were accepted. Minutes from June 6 were not yet
submitted for review.
3. Update on Bus Registration
More than 2500 students are presently registered for the bus for FY14. The final
parent bus subsidy registration deadline is July 1, after which no subsidy will be
offered except for new families. In addition, an informational letter has been
distributed to all distance - eligible students.
4. WorldTech Consultant Update
The WorldTech preliminary report is due the last week of June. From the report,
Ms. Dunn will generate a traffic policy for review /comments:
• by TSAC for their early July meeting
• by principals during July
• by School Committee for their first meeting of the FY14 calendar
The proposed policy will highlight a minimal level of safety expectations for LPS.
Ms. Dunn discussed the need of a nonpartisan advisory group for principals that
would provide policy support, such as a school traffic ombudsman. TSAC would be
the appropriate vehicle to process parent concerns and problems.
Ms. Dunn and Ms. Steigerwald met with Dr. Ash in order to review school traffic
improvements expected to be accomplished through the WorldTech evaluations
and recommendations.
Today, Ms. Dunn and Ms. Celi will be meeting with Pat Goddard (Director of Public
Facilities), Sandy Trach (Estabrook principal), DiNisco Engineering (new Estabrook
architectural firm) and WorldTech Consultants in order to obtain a clear plan of 1)
the interim Estabrook school traffic pattern for the time period commencing with
the February 2014 building occupancy to the end of the FY14 school year (before
the old building is razed) and 2) the school traffic pattern for FY15 forward. In
addition, Dr. Ash and Ms. Dunn will be meeting with Carl Valenti (Town Manager)
to review the same.
Ms. Dunn also reported that some time would be allocated to discuss school traffic
safety, flow, and proposed policy during the Principals' Retreat on August 15th.
5. Education of Procedure /Policy Changes
A) Various mechanisms for promoting the upcoming school traffic changes were
discussed. These included local newspapers, Patch, and LexMedia; LPS global
connect and school list serves; Globe NorthWest section; school and Town
websites; Twitter; YouTube; as well as letters from each principal and Dr. Ash.
School traffic procedure videos have been used across the country and take many
forms. This may be a future Public Service Announcement project for the LHS
Media class taught by Bill Cole or similar by Mary Pappas. Ms. Dunn will also ask
Mr. Cole if this Committee can view his class' work and determine if any is suitable
for general safety publicity this fall.
B) The topic of having LPS take an active role against violators of passing a school
bus displaying its flashing lights was further examined. Tickets cannot be issued
without an officer bearing witness to an incident. However, parents and bus drivers
can record offending license plate numbers and the owner of the offending car can
be contacted working through the police and the Registry of Motor Vehicles. It was
decided that LPS needs the direction of the School Committee in order to send a
form letter to violators.
Therefore, the Committee decided to make the following recommendation to the
School Committee:
The ad hoc School Transportation and Safety Study Committee voted to
request that the Lexington School Committee make the recommendation to
direct MaryEllen Dunn to execute a plan whereby a LPS form letter is issued
to any violator of the stopping for a school bus displaying flashing lights law
(Section 14 of Chapter 90 of MA General Law).
LPD and C &W Transportation will also be asked to endorse this letter.
c) Ms. Crocker will ask Ms. Coppe about availability on the first School Committee
meeting's agenda of the FY14 school year. STS would like to develop a presentation
plan for 1) final school sign codification vote, 2) school traffic policy and 2) passing
of school bus displaying flashing lights violator letter.
6. Discussion on engaging parent responsibility and responsibility: Enforcement
While enforcement was discussed as being discretionary to principals and staff, the
necessity of setting a firm policy that shall be enforced is clear. Equivalently, a
ticket shall be placed on a vehicle that is in violation of posted signage. A broader
community engagement of engaging principals and needing well - defined resources
and plan will continue to be important. See also the attached hand -out regarding
enforcement.
The question was raised of what do principals want in order to be able to enforce
traffic policy. It is anticipated that they will need traffic resources to manage their
individual school properties. It was suggested that the FY15 LPS budget include a
LPS traffic officer working in collaboration with the LPD. Deputizing LPS staff is
also a possibility, such as bus captains. Crossing guards are working off -site during
the critical arrival and dismissal periods so would not prove helpful in this role.
Therefore, along with requesting comments on the recommended school traffic
plans and proposed policy, principals will also be asked to provide input of what
resources they believe that they will need for enforcement of these proposals.
It was noted that a traffic infraction on school property is not a special or different
type of roadway violation. Therefore, LPS should not create a new LPS parking
ticket. Instead, traffic policy request and enforcement of traffic policy should be
integrated into the Dept of Public Facilities as a regular budget item and not a one-
time fiscal request, such as is the case with CPA funding.
7. New Business
Ms. Crocker will send out a doodle poll to Committee members to determine the
best meeting date during the last week of July.
Our next meeting will be TBD during the last week of July in the Conference Room
at Central Administration.
Respectively submitted,
Judy Crocker