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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-09-12-STAS-minAd Hoc School Transportation and Safety Study Committee September 12, 2013 at gam Conference Room, Central Administration Blg Meeting Minutes 1. Attending: Elaine Celi, Elaine Dratch, Judy Crocker, Manny Ferro, Sharon Kendall, Jessie Steigerwald, Craig Weeks Guests: Bonnie Brown, Shannon Maloney 2. Meeting minutes for July 31 was accepted. 3. School Bus Registration Update • Bus Passes: Distributing through homerooms on the first day of school has been an improvement over last year's mailing. • Ridership: FY14 to date, 2829 (43.5% of 6500 students). Four buses are full and many others are near maximum capacity. There is a small waitlist for the full buses. Efforts will be made to accommodate these riders on other buses. • Bus Captains: This position is needed to deal with daily elementary transportation issues at each school. A job description draft has been created. The Committee would like Ms. Dunn to brief the principals and administration at the next bi- weekly Administrative meeting. • Avalon: Ms. Maloney expressed dismay about the lack of practiced safety measures and lack of parental oversight at the Avalon complex for morning bus pick -up. Two buses collect about 120 students. Students are lax about using sidewalks, walking in front of the bus, running, and not waiting for the bus to come to a stop before approaching. She will continue to conduct site visits in order to set the proper safety tone and to instruct the parents. • Ride -After Elementary Program: Ms. Celi and Ms. Maloney have been tirelessly working on the logistics for all bus routes, programming, and for having the proper tools available to the schools for a smooth operation. Ms. Celi has created and distributed a spreadsheet for each school that lists student per activity per day. These include Aug 21 bus drivers receive their routes; Aug 23 X2student database complete; and Aug 26 bus routes published. A major point of concern is the number of errors involving ES students being placed on the incorrect Ride After bus. Apparently, some schools were not aware of the distributed spreadsheets and others did not understand how to use them. A directive needs to be issued from principals so that staff follows the proper protocols. It was also suggested that staff might need to be trained in the use of the X2 system. It was noted that the first annual transportation orientation for staff was held last spring in order to alleviate these types of problems and focus on student transportation safety was ill attended. The school property managers i.e. principals /asst principals need to see student transportation as a priority. In addition, the fact that there is no reliable, uniform, accessible contact /school exists after dismissal. Save for Hastings, cell phone contact with the school secretary does not exist and leads to confusion, duplication of efforts, and incorrect information. • The Committee therefore makes the following recommendations to Ms. Dunn: 1. Define the responsibilities for designated elementary school administrative staff (ie bus captains) with a job description. II. Propose opening the Clarke gate for both morning arrival and afternoon dismissal. 4. School Committee Traffic Mitigation Study Following Preliminary Study feedback by this Committee and other constituents, the Final WorldTech Report should be available late September /early October. The Committee believes that it would be useful to read all submitted comments so that members can better understand individual concerns and work to address them. The Committee is concerned with the timeline of one of the anticipated next steps following release of the final report - needing 3 -5 years to modify school manuals and traffic pattern changes. We strongly feel that the proposed safety improvements should be adopted and implemented much sooner. It was suggested that the preliminary report be available online. There was some concern that the opinions of the constituents may alter the WorldTech final recommendations too dramatically. The question was raised of whether WorldTech fulfilled its contractual obligation in the authoring of this report. Inaccuracies in references made to the Dept of Transportation and the LPD were particularly troubling. References were made to the quality of data from a previous 2011 WorldTech report concerning the Hastings Roosevelt /Crosby Rd intersection. It was explained that this particular WorldTech study had originally proposed extensive data collection. However, in an effort to considerably lower the contractual price, the Lexington Safe Routes To School program supplied the needed qualitative and quantitative data anecdotally and attended all school site visits. 5. Do Not Pass School Bus Displaying Flashing Lights Initiatives • LHS Media Class: Follow -up is needed to ensure that the LHS Media class undertakes this topic as a class Public Service Announcement project. Also, the question of public use of the class' spring project by the Committee needs to be determined. • Tax Bill Insert: The Selectmen approved the two -sided one - third -page sized tax bill insert on Sept 9. It was suggested that the graphic has a greater impact in color than the more affordable black and white. C & W Transportation graciously offered to finance a color printing. It was observed that the reverse side explaining MA's Bicycle Helmet Law for those aged 16 and younger three descriptive stickman graphics are not wearing helmets. It was suggested to contact parent Christina Bertwell to try to remedy this. • Violator Form Letter: While he encourages the premise, Chief Corr will not endorse the Committee's violator letter for he feels it duplicates state efforts and may overstep his department's capacities. Captain Ferro reported that the RMV no longer has an Enforcement Branch, therefore they no longer track named offenders. In order to report an observed violation, bus drivers complete a form that is faxed to the RMV. C &W Transportation reports 10 -15 violators /week and observed 5 alone on Sept 11. C &W Transportation will forward the highest offending locations to the Captain Ferro. It was suggested that the STS Minuteman column coinciding with the mailing of the tax bill cover this topic and that the article be distributed to parents via Global Connect. "One is too many" send a powerful message given the volume of local violators. It was felt that reaching out to the RMV could be another step in the effort to expand awareness. 6. Lexington Healthy Communities Grant This grant is focusing on three broad topics of local concern: mental health, nutrition and recreation, and active streets. As part of an effort to address middle and high school students, one suggestion involved hosting a spring health fair. School transportation options, pedestrian and bike safety, helmet use, and no idling topics could be included. 7. New Business • The 2013 Town Report was distributed. • LPD has been greatly disappointed that it has not been included in the new Estabrook School transportation meetings held this year. • The Committee discussed inviting Dr. Ash, Pat Goddard (Facilities), and Sandy Trach (Estabrook principal) to our October meeting. This informational meeting would focus on the final WorldTech Report; Estabrook traffic patterns now, from Feb -June when students move to the new building, and FY15 when the old building will be removed; and the tax bill insert and its implications. This was seen as appropriate given that MS. Dunn is the traffic safety liaison for LPS. • Ms. Steigerwald reported that some merchants are complaining about students riding their bikes on the sidewalks near businesses. Captain Ferro reported that a community safety officer performs this type of outreach and that this position is currently being formed. The police do not currently have a presence in the middle schools. Our next meeting will be October 3 in the Conference Room at Central Administration. Respectfully submitted, Judy Crocker STS Comments on WorldTech Preliminary Report July 2013 Aug 1, 2013 General Comments • Unless otherwise stated, comments made in this document are to augment WorldTech's recommendations. • There was a lack of timeliness of the report. • The identification of schools not using LPS supplied staff safety vests was not included in the report. • The identification of two near vehicle - pedestrian incidents witnessed during site visits was not included in the report. Introduction • It was noted that the verbiage used in listing the project goals includes language that the Lexington School Committee has specifically asked STS not to use. This positively reinforces STS's attempt to use common terms used by experts in the field when attempting to accurately describe school transportation. General Recommendations • The following should be included: o Dept of Recreation Playing Fields and Conservation Paths School property includes public ways such as playing fields regulated by the Dept of Recreation and walking trails regulated by Lexington Conservation. The regulations governing their use should be respectful of school property rules during school hours and posted as such, including prohibiting dogs and maintaining reasonable noise levels. • Driveways in the front of all school buildings shall be assigned as fire lane access and as such shall only be used by emergency vehicles and modes of student mass transit (school buses, vans, and carpools). Any existing parking located in front of a school shall be re- assigned as handicapped, staff, and 15- minute visitor parking. • Every effort shall be made to segregate pedestrian and mass transit transportation modes from single occupancy vehicles. • Every effort shall be made to contain parent traffic within school property and not on public roadways. • Update all LPS websites and handbooks, including Lexington Children's Place and the Central Office, with transportation procedures and maps. • Develop a comprehensive LPS transportation and traffic policy, promoting safety, efficiency, and uniform standards across all schools. • All crossing guards shall park in staff lots. • Label all bus lanes and live drop- off /pick -up areas as such. • All schools shall ask CO for additional staffing if the safety and supervision of students during arrival and dismissal is in question. • Educate parents and staff that "(LPS property) rules apply to everyone" and that Lexington takes student safety very seriously. Staff shall park within school property. • Review with bus and van drivers of the proper protocol for bus lane use and lawful flashers use. Bowman • The proposal to add a bus fence to the present bus lot will not improve the buses maneuverability due to the lot's constricting space. • Consistency is needed for bussers by having drop -off and pick -up in the same location. Bowman is the only school where this is not the case. • Parking on Worthern Rd East in front of the building is contrary to Town regulations and should be rectified with new signage and pavement markings. • Change school traffic pattern orientation such that designated mass transit mode access is via the front of the building (map #4,1); parent thru traffic and designated parent parking access is via the current staff lot only (# 2,9); and expand designated staff parking to include the current parent lot in addition to the current staff lot ( #3,9). • Short -term: o Reserve Worthern Rd East from Phillip Rd to staff school driveway for one - way traffic for mass transit and emergency vehicles only (between #4 and #1 on map). o Install bus fence. o Reserve present staff /bus lot for staff /parent parking by adding a controlled parent drop- off /pick -up loop, with both parties entering and exiting from Worthern Rd East from south to north (between #6 and #1 on map). o Make drop- off /pick -up zone sidewalk /curbing improvements to staff lot in order to make safer for students and staff. o Designate current parent lot as a staff only lot ( #3 on map). o Post No U -Turns and No Parking within X feet of Phillip /Worthern Rd East intersection in order to increase line -of -sight and remove turning dangers from Phillip's northerly blind s- curve. o Consider 4 way stop at Worthern Rd East and school driveway /staff lot intersection. o Having buses in the front allows more than one bus to load /unload simultaneously versus the current practice of one at a time. • Long -term: o Designate play area to rear of building with a gate to separate vehicles from students. o Designate expanded parking in staff lot to accommodate parent parking. o Consider a possible parent pick -up loop in current hardtop area to right of building. Space is currently used for organizational space for parent pick -up. o Using school property, develop a formal intersection by straightening juncture of staff lot with elbow of Worthern Rd East ( #1 on map). Bridge • Change school traffic pattern orientation such that designated mass transit mode access is via the front of the building ( #5,6,1,3); parent thru traffic and designated parent parking access is via the current staff lot only ( #7,10,11,12,2); and expand designated staff parking to include the current staff lot in the rear and east building side in addition to sharing those parking spaces in front of the building with handicapped and 15- minute visitors ( #11,4). • Short -term: o Having two entrances allows for clear -cut segregation of parent and mass transit transportation modes. o Having parents in the rear of the building offers a longer queue space. o Having buses in the front allows more than one bus to load /unload simultaneously versus the current practice of one at a time as well as improves the buses maneuverability due to the present lot's constricting space. o Make drop- off /pick -up zone sidewalk /curbing improvements to staff lot in order to make drop- off /pick -up safer for students and staff. o Assign a crossing guard to the parent driveway /Middleby Rd intersection in order to assure safe pedestrian passage and orderly queuing. • Long -term: o Delineate hardtop play area in rear with a movable fence or gate. o Place a barrier or such on worn foot path ( #8) so that pedestrians leaving front of building and wishing to access Middleby to the east must walk at least to the garden area in order to better segregate walkers from car traffic. o Close east entrance of school in order to deter parents from picking -up or dropping -off students from Middleby Rd to this doorway along parent driveway. o Improve visibility and their pedestrian access for the 3 pedestrian paths located at the rear of the building. o Work towards constructing a fire lane around the perimeter of the building. Estabrook • Change school traffic pattern orientation such that designated mass transit modes access is via the front of the building. This shall be true for the present, temporary, and permanent building stages. • Greatly troubled that to -date there is no final transportation plan for this $40 million building. This same discussion was the meat of the final Estabrook Task Force meetings, ending in March 2012. • Anticipate measurable difficulty in having timely bus service with proposed interchange of cars and buses in both present and temporary stages due to lack of enforceable rules and lack of merge space. • Short -term: o Demand staff associated with drop- off /pick -up wears LPS- issued reflective vests. o Prohibit vehicles passing any queue on Grove St. o Buses were noticeability delayed in parent traffic on Grove St. o Use the dedicated bus lane for bussed students only. • Long -term: o Agree with separating south sidewalk from driveway but disagree with making a second lane for vehicle queuing. o Prohibit vehicle queuing on Grove St. Fiske • Change school traffic pattern orientation such that designated mass transit modes access is via the front of the building ( #7,5,6); parent thru traffic and designated parent parking access is via the current staff lot (# 2,16,13) and rear southern staff lot only; and expand designated staff parking to include the Adams St driveway, front parking lot shared with handicapped and 15- minute visitors, in addition to the current staff lot ( #7,4,2). • It should be noted that no additional parking spaces can be added onto the playing field side of the Adams St driveway due to encroachment of the Recreational Dept playing fields. • Short -term: o All buses shall use the front of the building because the time savings is not significant for this school's population and traffic is actually worst for the Colony Rd side. o Reopen the Colony Drive school entrance for student use from 8:30- 8:45am and 3:15- 3:45pm ( #8). o Educate parents of 3 -way stop created along Adams St and school driveway by parents entering the school ( #3). o By switching parent parking to the rear of the building and staff parking to the front shall discourage illegal parking on the Adams St driveway that impedes school bus passage and bus turning radius. o Eliminate "Back In Only" parking from front lot ( #4). o Post No Parking within X feet of Colony Rd /school entrance intersection in order to increase line -of -sight near crosswalk. o Educate staff of proper parking procedures. • Long -term: o Replace the temporary bollards with a small island and pavement markings when entering both the Adam St driveway inner school loop and Old Colony loop ( #5,13). Harrington /CO • Short -term: o Discontinue allowing access to the building via the Kindergarten door at the front right of the building. This should address staff and parents cutting through the driveway and parking lot well beyond the pedestrian zone ( #12) and illegal parking. A crosswalk and sidewalk extension is not recommended due to the elbow curve line -of -sight issues of the driveway as it wraps around the building. o Educate Harrington staff not to park at CO. o Educate parents not to drop- off /pick -up within central school parking lot driveway. o Paint parking spots along driveway in order to delineate legal and safe locations. • Long -term: o Construct some form of a tasteful fencing (stone wall, art installation) between CO and Harrington so that the CO lot will be less attractive for Harrington and preschool parents to park and walk. Hastings • It was noted that unlike the other five elementary schools, the vast majority of students being dropped -off by parents occurred by 8:35am. • Short -term: o TSAC shall discuss modifying Crosby /Roosevelt Rd intersection signage and crosswalk configuration in order to address pedestrian safety concerns, namely an all -way stop. o Expand blacktop area by encroaching on grass area to left of #5. This will provide safer playground student space than using the current driveway. o Do not change the present directionality of the traffic. Clarke • Concerns that the proposed new bus loop will create traffic for the neighborhood. The loop may involve an easement with the Dept of Recreation's playing field. • Contrary to the report, the bus gate is NOT closed in the afternoon to prevent conflicts in pedestrian /bus traffic - for the same unsupervised conflict occurs in the morning (but over a wider expanse of time). LPS Transportation was under the impression that the bus gate was being used for both am and pm transportation and was surprised to learn of the contrary. • Do not eliminate sidewalk on south side of Brookside ( #14). It is heavily used for event traffic. • Witnessed 7 parents using handicapped parking spaces for live parking near school entrance. Also, an orphan lower lot space is designated as handicapped and is not used as such. • Short -term: o Demand staff associated with drop- off /pick -up wears LPS- issued reflective vests. o Open the bus gate for afternoon as well as morning bus service ( #2). o Improve the Brookside /Stedman intersection by adding a stop sign - the pole is already in place. This will slow traffic at this elbow turn and create a safer environment for pedestrians by increasing visibility and controlling access ( #1). o Install No U -Turn signage on Brookside to discourage cars parking on south side and waiting for students to approach these cars, by passing school's pick -up /drop -off loop. o Do not add a crosswalk for students to cross the entrance of the existing bus sloop ( #11). Instead, eliminate the sidewalk from the Brookside /Stedman intersection to this point ( #1 to #11) ( #16 referenced by study but not on map) to discourage pedestrian passing along this low visibility stretch and encourage crossing at an improved Brookside /Stedman intersection. Then, instead of using this space to widen the entire roadway, use this area to move these parking spaces further forward and off the road ( #10). This improved parking space alignment will result in a slight widening of the roadway ( #12). Designate these spaces as staff parking only ( #10). o Instruct students who reside in the South Stedman neighborhood to enter /exit the building from the door nearest the garden and not walk along side the bus lane. This will be safer for students and will solve the issue of unsupervised students mixing with the bus traffic ( #4, near #3). o Reschedule vendor traffic to not occur at student arrival /dismissal. o Educate staff on proper parking procedures. • Long -term: o Make existing bus loop improvements to increase turning radius for the buses, including softening exit right curve out of lower lot onto Stedman. o Proceed with upper bus loop. Diamond • Short -term: o Extend the bus fence along the school front. o Allow those buses feeding routes nearest to Sedge Rd to load /unload from Sedge Rd. o The crosswalk on the Sedge Rd driveway leading from the rear entrance to the parking lot needs signage and pavement markings. o Cease practice of allowing pedestrians to gather on grass strip ( #8). Instead, have pedestrians gather at school's front sidewalk and have cars queue along dedicated bus lane outer sidewalk ( #3). This affords a connecting crosswalk and sidewalk and eliminates the practice of pedestrians meeting cars in active 2 -lane driveway. This can be extended when the bus fence is extended. o Trim shrubbery along side entrance to Hancock Rd driveway. • Long -term: o Work with town to improve Hancock St rotary and enforce No Parking in the immediate area. Each creates significant line -of -site issues. LHS • Short -term: o Post signage indicating student permit holders only parking within the rear lot itself. o Re- stripe rear lot to eliminate open space area between 2 sets of center parking spaces near band room. This will serve to create a gentler traffic pattern by reversing the practice of 2 -3 live parking lanes waiting and turning in both directions, parking in hatched lined areas, and will add more spaces. o The loading dock hatched lines should be exaggerated and align with end of centered parking lanes. o Post a Stop sign at the intersection of the Waltham St driveway elbow and the south thru lane to stop traffic on the interior of the rear lot before exiting in order to provide increased pedestrian safety and clearly delineate the merging of crosswalks and 2 driveways. o Park LABBB and SPED vans when not in use in rear lot (perhaps in parking row directly behind Foreign Language Blg) ( #13) nearest proposed live parking lane instead of in the front lot nearest to its exit along Worthern Rd ( #5). o If the parent live parking recommendation for the south driveway is not used, then perhaps the same could be used for LABBB and SPED vans that queue daily along the front driveway onto Worthern Rd. • Long -term: o Consider two portable speed bumps in rear lot in order to deter speeding. Barrels could be placed adjoining them for increased pedestrian crossing visibility. These shall be located near pedestrian parking lot crossing zones.