December 28, 2007

Crosswalk issue at Evergreen Schools

Custodians not allowed to direct traffic

By Carol Rosen
Staff Writer

For quite a while now custodians have been helping students cross streets and assisting drivers and traffic flows at several schools in the Evergreen Elementary School District.

However, recently a police officer told Norwood Creek Elementary School officials that “civilians are not allowed to direct, provide directions or to stop traffic,” said Gloria Abend, the school secretary at Norwood Creek.

“We had our custodians assisting children to cross the street and they also helped parents out of the driveway to make sure there were no accidents, but that’s all changed now. The custodians are helping the students cross the street, but aren’t assisting drivers anymore,” she said.

“Even [city appointed] crossing guards are not allowed to direct traffic,” Abend said. It’s become quite difficult because more parents are driving their children to school and creating some traffic problems when dropping them off or picking them up before and after school. Abend explained that the majority of students used to ride buses, but she’s not sure why that changed.

“I’ve been here for 11 years. We still have two buses, but they are not full anymore and most students don’t walk to school,” she said.

“The custodians are allow-ed to stop traffic with a stop sign while students cross the street, but they can’t direct the traffic in and out of the driveway. It’s become a problem because there is so much going on there [with cars and parents dropping off and picking up students] before and after school,” Abend told the Times.

A committee from the San Jose Department of Transpor-tation is expected to come out the end of January to determine the number of crosswalks Norwood Creek can use with a custodian helping students to cross. Abend said the committee will count the number of students using the crosswalk and analyze that data to come up with the number of cross walks the school can man with custodians. Students currently use three, but that may be cut back to one or two following the analysis.

She said the city formerly trained crossing guards to manage school traffic, but stopped. She said the problem isn’t limited to Evergreen schools, “it’s a citywide problem.”

She also noted that parents have called and sent e-mails and letters to tell the school they are dissatisfied with the current circumstances. One former Norwood Creek parent, whose children now attend Carolyn Clark, noted that the city came out and marked the crosswalks, but just before the holiday break had not yet painted the lines.

With the current $25 million deficit in the city’s budget, it’s likely the problem won’t be cleared up anytime soon.