Peekskill coalition aims for safer walks to school
Plans trial run of a ‘walking’ bus
April 6, 2022
Employing the adage that people learn by doing, a Safe Routes Peekskill coalition is working to create a safer environment for children walking to school. The coalition is composed of co-equal partners, said Margery Rossi, co-chairperson of the advocacy committee for the school district’s Parent Teacher Organization.
City and school district officials, citizens’ advocacy group Peekskill Walks and parents of school children have been meeting since last summer, creating an action plan to increase pedestrian safety around the district’s six schools. Safe Routes is a national group that works to create an environment of safety in communities.
Rossi, the parent of a graduating senior, was looking for a project that could train members of the PTO in advocacy work that didn’t involve lobbying the state for funding – which is where the advocacy focus had been for the past few years. “We needed to find a way to engage families in advocacy work that was less intimidating than figuring out the quagmire of Albany funding. We wanted something that would have a benefit other than funding.”
“This is an issue that is not partisan, contentious or controversial. We didn’t want to turn our advocacy into a battleground. We want a safe environment for all our children to walk to school,” said Rossi. An additional goal of this promotion of safe routes to school involves training parents on how to work with city government to get action on such issues as crosswalks being painted and accurate signage in school zones.
In their initial meetings last summer, the group identified how they would work together in the fall and drafted a plan to visit each of the district’s schools during morning drop-off. Over the span of six weeks, they visited all the schools, observing and taking pictures and video. Some days there were two members of the coalition present, other days there were eight members at the site visit. For instance, Carmine Crisci, the director of facilities for the school district and Jennifer Sampson, assistant director of transportation were present to see what issues could immediately be resolved. Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education Dan Callahan was on hand at the middle and high school visits. At the end of the six weeks the group compiled their notes comparing and contrasting them, just as students are taught to do in writing classes.
From this exercise, a list of priorities was created that noted consistent issues across all locations. In January the group met with then City Manager Andy Stewart and Police Chief Leo Dylewski who agreed the priorities were reasonable and set a March date to follow up. In March, Matt Alexander, who was acting city manager at the time, joined the meeting with Chief Dylewski and they reviewed a document the volunteers created using tax maps, with a legend to mark up the conditions of crosswalks and signage. The committee learned about some of the constraints the city faces regarding union rules affecting DPW work involved in placing signs and painting crosswalks.
The group also discovered that traffic enforcement inside a school zone has different consequences than outside a school zone. School zones must be clearly marked with a beginning and end point so that drivers and police know where the boundary is. Without clear school zones designated, police cannot provide proper enforcement. One of the goals of the coalition is that before each school year, signage needs to be inspected for clarity and consistency. On its site inspection tour, the group found three different enforcement times posted on signs on Ringgold Street where an entrance to the middle school is located.
The Washington Street entrance to the middle school is a particularly dangerous location. One of the programs at the May 21 Saturday Academy at the middle school will include information for parents and students on how to manage the dangers posed to student pedestrians crossing streets. “A component of the program will include training about what are traffic safety rules here,” said Rossi. “We have families that come from other municipalities and countries, and they may not know what the rules are here.”
Later this month a ‘walking’ bus will introduce families at Oakside to the concept of walking as a group to school. According to coalition member Cathy Matone who represents the Peekskill Walks group, the ‘bus’ has a parent in the front, middle and back and kids come out of their houses to join the ‘bus’. The route has been safely mapped out – including assessments of how safe various sidewalks are. Information will include the state of repair of each sidewalk; are bushes overgrown, impeding safe passage, etc. The goal is that it’s safer for a child to walk with a group than alone. “I remember from growing up the freedom and joy that came from walking to school,” said Martone, who added that she was trusted to walk to school. “I wish that for all kids.”