Project should be completed before fall
The Falls School District is moving ahead with changes to the Falls Elementary School parking lot and bus zoning in effort to increase safety for its students.
At a projected cost of $100,000, changes in the structure of the school’s front concrete drive will more clearly separate cars and buses, which currently intermingle outside the school, according to interim Superintendent Kevin Grover. He said the school has been made aware of the risks which are created in that situation.
“We’ve been warned,” Grover told the Falls School Board at a recent meeting.
The plan, headed by the district’s Transportation and Maintenance Director Jeff Veeder, is a direct response to a recent recommendation by the Minnesota State Patrol that the hazard should be addressed. The review was requested by the district.
“We’ve been looking at transportation issues,” Grover told The Journal, noting safety changes also made by shifting the bus zones at Falls High School to allow motorists traveling on Eleventh Street in front of the school better visibility of the students.
Grover said several options were reviewed to improve safety and zoning at FES, before the current project was chosen.
“It isn’t a perfect solution,” Grover said. “If we were building a new school, we would do things differently. Schools change and there’s much more focus on safety now.”
The project is scheduled to be completed before school starts in the fall.
