Officials consider Eleventh Street drop-off locations ‘dangerous’
Falls School Board member and police investigator Will Kostiuk warned the board Monday that the student drop-off situation in front of West End Elementary and Falls High School is dangerous.
Kostiuk said that the Falls Police Department has two officers assigned to the area on Eleventh Street around 8 a.m., prior to the start of classes, but even the patrols are not enough to curb potentially dangerous behavior.
Superintendent Jeff Peura thanked law officers for their efforts to keep traffic safe and moving.
“It’s a real dangerous time in the school district,” Peura said.
“It’s very dangerous,” agreed Kostiuk. “Kids come popping out between those cars and we only have two guys (police officers) working .... It’s hard to chase those people out (of yellow-curbed zones in the front of the school).
“It’s a dangerous area, something’s going to happen.... I think it’s our responsibility somehow to make it so it’s safer.”
Kostiuk said that despite officers warning and ticketing drivers, the unsafe conditions return.
Several ideas for alleviating congestion in front of the school, including diverting traffic to the back of the school and staggering starting time for the early childhood education students, were offered by the board and members of the audience.
Peura said the district would work with the city and law enforcement if there were to be changes in road signs or zones. Kostiuk asked that the board and administration consider alternatives.
“We came up with a plan for Falls El. Let’s really put some thought into it and hopefully not take too much time,” Kostiuk said.
Falls Elementary Principal Jerry Hilfer said that new transportation routes around the elementary school were working out “very, very well.” The bus and car drop-off and pick-up locations were changed over the summer to alleviate concerns for student safety under the prior configuration.
Administrative updates
In other action, Peura attempted to schedule a board retreat, which would be open to the public, early in October. A suggested date did not work out for all board members, but they agreed to stay in contact to make the arrangements.
According to Peura, the retreat would offer the board a chance to do long-range planning, talk about short-term ideas, go over Q-Comp curriculum and have open discussion. He said that it would help him get a better idea in which direction the board would like the district to move.
Peura also said the district was in line to receive $240,000 in federal funds through a jobs bill. He said that the district would consider using the money to offset a potential reduction in state aid if the Legislature cut school funding when it returns in early 2011.
Falls Elementary School has an enrollment of 659 students, which is up 22 students from last month and up 25 students from the same time last year. Hilfer presented the board with a listing of the number of students in each grade, homeroom class and tier reading and tier math unit.
Fourth and sixth grade classes had the highest number of students in each homeroom, 31 and 30 respectively, while other grades each had more than 20 students per class. When grades were divided into tiers for reading and math, some classes had up to 35 students.
When asked by board member Gordon Dault if the more-than-30-student classes were cause for concern, Hilfer said that it was something they were watching.
Falls High School has a current enrollment of 610 students according to Falls High Principal Tim Everson. The school enrollment is down four students from last month and down 32 students from last year in September.
