Talk about Somerville schools

[ron_newman]

From an e-mail I got yesterday:

Saturday, November 10th - 10-12 noon - True Grounds, Ball Square
Open Discussion with Ward 6 School Committee member Paul Bockelman and Ward 6 Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz. Please stop by with any concerns, complaints, suggestions, ideas! We want to hear them all!

Tuesday, November 13th - 4:30 - 6:00 p.m. - Diesel Cafe, Davis Square
Open Discussion with School Superintendent Tony Pierantozzi. The Superintendent will be at Diesel Cafe to talk about whatever is on your mind. Please come by and share your thoughts about the Somerville schools. And, if you have small children and are thinking about schools in Somerville, this is an excellent time to see the leadership of the schools up close and personal!

Thursday, November 29 - 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. - West Branch Library
We will be having another open information session with the Headmaster of Somerville High School on November 29th from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. at the West Branch Library.

Comments

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

Do you think it would be appropriate to raise the issue of eliminating crossing guards at these meetings? And yes, I'm being serious. :)

[ron_newman]

Why do you want to eliminate crossing guards?

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

If a child is too young to walk to school alone, their parents or an older sibling attend them. In this case, their parents or said sibling will perform the task of making the crosswalk safe for the young child to cross.

If a child is allowed to walk to school alone, they need to learn to communicate with traffic without some crabapple with a stop sign strolling leisurely into the crosswalk. I'd have less of a problem if they hustled, but more and more I suspect the traffic problems are caused, in part, by crossing guards in the first place.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

I should add that my neighbor is a crossing guard, and I hear her shrieking to her friends about how much she hates drivers, and how she loves to hold up traffic.

[ron_newman]

I think they're needed because the kids are too small to be easily seen by traffic when they enter the crosswalk alone Also, there should be no such thing as "too young to walk to school alone"; kids should be getting physical exercise this way from the very beginning.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

How young of a child would you allow to leave the house alone?

[ron_newman]

I walked to and from school starting at the age of 8 1/2. It would have been sooner, except that my first 2 1/2 years of school were halfway across Memphis from where I lived.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

I still maintain that a child can learn some important skills from stopping traffic themselves. Aggressiveness, fortitude, confidence.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Kids who are walking accompanied can be getting physical exercise, too ;).

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

It would be easier to give the crossing guards better training, or standard procedures for what they're supposed to be doing. There aren't that many of them, and they're employed by the school district. I suspect part of the problem is that they think "Oh, everyone knows what crossing guards are supposed to do," so nobody teaches new crossing guards best practices of how to minimize traffic problems.

If you don't have school crossing guards, and have parents doing the job for their own families with no training at all, I'd expect some of those parents to do it badly--slowly or inefficiently, inconveniencing traffic more than necessary, being rude to the neighbors. And if you want hundreds of 8 year olds to take over, it would be even worse, unless someone is teaching them good traffic manners.

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

At least the crossing guards should only help children across the street, and they should not do it against traffic at intersections with lights. I can't count the times I've almost mowed down the blond crossing guard in Teele square, turning from Holland to Broadway, when she's stepped out against a red "do not walk" sign to help some poor little 25 year old across the street. Pisses me off and is very dangerous.

I suspect the first forum with alderfolk would be the best one for this concern.

[trtls.livejournal.com]

I agree. I think the crossing guards certainly have their place helping children get to school if they are traveling alone. As an adult with children, I would prefer to cross the street on my own. I can get across the street faster by myself thus stopping less traffic.

[aquaflame16.livejournal.com]

agreed. Crossing guards helping children, fine, especially at intersections with no light. But I think it is entirely inappropriate to hold up an entire line of traffic that just got a green light in order to let a perfectly capable adult cross the street against the light.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

Which is another one of my issues, exactly.

[aquaflame16.livejournal.com]

I will say, though, that I don't think the answer to this is to eliminate crossing guards entirely. I just think a few changes in how they operate could make a big difference to allowing all traffic, car and pedestrian, to flow smoothly, appropriately, and cooperatively.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

I'd be down with that.

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

It's always awkward when I run that way. I in no way ask for their help, but when I stop at the crosswalk to wait for traffic, the guard (and it's def. been the woman you're referring to a few times) runs out in to traffic and tells me to cross. So then, I'm either a jerk for making a crossing guard stop traffic for me (at least it looks that way), or a jerk for not crossing when the guard has jumped out in to the street. I even jog by with a little smile and a "Oh, you don't have to!" but they do anyway.

[aquaflame16.livejournal.com]

I'm either a jerk for making a crossing guard stop traffic for me (at least it looks that way)

Oh, I totally don't ever think it's the pedestrian's fault, I have seen crossing guards insist on "helping" adults, against their attempts to decline, many, many times. Or "pre-stopping" the traffic when the person isn't even at the crossing yet.

Also, the idea of helping kids cross the street is great. So is helping kids learn skills to deal with traffic and crossing streets. One of these skills is sometimes waiting for an appropriate time to cross and not necessarily expecting to cross immediately, the second you get to the edge of the sidewalk.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

I'm telling you, these people frequently get a thrill out of causing traffic jams.

No way

[jokabri.livejournal.com]

I think this complaint falls under the category of "You got to be sh@tting me!". Because you're in a hurry to blast off to work you would jeopardize some poor little kid's life. Not to be snarky, but a bit of advice; leave earlier for work or go slower/relax (smoke a bone before you get in the car -- if needed). If you lived in the 'burbs you'd have to live with school buses stopping every 200'.

IMHO - I would NOT bring up removing crossing guards at crossings - at any school meeting - unless you're ready for a serious laughdown. Though, if you do decide to go ahead and attend a meeting and bring this up please post the time/date as I could always use a good laugh.

Re: No way

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

In between your advocation of drug use prior to driving and public community shaming, I don't know where to begin. Let's just say you're a fucking moron and leave it at that.

Re: No way

[jokabri.livejournal.com]

Wow...with that last sentence...you sounded like just my 2nd wife when I said "I had no idea she was your sister!". :>)

Re: No way

[jokabri.livejournal.com]

I was joking about the bone, but you knew that. I haven't done anything harsher than tylenol for 10 years.

My point was slow down, leave earlier and quit making an ass of yourself. I can only imagine if someone riding a bike gets in front of your need to leave late for work and then mow innocent folks down.

Re: No way

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

I leave two hours early. If people are assholes and I don't get to work on time, I can't hit our on-site gym and then my knee suffers the whole day.

Re: No way

[jokabri.livejournal.com]

Oh! Well... ok then... plow away!!! ;>)

Re: No way

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

Hah. Sorry for the insult, I got a little heated as this is one of my "topics".

Re: No way

[jokabri.livejournal.com]

No problem. I've been called a lot worse before lunch before. It's all that crossing guard's fault... I tell ya! Why I ought to!

Re: No way

[ron_newman]

I agree with jokabri.

Re: No way

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

Um... alright. Would you warn me when you're going to be getting high and driving, then?

[grapefruiteater.livejournal.com]

This is one of the most ridiculous and dangerous proposals I've heard in a long time. You can't be serious.

I walked to school as a kid, and I now drive past the Brown School every morning on my way to work right around the time when school starts. No way would I want to see crossing guards eliminated. Kids shouldn't be crossing the street on their own, and crossing guards can teach valuable lessons about how to cross safely and be a responsible pedestrian. We had a great crossing guard in my neighborhood, so I speak from experience. As a driver, I'd be very nervous to drive past a school in the morning or in the afternoon around dismissal if there were no crossing guards. That would just be terrifying.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

I guess all I can say is that I wholeheartedly disagree. Your comment is far too milquetoast and thin-blooded for my idea of what growing up ought to be, I guess.

My real problem with the crossing guards is that most of them seem to get off on slowing traffic. Hire some younger people who can get the hell out of the road to let drivers proceed apace, if we're talking compromise.

[grapefruiteater.livejournal.com]

I'm not going to get into this with you. I think your suggestion is reckless, selfish, dangerous, and poorly considered, especially in a densely populated urban area. End of story.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

I've been here four years, and I love so many things about this state, but the numerous attitudes like yours (unique to the extreme northeast) are the one unfortunate thing I've encountered here. =/

[tt02144.livejournal.com]

I would have to disagree with your proposal to eliminate crossing guards, but agree as to their training. Many children walk to school in Somerville, and cross dangerous intersections: Cedar at Morrison, Willow at Morrison, Broadway at Main Street, Washington Street, Pearl Street at Cross Street, to name a few. If nothing else, seeing those crossing guards reminds you that you're near a school and there are kids crossing. However, training really must be improved (by the way, crossing guards work for the Police Department, not the School Department). Some crossing guards are teaching children to cross against the light which is not good. At an intersection with a light they should be there for safety, but teach the children to wait for the light. It is a real traffic problem on certain streets when, like you said, they stop traffic just after they have received a green light. I think it aggravates people to the point that they may end up driving more 'aggressively'. And I don't think it's their job to stop traffic for adults, although I'm not sure what they've been told to do. It is very irritating, especially when they stop traffic for an adult who has not even reached the corner yet, and when they get there......they are turning and not crossing at all! Why does ANYONE need traffic stopped before they are even at the corner. I sometimes suspect that the crossing guards just get bored, so they jump the gun a little. The Brown School used to have older students serve as crossing guards on some small, quiet streets surrounding the school. That was a great program because it taught responsibility to the students. Somehow it has gotten lost along the way, I guess for administrative reasons, but it's too bad.