Keeping School Children Safe

To the Editor:

I found a wonderful group of women, in MOPS, where I was introduced to a great book: Protecting The Gift by Gavin De Becker. In my fight with the school administration, many points from this book come to mind, in regards to protecting our children.

It is over a year since our neighborhood fight for a safer bus stop began. Here are some facts regarding school bus policy, DMV school bus rules and regulations, and where our tax money is being spent:

School Bus Policy according to Newtown BOE: http://www.newtown.k12.ct.us/page.php?pid=256

 3-701

III. Bus Safety

A. Safety Rules for Drivers

1. When a bus is on school property and children are present, the driver will not back up a bus until the children are supervised by an adult.

3-700 The Superintendent of Schools shall be responsible for the execution of the transportation policy and regulations.

The Superintendent of Schools or designee is responsible for establishing proper standards of safety, based upon those developed by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Division, Department of Motor Vehicles, State of Connecticut, in the operation of school buses and shall ensure their enforcement by the operator.

DMV School bus regulations: http://www.ct.gov/dmv/lib/dmv/regulations/275c.pdf

   Sec. 14-275c-18. Backing

Backing of the school bus shall be avoided, if possible. When backing maneuvers cannot be avoided, children shall be retained inside the bus. If there are children outside the bus, no backing maneuver shall be made unless a competent adult observer is on hand to direct the maneuver.

(Effective August 19, 1974)

 Cul de sac turns alleviate the need for K turns in many cases, and makes backing up unnecessary or minimized compared to the K turns many drivers are forced to do all over town. “It costs too much” to go into cul de sacs. I timed our neighborhood cul de sac turn and it saves both time and money with less idling and no blocking of traffic. Our police report from Officer Ketchum ok’d the legal cul de sac turn in September 2009. Also, the cost that taxpayers fund for professional services ($552,878 is the projected budget for this year’s professional services. How much of that is allocated towards attorney’s fees? ) would compensate drivers to meet all children safely at/within sight of their driveways. Is it too expensive to keep children safe but continue to pay lawyers to fight parents and children over safety issues and pay for greenhouses and give raises during a recession and give two weeks additional vacation time two years in a row. Many of you saw me this Halloween dressed up as a cul de sac. We met Chris Lyddy and he promised us that he would help. I would also like to get Pat Llodra involved in fixing this townwide problem. Please e-mail me as well: spinach135@gmail.com

Thank you Newtowners, for your support.

Susan McGuinness Getzinger

31 Little Brook Lane, Newtown                                                                      November 10, 2010