School traffic study recommends changes

The long-awaited traffic study evaluating the problems at Springfield’s two renovated and expanded elementary schools has come up with recommendations.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20110211/NEWS02/702119871

Published February 11, 2011 in the Rutland Herald

School traffic study recommends changes

By SUSAN SMALLHEER
Staff Writer

SPRINGFIELD — The long-awaited traffic study evaluating the problems at Springfield’s two renovated and expanded elementary schools has come up with recommendations.

But whether the Development Review Board, which has jurisdiction in such matters, adopts the recommendations remains to be seen.

The board was to meet behind closed doors Thursday night in deliberative session to discuss the traffic situation, which developed after the two schools were renovated and enrollment close to doubled. Classes were consolidated in each school, which added to the traffic issue.

William Kearns, the town’s zoning administrator, said Robert Chamberlin of RSG Transportation Inc. of White River Junction, the consulting firm that conducted the study, recommended expanding the pickup times for students at the school and a slightly different traffic pattern at Elm Hill School.

Frank Perotti, the Springfield superintendent of schools, said Chamberlin came up with “some real practical suggestions” for alleviating the problem, including extending the hours for parents to drop off and pick up their children.

“We will continue to educate parents and to improve the bus, and let people know the bus ride is safe and the children are safe,” said Perotti, who noted that despite the traffic congestion, Springfield had a relatively high rate of students using the bus compared to the statewide average.

“As schools go, our ridership is up. That was real encouraging. Folks need to get used to the changes and we want to be good neighbors,” the superintendent said.

Kearns said the problems at Union Street School, which now houses all Springfield students in grades three through five, had basically resolved themselves.

But, he said, traffic congestion still persists at Elm Hill, where Springfield’s kindergarten through grade two students go.

“Both schools are working to manage the problem,” Kearns said.

Springfield closed Park Street School as part of the renovation plan and consolidated grades.

“Union basically works fine, but Elm is very restrictive,” Kearns said. Parents continue to line up to pick up their young children, clogging the neighborhood’s narrow streets.

One recommendation is to extend the time for drop off in the morning, so children can arrive at school earlier, he said.

But teacher contracts may complicate that recommendation, since contracts dictate the hours the teachers are at the school.

Another recommendation is to have parents drop kids off on Douglas Street and have the children walk up a slight hill 200 feet to Elm Hill School, he said.

Someone would be there to oversee the area, he said. Contributing to the problem at Elm Hill is that the sidewalks in the area are not very good, Kearns said.

He said Perotti has said the school made personnel changes to help with the children walking. Another problem is a retaining wall that leans over the sidewalk in one place, Kearns said.

Bus ridership has increased, he said. The traffic study said Springfield was above the state average in terms of percentage of children who take the bus to and from school.

He said the study noted 40 percent of the 300 children at Elm Hill ride the bus in the morning and the figure climbs to 58 percent in the afternoon.

“I have no idea why that is,” Kearns said.

He said the fact that more kids are taking the bus home has improved the late afternoon bottleneck. “It’s only taking 15 minutes to clear in the afternoon,” he said.

The town’s Development Review Board had sent a letter to the school district last year, saying it was in violation of its town permit to renovate the two elementary schools because the school had changed the grades in each school. Previously each school functioned as a neighborhood school across the grades.

Perotti said contract restrictions made it difficult to extend the hours of supervision at the school, to allow students to be dropped off earlier and picked up later.

But, he said, the schools would tackle that issue in future contract talks.

The superintendent said the town had included money in its proposed budget to improve the sidewalks in the Elm Hill School area, as well as address the leaning retaining wall this summer.

“We’re very appreciative the town is being supportive. We hope both budgets will pass,” Perotti said.