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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-05-22 Public Comment - L. Hand - Rouse Lamme CrossingFrom:Lucian To:Suit, Cate Cc:Bertram, Casey; Jurgita Meiliute; Eichenberger, Abby; Agenda Subject:Re: Rouse / Lamme crossing Date:Friday, March 4, 2022 11:06:44 AM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. The incident this morning (crossing guard hit) brings back this discussion from a year ago. Please see Feb 22, 2021 email below. Today's incident highlights all of my concerns raised there. BPD has been unacceptably negligent in their attention to traffic around HawthorneSchool. It is tragic that a crossing guard was hit, but as the old saying goes "never let a crisis go to waste". Maybe this will *finally* get BPD to wake up and provide some proper traffic controlduring school arrival and departure times. Since BSD seems unable to get BPD attention, I'm adding City Commission to the cc list. Sincerely --Lucian On Tue, Feb 23, 2021 at 4:37 PM Lucian <lucian.hand@gmail.com> wrote: Cate; Indeed Jurgita noticed the officer at the intersection both morning and afternoon on Monday,that is the second time that we've seen an officer there this year. I don't think we need or even want the intersection patrolled every day morning and afternoon - we just need it patrolled with some regularity during school arrival & departuretimes. A few well-placed warnings and/or citations should get the message to drivers that we are serious about school crossings. Considering that the critical time is only ~30 minutesmorning and afternoon, we're talking about 1 hour of police time per school day. Could we ask for that once a week? At the risk of suggesting the obvious, maybe BPD needs aschedule to coordinate with and support the crossing guards. You say that SRO Ogden patrolled that intersection Friday afternoon. He was certainly nowhere in sight during departure time - I wonder where he was when that Streamline busran the intersection. I'm glad to hear that you are following up on the bus incident Friday. Knowing the time-of- day and route it should be easy enough for Streamline to identify the driver and takeappropriate action. Jurgita and I can provide a statement if needed. Sincerely --Lucian On Tue, Feb 23, 2021 at 2:37 PM Suit, Cate <cate.suit@bsd7.org> wrote:Hi Lucian & Jurgita, SRO Ogden patrolled the intersection Friday afternoon as well as yesterday afternoon, and will continue to do so as he is available. Sergeant Richardson also sent this intersectionissue to BPD to patrol as much as feasible. Unfortunately, there is not a way to have this intersection always manned by a police officer, but they are and will continue to patrol asoften as possible. School zones can often be hectic across the district, and they try to patrol all of our sites as much as possible. I appreciate their help and support, as I realizeour community police resources are often stretched thin. The incident with the Streamline bus not stopping was dangerous and frustrating, and was reported both to Streamline as well as to officers. Mrs. Erickson informed me Fridayafternoon and this situation should be handled. I appreciate you sharing it with me, as well. We will continue monitoring this intersection and staffing it to keep students safe, andreporting any further incidents of reckless driving (such as Streamline in this instance). I appreciate your support in reporting issues if you see them, as well. Best, Cate On Mon, Feb 22, 2021 at 5:53 PM Lucian <lucian.hand@gmail.com> wrote:Cate; On Friday I received a call from BPD SRO supervisor, as I understand you forwarded this email to him. He alternated between assuring me that BPD *is* patrolling thiscrossing (despite lack of visibility...maybe undercover officers?) and telling me that BPD lacks resources to patrol school crossings. It was a surreal and maddening conversation. Is this really what we must accept fromour local police department? Can nothing more be done? Coincidentally, Jurgita and I together picked up our boys after school on Friday. As we approached the Rouse/Lamme crossing a Streamline bus ran the crossing with MsErickson frantically waving her arms in a futile attempt to get the bus driver's attention. We are astounded and terrified at the disregard for student safety, especially fromprofessional drivers such as this Streamline driver, and BPD's inability to patrol this intersection despite the nearby substation. You suggested the problem is simply "new lights". I'm not worried about studentshaving to wait as a car or two ignores the lights - that is merely annoying. What terrifies and infuriates me is seeing drivers run the crossing while Ms Erickson (or anothercrossing guard) is STANDING IN THE STREET WITH STOP SIGN RAISED. We have got to do better. As school principal, you have a larger soap box than I have. Since our feckless SRO cannot or will not address this, maybe you can get the attentionof the chief of police? Sincerely --Lucian On Fri, Feb 19, 2021 at 1:23 PM Suit, Cate <cate.suit@bsd7.org> wrote:Hi Lucian and Jurgita, I do understand your frustration and concerns. We share our School Resource Officer with several other schools in the district, and he is not available at Hawthorne everyday. When he is at Hawthorne in the mornings, he helps support not only our crosswalks but also additional parking issues on side streets around our school. WhenI say I have spoken with him about our surrounding traffic issues many times, I certainly do not mean that he is feckless or apathetic to the issue. He hascommunicated the concern with others, and is actually actively working on increased signage with the city in addition to supporting our crosswalk staff when he isavailable. I have visited with Mrs. Erickson recently regarding the crosswalk, and she shared that the primary concern is that drivers do not seem to be paying attention to the newflashing pedestrian lights. She often has to wait with students on the corner, even while the lights are flashing, before drivers stop and she is able to escort studentsacross the street. From our perspective, part of this issue is that the lights are a newer feature on Rouse, and of course part of it seems to be human nature to be in a hurryand continue on even when they see the lights flashing. Our staff works hard to ensure student safety in this area. As I mentioned earlier, I am also planning to continue the conversation with BPD through our SRO and see whatsolutions they might recommend as inattentive drivers are a public safety issue. I am also open to ideas that Casey may have. Again, I appreciate your willingness to reach out. Best, Cate On Fri, Feb 19, 2021 at 12:55 PM Lucian <lucian.hand@gmail.com> wrote: < I have spoken with our SRO about this issue many times ... >Is our SRO really so feckless, or is it better described as apathy? I find it a rather brutal statement on our society and our city that we can afford an officer patrolling the hallways of our elementary schools, but apparently we can'tafford an officer to patrol crosswalks for the 30 minutes before and after school that our crossing guards need support. As a small "bonus" to my aggravation on this subject, BPD substation is merely 1city block from the crosswalk in question...but we cannot seem to get support to patrol this. How do we escalate this? Casey knows Hawthorne well, maybe he can get theattention of BPD now that he is co-superintendent? Do I need to escalate to the City Commission? How do we get some attention applied to this *before* a student orcrossing guard is hit by a reckless or inattentive driver? Sincerely --Lucian On Fri, Feb 19, 2021 at 11:21 AM Suit, Cate <cate.suit@bsd7.org> wrote:Good morning, Thank you for sharing your experiences. I have spoken with our SRO about this issue many times, and it is frustrating that drivers do not take our student safetymore seriously. I will continue discussions with the BPD. I do not know if it is possible to have the intersection regularly patrolled, but I agree that even a fewtimes a week would be helpful in deterring irresponsible drivers. Thank you, Cate On Fri, Feb 19, 2021 at 8:11 AM Lucian <lucian.hand@gmail.com> wrote:Cate; Frequently when I walk our kids (Joris & Kajus) home from school I see cars failing to yield at the Rouse/Lamme crosswalk. Speaking to Ms Erickson (whotypically guards that crosswalk) she indicated extreme frustration with the ongoing situation. BPD seems profoundly disinterested in street safety - my repeated calls areignored. The entire year I've only once seen an officer near that intersection at either drop-off or pick-up times. Maybe as Hawthorne principal you could get BPD's attention and have thisintersection patrolled? Sincerely --Lucian -- Cate SuitPrincipal, Hawthorne Elementary Office: 406.522.6700Cell: 406.579.1145 Fax: 406.522.6730 This communication may contain material protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA.)This communication and any documents or files transmitted with it are confidential and are intended solely for the use of theBozeman Public Schools and the individual or entity to which it is addressed. Any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing orcopying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you received this message in error, please delete it from your system withoutcopying it, and notify the sender by reply e-mail or by calling 406-522-6700 so we can correct the address. -- Cate SuitPrincipal, Hawthorne Elementary Office: 406.522.6700Cell: 406.579.1145Fax: 406.522.6730 This communication may contain material protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA.) This communicationand any documents or files transmitted with it are confidential and are intended solely for the use of the Bozeman Public Schools and theindividual or entity to which it is addressed. Any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this communication is strictlyprohibited. If you received this message in error, please delete it from your system without copying it, and notify the sender by reply e-mail or by calling 406-522-6700 so we can correct the address. -- Cate Suit Principal, Hawthorne Elementary Office: 406.522.6700 Cell: 406.579.1145Fax: 406.522.6730 This communication may contain material protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA.) This communication and anydocuments or files transmitted with it are confidential and are intended solely for the use of the Bozeman Public Schools and the individual orentity to which it is addressed. Any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If youreceived this message in error, please delete it from your system without copying it, and notify the sender by reply e-mail or by calling 406-522-6700 so we can correct the address.