Parents, school, guard seek meeting of minds on crosswalk

NORTH CANAAN — It was just about 8 a.m. last Friday morning, Jan. 29. The sun was shining, but the temperatures were in the single digits. Some drivers on Main Street in the middle of town were still defrosting windshields as they drove. Those headed east were looking directly into the sun. A pickup truck driver cruised through the green light, shielding his eyes from the glare while leaning forward to see through a small hole in the ice caked on his windshield.

Just a minute or two later, a succession of seven elementary school children and two adults began crossing the road, headed to their school bus stop.

That crossing Main Street can be treacherous is not a point that anyone argues with. Drivers often speed, cars are parked along the road, trucks make wide turns, and even a pedestrian walk signal is no guarantee a driver turning “right on red� will see it or heed it.

But many students and parents are choosing to ignore safety guidelines set out by North Canaan Elementary School Principal Rosemary Keilty.

The designated crosswalk is manned by a crossing guard with a handheld stop sign. There is a traffic light and a pedestrian crossing signal on both Main and Railroad streets (also called routes 44 and 7, which are state highways).

Avoiding the crosswalk

About 30 paces away, crossing guard Don Caranci watched as the youngsters chose not to cross with him.

Caranci, who is paid by the town, has told the Board of Education and school administrators of his concerns —and has said that it doesn’t make sense to pay him to guard the crosswalk if students don’t use it.

At his urging before the school board, the crosswalk was moved last week a short distance from the West Main Street intersection, where there are no traffic signals.

“All I want is to ensure the safety of the children,� he said.

Days after moving to what should be a safer location, he said he had yet to cross anyone, and had not seen a trooper. Keilty said she was told by Resident State Trooper Jim Promotico that he would monitor the crosswalk during the first week of the change.

On Friday, one parent jogged across the street, from Whitford Court and across three lanes of traffic, with two young children. This reporter stopped to ask her why, and she said it was safe to cross there as long as she is with her children. Another parent agreed.

When advised they were ignoring the instructions of their school principal and crossing the street illegally,  both said they did not know that crossing outside of the crosswalk is against the law.

At that point, one parent said she would still not use the crosswalk. The other said she probably would, and that it would take some time to “get into the habit.� She also noted it is not so much the amount of traffic at that time of day, but what she described as the speeding, lack of consideration and other bad habits by drivers.

Defining jaywalking

Under a state law on the books since 1929, pedestrians not in a marked crosswalk can be ticketed and fined. Even those using a crosswalk are subject to doing so properly; that means waiting for a walk signal or red traffic light on the road to be crossed, or heeding a police officer or other designated traffic controller.

A seventh-grader at the bus stop that morning said it was just too far to walk the extra distance to use the crosswalk. (It amounts to about 60 paces).

All of the students that morning were there well ahead of the bus, which picked them up in front of the Raynard and Peirce building.

A personal conflict, perhaps

One girl said her parents don’t like Caranci, who lives at the Station Place apartments and is a neighbor to all the children who should be crossing with him.

One question that has come up several times is why the bus stop had been moved to the opposite side of the street.

The priority when devising bus routes is to avoid cross-overs; this is particularly true on roads with heavy traffic. In North Canaan, it is not very hard to meet that priority. Buses travel up and down the state highways in each direction.

About 15 minutes after the students were picked up by their bus Friday, another one, mostly empty, came by on the Station Place side of the road.

One parent said she asked the bus driver why they could not at least wait on their side of the road, and cross to the bus while its red lights and stop sign were activated. The parent said she was told by the bus driver that it was not the proper way to do it.

Fewer students take the bus

Keilty said the change in the location of the stop was made by the bus company, All-Star Transportation, at the beginning of the school year. One bus had been dropped, to match a decline in student population. The remaining five bus routes had been reconfigured.

“I ride the buses on a regular basis in the afternoon,� Keilty said. “The kids are being dropped off on the Station Place side of the road then. It never occurred to me they would be doing it differently in the morning. It would seem that this whole situation could be resolved if the bus stop was moved back.�

On Monday, Feb. 1, she said she was still not able to speak with All-Star’s Region One manager, Richard Dufour, and was told he would be in on Wednesday (Feb. 3), after The Lakeville Journal went to press.

“I am hoping that as soon as I speak with him, the change can be made and we can notify the families,� Keilty said.

Also on Monday, Caranci reported most of the students and parents used the crosswalk. However, he said one parent crossed illegally with his child to the bus stop — then used the crosswalk to return home.

“I just don’t get it,� Caranci said.

More students can ride now

The Station Place Apartments are just under a mile from North Canaan Elementary school.

Last year, at the urging of parents, and with plenty of room on the buses, the school board decided to ease a policy that says students in grades four and up who live within a mile of the school aren’t given seats on the bus. Parents needed to request an exemption in writing if they wanted their child to go on the bus. Keilty said all parents have done so.

But that doesn’t mean some won’t still walk or ride bikes, especially when the weather warms up.

“Even if no one is walking, I feel it’s important to have someone out there. It’s another set of eyes because you just never know who is traveling that road,� she said.

Keilty added that Caranci, who is a town employee officially under the jurisdiction of the Board of Selectmen, understands  his job description. He is only empowered to cross schoolchildren; he is not empowered to ticket anyone for crossing illegally.

However, she advised Caranci in a Jan. 27 letter informing him of the crosswalk change (sent after calling him prior to the Jan. 26 effective date) that, “If you observe jaywalking or vehicles that you believe are speeding, you should make a note of it and inform the resident trooper.�

She told The Journal late Monday that she had heard back from Promotico, who told her he would monitor the crosswalk all this week.

As well, a notice had gone into the Troop B roll call book asking troopers on patrol at 8 to 8:30 a.m. and 3 to 3:30 p.m. to make an effort to monitor the crosswalk during those times.