Crossing guard brings safety concerns to board

NORTH CANAAN — A video taken of students, some with parents in tow, running across Main Street in the center of town to wait for the school bus, brought a shocked reaction from school board members Jan. 14.

Their response put an exclamation point on a “pretty shocking� description by crossing guard Don Caranci of actions he sees every day while on duty at the intersection of Route 44 and West Main Street.

He has been on the job for well over a decade and has been trying for some time to address the problem of drivers who speed through that intersection and ignore his large, red stop sign.

In December, he came to the school board meeting to advise that he had crossed only a few children since the beginning of the school year.

Most days, no one comes to his corner. He waits there, and watches as children cross three lanes of traffic a short distance away to wait for the bus.

While his appeal to the board could have put him out of a job, Caranci said at the time that he didn’t see any point in the town paying him to do nothing.

Region One Superintendent Patricia Chamberlain and North Canaan Elementary School Principal Rosemary Keilty both advised at the Dec. 10 meeting that as long as even one student might use that crosswalk, it needs to be guarded.

Keilty also noted Caranci is valuable as a “keen observer� of safety issues.

But it still bothers Caranci that so few children walk to school, given the way the school promotes good health. The school has a policy that students in fourth grade and up who live within a mile of the school can only ride a bus if a specific request is approved.

But last year, when parents began questioning the policy and a drop in enrollment had left buses with extra seats, the policy was relaxed.

Essentially, the message from the school board was that parents did not have to present a particular hardship for their children to be allowed to ride. They just needed to make a request in writing to the school. No one was going to be denied.

Caranci returned to the board last week after not getting a response to his request that the board consider moving the crosswalk. He had recommended putting it near the traffic light and pedestrian crossing signal  at the intersection of Main and Railroad streets.

The video he brought showed about eight children coming out of Station Place to cross the street.

In some instances, children (sometimes with their parents)  ran across the road to narrowly avoid cars and trucks traveling at high speed. They gathered across the street to wait for the schoolbus.

Trying to get on bus early

Caranci wanted to know why the bus didn’t pick them up on the Station Place side of the road so they do not have to cross. Keilty said the bus stop is already on that side of the road. She was not aware of any changes.

One of the primary goals in devising bus routes is to avoid children having to “cross over.�

Caranci also wanted to know why Resident State Trooper Jim Promotico is not around  in the morning, despite discussions last year that included his providing a “police presenceâ€� from time to time.

Crossing guards are officially employees of the town. Caranci spoke with First Selectman Douglas Humes, who deferred the issue to the school board. Board members voted last week to change the guarded crossing at Keilty’s discretion.

Caranci told The Journal that Bus 19 picks up the students between 8:05 and 8:10 a.m. as its passes though the center of town headed west. It comes back through, headed east, at 8:30 a.m. That is presumably when the students should be picked up on the Station Place side of the road. Keilty said she would contact the bus company about the situation.

Caranci said that if the official crossing is moved down the road, he will be given a specific procedure to follow.

“I would think it would involve me pressing the button for the crossing signal, then going out into the road with my sign to make sure traffic stops. I would want to use a cone to physically block the blind lane so drivers couldn’t sneak through.�

The blind lane he referred to is the righthand lane. When another vehicle is stopped in the left turn lane, a driver going through the intersection cannot see anyone in the crosswalk to the left. That was the scenario a few years ago, on Halloween night, when Caranci’s neighbor and her young daughter were hit by a driver in that lane.

Before the recent traffic signal upgrade by the state — prompted by the local Streetscape improvement project — there was a  problem with children not waiting for the walk signal because it took too long to come up. Caranci said that with the upgrade, it now comes up very quickly.

He also posed the question of what will happen if there is a resurgence in enrollment.

“What are these kids going to do when they’ve gotten used to riding the bus and they suddenly have to go back to walking?� he asked.