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| Exit to Knickerbocker Rd. |
A few weeks ago as I was leaving an event at our high school, I became engaged in a conversation with 3rd Ward Councilman Eugene Skurnick who found that he could not use the walkway by Manor Rd to return home. He was forced to take the long way back or jump the fence. He argued that it was a necessary precaution to keep the students in the building safe from outside dangers. I disagreed with him, because it was clear that we were standing in the middle of a designated "Fire Lane" no parking. When the conversation was over, Mr. Skurnick walked his way, Ms. Satterfield went to her vehicle and I climbed into mine.
We both realized that we had a pileup in the rear of DMHS, because the gate to exit onto Knickerbocker Rd. was also padlocked. The new Assistant Superintendent was added to the group as she also tried to leave the campus. All three cars made the U turn and went back the other way. In the meantime, a school bus came around the building and maneuvered its way into the space between the picnic tables and the school building to wait. I got out of my car and took photos of the Manor Rd. gate and walkway. The Assistant Superintendent stopped when she saw me. I walked over to her car and told her what I was doing. She is new. She just smiled. First impressions.
Needless to say, I was upset. I had spoken up several times in 2011
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| Street & walk exit to Manor Rd. |
about the fact that controlling the traffic in this one way in, only way out fashion is an invitation to disaster. Did anyone pause to think that this doubles the traffic across a roadway with children crossing? I was previously upset because of the unwieldy way a fire engine would have to navigate the campus in case of a fire emergency. The Board, of course, has always sat dispassionately and with no response to any suggestion that this is dangerous to students.
This article was originally planned for publication before Christmas. When I returned home, I was distracted by the events that had transpired that fateful Friday morning. That afternoon the television news was alive with the events in Newton, Connecticut. I did not post my objection to the perpetual lock down at the high school, because of these developments. The events at Sandy Hook Elementary were large in comparison to my complaint about the situation at DMHS.
In the meantime, I remembered that in August of 1967 when I registered at DMHS there was still in the center hallway a Memoriam for a student killed on the roadway between the south building and the north. It caught my eye, because of the way they spelled memoriam with a "u" instead of an "a". It actually forced me to check my dictionary. I was a new kid in a high school, that everyone kept reminding me, was a better school than my all black segregated school down south. The student's name was Mary Binder and she was the daughter of Otto Binder and the niece of Jack Binder who were really big in the comic book industry. Jack actually owned a studio located in a barn in Englewood where some of the early comic writers and artists convened to work after classes at Pratt Institute. She was crossing the street and dropped her books. The driver did not see her. She was hit and her chest was crushed against her books beneath the car there on the roadway between the 2 buildings. I often wonder why the school community chooses to forget that tragedy. It is a puzzle as to why they continue to place students in a situation where this is likely to happen again. I worry about my granddaughter crossing that roadway and dropping her book or purse.
Last year, my granddaughter complained that the gate across the brook behind the Middle School was locked in the Am after school begins. Any students who are late become even later, because they are forced to walk back to Tryon Avenue and walk down to where they may go up the hill across the soccer field to the building. Has anyone ever timed that walk? Yes. One does become significantly later to school after such a detour. It is said that this gate is locked in order to keep outsiders off the campus and to keep the students in. The gate to the walkway and street in the rear of the castle by Manor Rd. is also said to be locked in order to keep outsiders off the campus. Perpetual Lock down. The gate to exit onto Knickerbocker Road is also said to be locked to keep students from leaving the campus or outsiders from entering during school hours.
A driver must enter one way and then turn around and go out the same way pass an area where students cross on foot all day long. Hello people. This doubles the automobile traffic pass the point where Mary Binder was crushed beneath the car. What are you thinking? Traffic should be able to exit at either Manor Rd or Knickerbocker Road in the rear of the building. Forcing cars and buses to turn around and exit pass where students are on foot is just plain crazy. It is an invitation to disaster. We have been lucky that no other child has dropped his/her books and gone unnoticed. I fail to understand why school officials have not noticed or shown concern that this is a problem and that children are not safe.
I assume that when buses line up at 4 pm to take the School Choice Students back to their home Communities that they are allowed to exit the campus via the rear building onto Knickerbocker Road.
Next. The Englewood Fire Department. Yeah fellows. Why have you not given the school board citations for this? I was told that in a fire emergency the security guards will remove the padlock on the gate leading out onto Knickerbocker Road. Whew! Have you guys ever heard of unforeseen circumstances? What happens if security guards are unable to do this? No one has a crystal ball and is able to predict that circumstances will always be the same. What if there are problems on both sides of the building?
Suggestion:
Put one of those manned Security guard booths in the rear of the building or the front. That way, a log may be kept of the goings and comings of everyone who enters and exits the campus. That way the amount of traffic present around students crossing from building to building is cut in half.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Binder#Final_years_and_death
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Binder_(comics) older brother Jack had a studio in a barn in Englewood, New Jersey
1 comment:
Thank you for your article. I would like to add a little detail to the specifics of traffic flow and locking of access routes, both motor and pedestrian, during school hours.
The first photograph you feature is the northeast at access to Knickerbocker Road from Dwight Morrow Campus. It is padlocked at 8:00am and is unlocked at 2:50pm.
The next photograph pictured in your article depicts the motor and pedestrian gates at the north access located at the end of Manor Road. This is opened at 7:00am ant closed promptly at 8:00am. The pedestrian gate is re-opned at 2:25 but the motor access remains closed until 7:00am the following morning.
Across the Dwight Morrow Campus, both gates located on pedestrian paths on the west and southwest bridges (and both on the west, that is the Janis Dismus Middle School side) are padlocked at 8:00am and unlocked at 2:50pm.
This leaves one means of ingress and egress for motorists (Main East access Knickerbocker Road) access.But is this enough when this campus also houses the offices of the City of Englewood Board of Education and all of the motor and foot traffic that accompanies that. Pedestrians do have an additional option to walk from Tryon Avenue across the field and up the hill.
This one main road is shared with the students who traverse back and forth, going from North Building to South Building, class to class, maybe even playing Frisbee in the quad during lunch.
It should be noted that Administrators and Security Staff are present at the beginning and end of the school day to oversee arrivals and departures. Additionally, should the Englewood Fire Department need to be called, someone will instruct a Security Officer to unlock the northernmost east access to Knickerbocker Road.
As previously mentioned, at the end of the day, (2:50pm) all gates are unlocked, except for the Manor Road access. Traffic ebbs and flows, teachers leave, parents gather up their precious children, and Courtesy busing collects its charges and all head home.
How safe are the children? You decide.
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