THE DOINGS
August 17, 2009
By JENNIFER ZIMMERMAN
Following the work of two local residents, students walking to Pleasantdale Elementary School will soon have a safer route.
Recently the village of Willow Springs was awarded $399,530 from the Illinois Department of Transportation's Safe Routes to School program to enable and encourage local students to walk and bike to school.
Students from portions of Indian Head Park and Burr Ridge attend the school.
The grant money received will be used to construct sidewalks along German Church Road, School Street, Archer Avenue and Nolton Avenue. It will also be used to install flashing beacons and signs in school zones on German Church Road, Archer Avenue and Nolton as well as help construct a crosswalk on German Church Road with safety signs and reflective striping.
Former Willow Springs Public Works Director Jim Chevalier and Administrative Assistant Gina Scaletta-Nelson applied for the grants with the help of local officials and residents.
The recipients of their grant effort will be the children who attend Pleasantdale Elementary School in unincorporated La Grange and Willow Springs School in Willow Springs.
They hope the sidewalks will help Pleasantdale School District 107 eliminate bus routes and in turn save the district and local taxpayers thousands of dollars each year while improving air quality.
"We hope the community will rally around our efforts to keep kids safe while affording families the opportunity to walk to school. It's a win-win situation," Scaletta-Nelson said. "Less traffic will mean better air quality, families walking will mean better health and fitness and fewer bus routes will mean the money can be used in other areas."
The Illinois Safe Routes to School program provides schools and community groups with funding to build safer routes to schools and to provide programs helping students become safer walkers and cyclists. These improvements include engineering solutions, safety education, encouragement, enforcement and evaluation programs.
The program awarded $13.1 million in federal fund statewide to encourage walking to school.
"With Illinois ranked fourth in the nation for childhood obesity rates, providing children with safe and secure means of walking to school is an important tool to improving the health of our children," said Gov. Pat Quinn.
Monday, August 17, 2009
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8 comments:
Dr. Fredisdorf sets the newsletter up so he takes all the credit. He then surrounds himself with minions who give him all the credit. What he doesn't do or can't do is take any responsibility for any serious problems in this school. He will never take any responsibility for what some parents in this school think are serious problems. He will however, take credit from parents who only give him credit and will ignore the serious problems alongside him. You will never see that in the newsletter. You will never see him take any responsibility for any serious problems in this school, except for insignificant problems. Those kinds of problems he can handle.
Allowing a teacher to bring her personal life into her professional life by having kids raise money for her personal family health issues is using kids to benefit personally. It shows a lack of sensitivity to all the Pleasantdale families who are struggling right now with family members who have different diseases. It shows the leadership with a narrow lens. This fundraiser manipulates kids by offering a prize. It keeps the childrens’ eyes on the prize, while they are out there doing the WORK of raising money. Play is their work. Not Work is their work. Then after they go out and do work for one member of the Pleasantdale staff, they have to go and walk for an hour. Talk about not having any respect for the work these kids did all year. Tuesday should be a day of play and respect for these kids and their effort this year. Raising money should be enough for this effort, but it isn’t. Then next these children who worked, will have to sit through hearing how they need to respect adults. Treat kids with respect kids and they will copy you.
How is this really going to save money on bus route's for the school? I know as a parent I will not be letting my child walk to school. The children who attend elementary school are age 5 to 10 (at the most) what parent will allow a child that young to walk to school. Traffic on Wolf and German Church is horrible and too many people just don't pay attention while driving. Willow Springs has installed speedbumps in the neighborhoods and that doesn't seem to slow traffic. Also will there be a crossing guard at School St. and German Church so where is that money coming from??? Then lets factor in weather, kids will not want to be walking in the cold and the rain so now are we redoing bus routes on raining and cold days or is it then the parents who are driving them to school causing now more traffic down school street. plus adding more polution to our air. Let's be real about this the only people this is helping is family's on School St. get sidewalks and curbs.
I disagree with the previous blogger. I live in Willowshire and I would love the opportunity to walk (or bike)my children to school. Yes, on bitterly cold days I would have to drive them, but I usually do that now so that they are not waiting at the corner for the bus.
Ms Green-
What about the parents who work and are not able to walk or bike their children. Would you let then go alone??
Good question... hire a neighbor or ask a friend to take your child. I wonder what working parents do in the Highlands School District where they do not have buses?
Dear Anonymous,
First of all, you need to immerse yourself in the business of schools and school funding in Illinois. We are the only elementary school district that feeds into LT that buses children to school in this area. Western Springs, the Highlands, La Grange Districts 102 and 105 do not bus children.
Pleasantdale buses children because when the school was built, the community was spread out, so there was a need for busing kids from outlying areas and there still is. However, the law states that districts should provide transportation if the children live outside of a 1.5 mile radius from the school. If they live within 1.5 miles, school boards may provide transportation if conditions for walking constitute a serious hazard. Most parents in districts like La Grange pay for their children to be bused to school even if they live within the 1.5 mile radius. The fee in La Grange is $300 per student if they live within the 1.5 mile radius and $500 per child if they are out of the radius. So in a family of four, it will cost anywhere between $1,200 and $2,000 per year for busing. The state of Illinois provides bus funding, however, two years ago that funding had been cut by more than 43%. Pleasantdale gets very little money for busing and the taxpayers pay the rest.
If there were sidewalks on German Church Road and School Street, the district would save thousands and thousands of dollars. Obviously parents would want to walk or drive their children to school rather than letting little ones walk alone. On cold and rainy days, they can bundle up, carry an umbrella or get a ride; just as they do now. The grant application was such that money awarded would be used for building not just sidewalks, but a crosswalk, flashing lights to reduce speed and a crossing guard as well. Have you ever driven near La Grange Highlands School? They have a lot busier streets than we do and they do not provide busing. It would cost a lot less to pay a crossing guard than to pay for a bus route. Our district pays three quarters of a million dollars a year on busing.
Have you looked in our buses lately? Most routes have about 15 kids on them. I seriously doubt there could be anymore traffic on School Street than there is now and school buses create a lot more pollution than cars do. Don't you want children to be healthy and get exercise? Have you looked at childhood obesity rates lately?
My family lives on Liberty Grove almost at the 1.5 mile mark. We enjoy biking to school and do it as often as we can, but frankly it is scary pedaling up School Street with all the traffic as narrow as it is.
These sidewalks would not just benefit School Street, they would benefit a large portion of the community surrounding the school.
Ms. Green -
I would love to be able to ask a neighbor or friend for help getting my child to school but the truth is my neighbors and friends in the area work. I agree with you it would be nice to walk or ride my child to school but in our world today that is not how our family life works, as many other families.
Mrs. Nelson-
You are right I do not understand how the business part of the school works. But a person with common sense if there are only 15 kids on a bus route its time to change the routes. I also understand parents complain how long their child is on the bus. Plainly then the school needs to say If you want free bus service then deal with it. This is just my Voice talking to better our district, in my opinion.
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