Burlington Has Opportunity To Keep School Children Safe: Letter

The following was submitted by the ad hoc Transportation Committee:

Burlington has a new opportunity to keep its school children safe, but Burlington citizens need to speak up to make it happen.

On Tuesday, June 22, Judy Crocker, senior coordinator for the MA Safe Routes to School program, described the program to the Burlington School Committee. An initiative under MassDOT, this free, federally funded program for grades K through 8 works to increase bike safety and walking and helps communities to tailor their unique student safety strategies. This program uses a collaborative, community approach and offers a unified message to families and the community that the School District takes student safety seriously.

The only requirement to take advantage of this program is the completion of a one-page form. Indeed, most of the towns around us are taking advantage of this free program that offers funded and non- funded benefits.

The initiatives include arrival and dismissal observations which in part, look at the school circulation pattern for efficacy and safety and includes all modes of transportation. The Safe Routes to School program can also develop arrival and dismissal plans that use diagrams and texts to indicate how each transportation mode should use the school properties. It also includes parent travel surveys which collects data about student travel modes, walking and biking route mapping. After six months in the program, we are eligible for grant money related to child safety on and around school property.

The ad hoc Transportation Committee, formed in 2020 by Town Meeting, recommended in our report at the May 2021 Town Meeting that the School Administration enroll in this free program. In our committee’s opinion, and in the opinion of the previous Town Meeting Sidewalk Committee, it is a “no brainer” for the schools to take advantage of this program. This same program, although not formally presented to the School Committee, was mentioned to several School Committee members by the Sidewalk Committee several years ago but there appeared to be no apparent interest or action taken by the School Committee.

The State is committed to offer solution-driven services to support partner schools and positively impact active student transportation. We believe that the Town of Burlington and its School Department should be equally committed. The Safe Routes to School program offers an outstanding opportunity to turn “commitment” to action.

You can watch the Safe Routes to School presentation by going to https://bcattv.org/bcat- shows/school-committee/ The presentation and comments start at 4:11 and 25:42 minutes, respectively. Please join with us in requesting the School District enroll in the Safe Routes to School program now and actively engage in these initiatives. You can send your request and comments to Superintendent Dr. Conti at conti@bpsk12.org.

Respectfully,

Ad hoc Transportation Committee members

Mildred Nash, Precinct 3
Patricia O’Brien, Precinct 2
Eileen Sickler, Precinct 4

John Strauss, Precinct 4
David Van Camp, Precinct 7
See the committee’s full report here
(www.burlington.org > Our Residents > Transportation Information > Town Meeting
Transportation Committee Report)