TOWN OF TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Kenmore-Tonawanda School District has announced changes to its drop-off and pick-up for elementary and middle school students to make arrival and dismissal safer.
This move comes following the deadly accident of a 4-year-old Jamestown girl in November, who was hit by a visiting bus outside her Jamestown school.
Ken-Ton Superintendent Sabatino Cimato says this is a reminder of how hazardous arrival and dismissal can be.
"As a district, safety has been prioritized as number one," Cimato said. “For us as educators to not look at that and see how we could be more reflective – is there any way that we can improve our practice? I think would be malpractice."
The new dismissal procedures start on Monday and are designed to improve student safety at Hoover and Franklin schools. The district has worked to separate buses and cars at the schools.
"We still have some major issues around arrival and dismissal," Cimato said. "Probably, the two most volatile times of the day, and how do we improve it? We knew that if we did nothing, it would not improve."
Under the new system, each student will be assigned one of three dismissal categories:
- Walker
- Busser
- Parent pick-up
"For Hoover, all of the procedures for the buses will remain the same. Our students with certain needs, their buses will now use that loop on the elementary side of Hoover," he said. "Now we're going to be asking our parents to come through the back of the school and enter off of Sheridan Drive. There's a very long trail that we feel that we can fit many cars and make it a lot safer for our students."
But Hoover school parent Nick Scott disagrees with the changes.
"Now you have a drop-off location in an active parking lot. How is that safer than what we have right now?" Scott questioned. "Stupid fix to a problem that's non-existent — doesn't exist. There's no existing problem."
The parent also said the Hoover pickup loop, which cost $2 million, will now be underutilized for just two special needs buses.
The superintendent told reporters Wednesday that the new loop at Hoover connects to the elementary school, hoping that would have been a "major help," but it has not been as effective as first planned.
"To be very clear, it has been a help, but it hasn't solved everything, and we still have some major problems, especially at the Hoover complex and the Franklin complex," Cimato replied.
At Franklin Middle, no vehicles should drop off students in front of the building. Families picking up 5th and 6th-graders must now enter the Lincoln Park parking lot during dismissal, and the lot will be closed until 2:25 p.m. to ensure student safety.
"To be very honest, if it doesn't work, then we'll try something else," Cimato said. "We have to be prepared to be reflective on that."
The superintendent said there will be growing pains with these changes, but they will be test-piloted over the next few weeks, and he will accept feedback.
WATCH: 'Safety has been prioritized': Ken-Ton implementing new pick-up and drop-off rules at two schools
