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Parents Worry New School Will Be Dangerous

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Posted by admin on Jul 9, 2011 in In The News | 0 comments

Parents Worry New School Will Be Dangerous

Published : Thursday, 22 Mar 2012, 4:41 PM CDT

Adapted for Web by Tracy DeLatte | myFOXdfw.com

DALLAS – Some say the Dallas Independent School District is putting kids in danger if it goes through with a plan to put a new elementary school near one of the busiest intersections in the city.

Since October, Imana Cordova has been collecting data and conducting unscientific studies on the traffic patterns near home. She’s been lobbying against the construction of the new Thelma Richardson Elementary School.

The school is scheduled to break ground in southeast Dallas in two months. The two-story, 95,000-square-foot facility will hold more than 850 students who will be transfers from nearby feeder schools that are busting at the seams.

But Cordova said the school will be too close to the intersection of Bruton and Jim Miller roads, which she said is so busy the chance of a child being hit is a matter of when, not if.

“I think it’s gonna be chaos,” she said.

Dallas police records show there are an average of 93 accidents at the intersection every year resulting in dozens of injuries ranging from bumps and bruises to death.

The challenge in the intersection is the hilly terrain. And the speed limit is 40 miles per hour in front of the 30-acre plot of land, but vehicles often drive much faster.

DISD officials said they’ve studied the problem of heavy traffic and will solved it by paving a driveway that extends deep within the boundaries of the property for parents to pick up and drop off their children. And school zones and crossing guards will be put in place.

“In that particular neighborhood we’re not expecting that many walkers. We expect students to be dropped off by car or by bus,” said John Dahlander, the DISD spokesman.

Parents like Sam Robledo are skeptical. He walks with his children to and from nearby John Ireland Elementary School, one of the feeder schools. But he said not everyone does that.

“Some are left by themselves and have to walk by themselves home,” Robledo said.

Cordova is skeptical too.

“I’m fearful children will get hurt. It’s just a matter of time. Children will get hurt,” she said.
 

Read more on myFOXdfw.com: http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/education/parents-worry-new-school-will-be-dangerous-032212#ixzz1pyxTkTvo

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