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WakeEd
The WakeEd blog is devoted to discussing and answering questions about the major issues facing the Wake County school system as it prepares to undergo historic changes. Will the new school board scrap the diversity policy in favor of neighborhood schools? Will year-round schools be converted back to a traditional calendar? How will the new board respond to growth and the school construction program?
WakeEd is maintained by The News & Observer's Wake schools reporter, T. Keung Hui. While Keung posts information and analysis on the issues, keep us posted on your suggestions, questions, tips and what you're doing to cope with the changes in Wake's schools.
Student killed after exiting school bus
We've got some very sad news to report.
A 6-year-old girl died today after she was struck by a vehicle. She had just gotten off a school bus shortly after 1:30 p.m.
The Green Elementary student was struck near the intersection of North Hills and Hillock drives in Raleigh by a vehicle driven by 83-year-old woman.
UPDATE
Click here for the online story. According to witnesses, the driver ignored the bus stop arm and flashing signals.
T. Keung Hui
T. Keung Hui covers Wake schools.
Comments
I don't thinks signs around
Sat, 08/22/2009 - 14:33 — DisappointedI don't thinks signs around schools have been updated yet to show the different TIMES that you have to slow down for Wednesdays. Hopefully once they are updated (who will pay for new signs all over Wake County?) everyone will remember what day it is.
My youngest has been in school since July and I am having a hard time keeping the Wed schedule straight. Once I completely forgot. Several others parents at our bus stop have forgotten and failed to pick up their K-1 child and meet them at the bus. The bus driver has released them anyway even though their parent was not present. (I guess one parent is deemed enough street crowd control for 15 kids?)
Luckily, all of those kids were able to cross the street and make it home ok.
I do think there is some validity to the argument that having a set routine will keep kids more safe, for a variety of reasons. Just opinion, but having seen it in practice for 7 weeks now, I think the Wed schedule is a bad idea overall.
Signs don't matter...
Thu, 08/20/2009 - 22:38 — momof2goodboysSigns don't matter. You can't have signs all over Raleigh, even IF they would make a difference. She shouldn't have been driving it seems to me. She didn't even realize she had run over the little girl until she got away from the accident. She did notice a bump or a thump, but never even saw her or the buses lights and arm. It's too late now for this tragedy, but maybe this is a wake up call to some older drivers who may not need to still be driving. My heart does go out to her also. I mean, her life is ruined too. I know it was an accident, but it is still such a tragic thing to happen to 2 families.
I am saddened for both families
Thu, 08/20/2009 - 08:27 — RMC10Maybe the driver was confused by school busses at 1:30 in the afternoon. Almost all Wake County Busses typically run 7-9 and 2:30-4 daily. Was yesterday one of the early release PLC Wednesdays for their school? It does put children out at odd times and days.
Prayers to all the families impacted by this innocent accident and the sad loss of a life.
I wonder if the school zone
Thu, 08/20/2009 - 09:01 — woodstockI wonder if the school zone signs have been updated to relfect the new times?
Doesn't matter, does it?
Thu, 08/20/2009 - 11:23 — gwaihirDoesn't matter, does it? The NC highway code is very clear that if a school bus has the stop arm out, and has flashing lights, you have to stop.
Otherwise if all that mattered was having the sign up in the school zone, then kids would get knocked over in all the neighborhoods they alight in, that are not in the school zone. Which is probably the majority of them, I'd think.
No, it doesn't really
Sun, 08/23/2009 - 06:44 — woodstockNo, it doesn't really matter I suppose, but if the signs serve no purpose, why do we have them?
I am not saying signs would have necessarily prevented this terrible tragedy, but when the BoE makes arbitrary schedule changes, I am not sure they consider all the unintended consequenses. There are safety issues and issues regarding latch-key kids being alone for extended periods of time. If you know anything about when kids get into trouble, you will know that the time between getting home from school and when parents get home is prime time for trouble.
Systems were in place to deal with school schedules as they were. When changes are made on a whim, like they were, there are ramifications. That was my point.
Eh....
Thu, 08/20/2009 - 13:31 — Bob_SconceOn a legal level, it doesn't make a bit of difference. On a practical level, the more notice and predictability you give to drivers, the lower the risk of a tragedy.
In this case, for example, it's conceivable that this older woman, unaccustomed to seeing kids get off school buses at 1:30 during the summer, mentally discounted the risk. Had she known about year-round schools and Wednesday early dismissals, it's possible that this wouldn't have happened. [Note:*not* trying to pin this on the school district.] These tragedies don't generally happen directly in front of a school even though there are far more potential victims there, probably because there's so much more warning to drivers.
Pathetic
Thu, 08/20/2009 - 20:14 — supportwcpssyou and RMC10 are the first ones to jump on this. You indicate that you are *not* trying to pin it on the school system and yet your post as well as RMC10 reeks of attempting to blame it on busing and/or early dismissal.
Cheap shot.
Pfft...
Fri, 08/21/2009 - 07:10 — Bob_SconceOk, sure, changing school schedules has all sorts of unintended side effects. The world is organized around a traditional schedule, and there are costs to changing that schedule which the district hasn't taken into account. One of those is that you've now broken expectations of drivers by
having kids at bus stops at times when those drivers don't expect them
to be there. As a result, there is a tiny increase in the likelihood that some student would get hit getting off a bus.
Of course the PLTs and YR schedule are "causes in fact" of the accident -- if WCPSS hadn't implemented one or both, then this particular accident wouldn't have happened because the kids wouldn't have been there at the time. But, that's true of a million things, and we don't affix blame for these remote causes. We only look at the proximate cause of the accident. In this case, it appears that's this poor lady's driving.
If I were a school director and somebody told me "we can't change the schedule because kids will be at bus stops when people don't expect them," I would have laughed -- you can't make decisions based on one tiny increase in the chance that something bad would happen. The district bears no apparent reponsibility here.
[But, my root point about how the world is organized still stands.]
I am going to have to
Thu, 08/20/2009 - 15:07 — gwaihirI am going to have to disagree with you on this one.
Firstly, those notices are only useful if you are actually driving IN the school zone. If you are driving out of it, it doesn't matter how many notices are in the school zone.
But most importantly - what does matter are those vivid red flashing lights and the extended stop arm on the school bus. Anyone, seeing these, must STOP. Notices or no. School zone or no. Red flashing lights plus stop sign = STOP. And those are *very* visible indicators - far more visible than a notice. There's no excuse for ignoring them, notice or no.
Incidentally, regarding "so much more warning for drivers' in your last bit - I would venture to guess that someone driving past a school with scores of children on the sidewalk, plus a line of 20 school buses exiting the carpark, plus a large carpool, is probably taking note of all those things when thinking "school's out", not a notice.
Not saying there shouldn't be a notice. Stick one up, why not. Just saying, lack of notices is still NO excuse for ignoring a stopped school bus correctly flashing the lights and extending the stop sign - legal or otherwise.
Um...
Thu, 08/20/2009 - 16:39 — Bob_SconceWhen I said "notice," I wasn't referring to a printed notice put up someplace. "notice" just means being aware of a fact. So, for example, I have notice of the locations of school bus stops in my neighborhood because I drive by them everyday. So, I slow down well in advance. But, if the locations were to switch suddenly, I wouldn't have notice, and probably wouldn't slow down until I was actually at the stop.
But, if the locations were
Thu, 08/20/2009 - 18:41 — gwaihirBut, if the locations were to switch suddenly, I wouldn't have notice, and probably wouldn't slow down until I was actually at the stop.
========
Okay. But you would still stop if you saw a school bus with red flashing lights and a stop sign, up the road in front of you, correct?
Yeah
Fri, 08/21/2009 - 06:57 — Bob_SconceI certainly would. But, some people, perhaps those with slower reflexes or who don't think quite as clearly, could use all the advance warning they can get.
It's kind of like why I still look both ways when I have a green light at an intersection -- the people on the other roads are supposed to stop, but sometimes they don't. If they hit me, it'd be their fault, but I'd rather not have them hit me at all, so I take extra precautions.
Keepin' it simple
Thu, 08/20/2009 - 14:21 — Dadof3To me, this is very simple. The bus had the flashing lights and the extended stop sign. Nothing else matters. If that isn't enough of a cue, then the driver shouldn't be driving. The failure is our glib accountability when it comes to the responsibility of driving.
Mixed
Thu, 08/20/2009 - 09:10 — RichardAndersonSome schools have flashing lights that are programmed to go on and those do reflect the variable dismissal times. The static signs do not. The school closest to me (to which, surely to no one's surprise, my kids are not assigned) has metal signs and no lights. The school my kids attend has the lights. I think that this might be a municpal issue based on what type of road the school is on.
So sad
Thu, 08/20/2009 - 08:24 — woodstockMy heart sank when I read this story. My thoughts and prayers too, go out to the family and friends of the little girl.
------------------------------------------------------
As to the folks who feel compelled -- extremely inappropriately so, considering the situation -- to comment on the beliefs of others, yet claim to know with absolute certainty that there is no God, I ask you to "use a little common sense." Our best minds have not been able to accurately predict the path of a hurricane, find a cure for pancreatic cancer... or the common cold for that matter, convince terrorists to stop killing people, eliminate poverty, make a PC that does not crash, or explain Baryon asymmetry and dark matter, yet you grant us the capacity to understand the origins of life...the single grandest occurrence in the known universe. Consider this, where did the matter and energy come from to make the Big Bang possible or what happened in the moments and eons before the Big Bang? Common sense tells us that at a minimum, there are things we have not even begun to explain and that a higher intelligence -- a Supreme Being perhaps -- is certainly not out of the question. Some of us have faith that it is God. Agree or don't agree, but don't ridicule the concept. And, if you still choose to do so, please find another thread for it.
So heartbreaking
Thu, 08/20/2009 - 05:43 — Dadof3Our prayers are with the family as well.
I agree with Percy
Thu, 08/20/2009 - 01:05 — dsutton63Why don't you people pray that children don't get killed in the first place. See if that works.
After it doesn't work, think for a while about why that is. A few of you might figure it out.
PRAYING IS SILLY
Wed, 08/19/2009 - 22:38 — PercyKutionHow utterly silly to "pray" to some mythical being that, if it did exist, would let something like this happen in the first place. Use a little common sense.
Hmm...
Thu, 08/20/2009 - 09:02 — Bob_SconceSillier than attacking other people's religious beliefs after a tragedy?
How terrible
Wed, 08/19/2009 - 19:16 — gunfamMy thoughts and prayers go out to this family. I will be reminding my children to ALWAYS look before crossing, even when the school bus lights are going.
what a horrible nightmare,
Wed, 08/19/2009 - 17:45 — AngelaWwhat a horrible nightmare, thoughts and prayers to the family.