FAST FACTS:
(Memphis 8/18/09) Memphis Police say the latest changes at the school district created a potential danger to children.
Fingerpointing has left the police department and school district battling over crosswalks in the latest twist to the sweeping changes of the district's transportation plan. Memphis City Schools overhauled bus routes in an effort to save more than six million dollars. The police department says that move left holes at dangerous intersections where school children were forced to cross without crossing guards.
Police Director Larry Godwin says, "The colonels at the precincts were not aware of any of the changes. I don't know whose responsibility that was in the planning stages, but nobody reached out to us."
Godwin went on to say the department needs a list of the bus routes in order to adequately staff crossing guards at each location. Parents began calling the police department last week, and according to Godwin, alerted officers to unmanned crosswalks in at least four dangerous intersections. Right now, full-time officers are filling in the gaps at those intersections, but Godwin expects additional crossing guards will need to be hired. Godwin says the city also should have been made aware of the changes in the early stages in order to prolong the traffic signals to create more time for children to cross busy intersections.
The school district says the police department was involved in all levels of transportation planning. Superintendent Kriner Cash told reporters at City Hall, "We'll work those issues out. The lives will be safe, everybody will work it out. Rather than continue to cause controversy, we'll work out whatever the issues are and I expect the Memphis Police Department to continue to help us make these children safe to and from school."
"It would have been nice if we had known in advance during the summer months that these would have been cut out, so we could have started planning for it," says Godwin.
Meantime, parents want answers.
David Ivy walks his 5-year-old son to and from school but says he's "really concerned about other parents who don't have the opportunity to walk their children and allow them to walk home by themselves unsupervised. That can be a dangerous thing."
- MPD Director says Memphis school district planned bus route overhaul without police help
- MPD says several intersections left unmanned by crossing guards
- Full-time officers working overtime to work crossing guard duties
(Memphis 8/18/09) Memphis Police say the latest changes at the school district created a potential danger to children.
Fingerpointing has left the police department and school district battling over crosswalks in the latest twist to the sweeping changes of the district's transportation plan. Memphis City Schools overhauled bus routes in an effort to save more than six million dollars. The police department says that move left holes at dangerous intersections where school children were forced to cross without crossing guards.
Police Director Larry Godwin says, "The colonels at the precincts were not aware of any of the changes. I don't know whose responsibility that was in the planning stages, but nobody reached out to us."
Godwin went on to say the department needs a list of the bus routes in order to adequately staff crossing guards at each location. Parents began calling the police department last week, and according to Godwin, alerted officers to unmanned crosswalks in at least four dangerous intersections. Right now, full-time officers are filling in the gaps at those intersections, but Godwin expects additional crossing guards will need to be hired. Godwin says the city also should have been made aware of the changes in the early stages in order to prolong the traffic signals to create more time for children to cross busy intersections.
The school district says the police department was involved in all levels of transportation planning. Superintendent Kriner Cash told reporters at City Hall, "We'll work those issues out. The lives will be safe, everybody will work it out. Rather than continue to cause controversy, we'll work out whatever the issues are and I expect the Memphis Police Department to continue to help us make these children safe to and from school."
"It would have been nice if we had known in advance during the summer months that these would have been cut out, so we could have started planning for it," says Godwin.
Meantime, parents want answers.
David Ivy walks his 5-year-old son to and from school but says he's "really concerned about other parents who don't have the opportunity to walk their children and allow them to walk home by themselves unsupervised. That can be a dangerous thing."
