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<\/a>The new program at LMAA will begin on Oct. 3, which is International Walk to School Day, and will divert the pick-up and drop-off zone for students from Junior High Drive to Olive Avenue, between University and Normal avenues.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that we\u2019ve opened Junior High Drive and that\u2019s a two-way lane, we\u2019re trying to figure out ways to allow traffic not to front the school,\u201d said Dr. Mark Arapostathis, mayor of La Mesa and an educator at LMAA wLaho spearheaded the program. \u201cOlive Drive runs perpendicular to Junior High Drive. It\u2019s a wide street that allows drivers to enter from north and south \u2014 they can enter off University Avenue or off of Normal [Avenue] and have more opportunities to leave the area.\u201d<\/p>\n
City employees in vests carrying stop signs will greet the dropped-off students at the drop-off location and once there is a group of around 10, one of the city employees with chaperone them as they walk to school.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s exactly 300 yards, three football fields, I measured it,\u201d Arapostathis said.<\/p>\n
After school, the process will work in reverse and the students will be chaperoned in groups from LMAA to the same location on Olive [Drive] to be picked up.<\/p>\n
This new program is an expanded version of one that was tried out previously at another school.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was a teacher at Rolando, we beta tested this \u2026 we call it the \u2018walking school bus,\u2019\u201d Arapostathis said, adding that the beta test at Rolando was once a week and that this program at LMAA will be every school day.<\/p>\n
Traffic around schools is a problem in La Mesa \u201cmostly because the schools were constructed \u2014 in some cases \u2014 70 years ago and they weren\u2019t designed to handle that kind of volume of traffic,\u201d Arapostathis said. \u201c30-plus years ago, when I attended La Mesa Junior High, 95 percent of the children walked to school, 5 percent were driven to school and now that number has completely reversed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because of the beta test at Rolando, Arapostathis is sure the new program will work in alleviating the traffic around LMAA in the mornings and afternoons \u2014 but that isn\u2019t the only benefit to the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition, through our Climate Action Plan, we are trying to mitigate as much carbon emissions through cars idling \u2014 and, obviously, as cars are waiting [to drop off or pick up students], they\u2019re idling.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to showing that the walking school bus program works to reduce traffic and drop-off and pick-up times, the Rolando beta test program also informed the new program where there could be improvements.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the problems we had when we beta tested it at Rolando was we had volunteers, and occasionally a volunteer wouldn\u2019t show up. So this time, the city is going to invest,\u201d Arapostathis said.<\/p>\n
Initially, the program will only be at LMAA \u201cto see how it works,\u201d but Arapostathis said he is working with LMSVSD superintendent David Feliciano to increase the program one school per year.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy goal is to get all 21 [LMSVSD] schools on board,\u201d Arapostathis said.<\/p>\n
For LMSVSD schools outside the city of La Mesa, Arapostathis wants to work with County Supervisor Dianne Jacob to fund the schools in the county and with the city of El Cajon to fund Fletcher Hills.<\/p>\n
The LMAA program is \u201cfunded by a state-funded grant through the Cycle 2 Active Transportation Program (ATP),\u201d said La Mesa City Manager Yvonne Garret. \u201cWhen we applied for the West La Mesa infrastructure project, which included Junior High Drive and bike lanes on University Avenue, we also included a non-infrastructure component, which is where the funding is from.\u201d<\/p>\n
ATP-funded projects are meant to encourage using active modes of transportation like walking and biking and making sure that it is safe to do so. During the beta testing at Rolando, Arapostathis said safety was the main impediment to parents allowing their children to walk to school.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest concern of parents, we met with them, wasn\u2019t necessarily pedestrian safety, but they were afraid for their children that someone was going to take their children, some kind of abduction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The guided walks to school alleviate that concern, and the part-time employees that will carry out the program will all be hired through the La Mesa Police Department, Arapostathis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll be LiveScanned, obviously, and background-checked because they\u2019re going to be working with kids,\u201d he said. People interested in one of the part-time positions should contact Misty Thompson through the city of La Mesa website, cityoflamesa.us<\/a>.<\/p>\n