Dear editor,
The school board election is over. Child safety has always been an important issue for me. Safety was why I requested the city enforce the helmet rules at the Culver City Skate Park. School safety was so important an issue that in 2008, I showed a video at a CCUSD school board meeting.
A Los Angeles City Council member had spearheaded a “school safety valet” program in North Hollywood. It was basically a curbside drop-off program to prevent people from double- and triple-parking around schools. It was a program designed for safety for children around schools and to protect the neighborhood. The program was later expanded to 29 schools in the area. The start-up cost for each school was about $500. The police and Department of Transportation trained the volunteers. I figured it would be a no-brainer for Culver City Unified School District to implement a similar program at all of the schools in the district. I figured it would be a win-win for the community.
During the CCUSD meeting, a representative from the office of former Rep. Diane Watson (D-Culver City) even gave his sympathy to a school board member whose son had been hit by a car near a school. Four of the five board members and one student board member spoke about the traffic issue. One board member spoke about how she would like to see the city/board of education liaison committee reactivated. Another member apologized for not remembering who was on the city liaison committee, but felt that there was never much accomplished by the meetings. At least, I thought the board was paying attention.
Do all the CCUSD schools have school safety valets after over three years? No. Are cars illegally parked around schools today? Yes.
When I showed a video again last month, I also handed each board member and the superintendent a DVD copy. The video showed an ongoing problem around our schools. The video showed eight cars double-parked. I got a snicker when I showed a car triple-parked. After showing the school safety valet video, I got only one public reaction from the school board: “That looks very familiar. That actually looks like the El Marino Drop Zone.”
How about every school in CCUSD getting a similar program? It cost LAUSD about $500 per school to start the program. Can we not afford that? Do we not have enough parent volunteers?
Last Monday, I gave the city council and city manager DVD copies and showed the video I had shown the school board. Private schools in Culver City operate under a conditional-use permit, which requires a program. I don’t care who picks up the ball and runs with it. Someone needs to implement or require the program.
Cary Anderson,
Culver City
