Are the flashing lights near your Broward school not working? Here’s why
More students will be returning to the classroom this week in Broward County and keeping them safe from COVID-19 isn’t the only concern teachers have.
The Broward Teachers Union is worried that people could be less aware they are driving in school zones this week while students are arriving at or being dismissed from school because Broward County Public Schools procrastinated in telling cities and municipalities to activate the flashing lights system in school zones.
The flashing lights found around school zones notifies drivers to slow down, usually to 15 mph, because students are either arriving at or being dismissed from school.
City and municipal officials have told Broward Schools that they won’t be able to set up the school zone alert system, which will affect the majority of Broward’s 246 schools, at least until Wednesday, according to the union.
That’s a day after third through sixth grade students will return to the classroom. Seventh through 12th grade students are set to return on Thursday.
“This is an epic fail by the Broward School District,” said Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco in a statement. “The District failed to timely notify individual cities and municipalities when schools were opening and what their operating hours would be before school began on Friday, Oct. 9.”
On Friday, students in pre-k through second grade and students with special needs returned to Broward classrooms for masked up in-person learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Broward County Public Schools told the Miami Herald Monday in an email that it notified Broward County’s Traffic Engineering division, which manages the school zone lights, on Sept. 16 that schools might have an earlier reopening date and were told that some of the lights would not be active until Oct. 14, the original first day of in-person learning, because of the time it takes to do the manual programming.
The school district said it also notified the mayors of cities and municipalities about the new reopening date for schools on Oct. 2, a day after Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran approved the district’s revised reopening plan.
Employees and families were also notified on Oct. 8 that the flashing lights in most school zones near elementary schools would not be active by the first day of in-person learning because of the change, the school district said.
Broward Schools “are now asking law enforcement to work in school zones to alert drivers to slow down, which is not going to be nearly as effective as having flashing lights,” Fusco said. “This leaves our students vulnerable to being hit by a speeding car. There is no excuse for this kind of an oversight by the District.”
The district said it did ask school crossing guards, municipalities and law enforcement agencies for help because they wanted to “ensure the safe arrival and departure of our students during this time.”
The district said all school zone flashing lights will be fully operational by Wednesday.
Monday is also an early release day, which will make driving through a school zone more confusing, the union said.
“I am begging all drivers to be conscious of their routes while driving to and from work next week so we can prevent tragedy from happening,” Fusco said. “Our kids’ lives are hanging in the balance.”
MDCPS school zones
Miami-Dade County Public Schools, which began in-person learning last week, had been in “constant communication” with the Miami-Dade County Department of Transportation and Public Works, which manages the school zone beacons, to make sure the flashing lights would be operating for Oct. 5, the first day of in-person learning, a district spokeswoman previously told the Miami Herald.
It also requested that digital signs on the expressway have messages reminding drivers to be cautious because school was restarting, just like last year.
This article was updated on Oct. 12 to include comments from Broward County Public Schools.
This story was originally published October 11, 2020 at 4:50 PM.
