Crowd issue fixed

The district revamped the dismissal process to help correct the problem.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- City school officials said complaints about Woodrow Wilson High School students blocking the street at dismissal time earlier this year were resolved quickly, and they continue to monitor the situation.
"We jumped right on that," said Dr. Wendy Webb, superintendent, referring to calls from some businesses near Wilson in September 2005 complaining that students leaving the school were walking in the street, blocking traffic.
"We completely revamped dismissal at Wilson as a result," Webb added.
Students all used to leave by the same doors, but dismissal was altered so that walkers go out one set of doors and bus riders leave from another set of doors.
Webb said former Police Chief Robert E. Bush Jr. gave the school permission to close a one-block section of Gibson Street from Marmion Avenue to East Indianola Avenue to use that area to load buses at dismissal.
"It has been a big help," Webb said, noting the street only has to be closed for about 20 minutes a day.
School administrators also were outside the building at dismissal time, keeping the kids moving and making sure they use the sidewalks for several blocks as they move away from the school, she said.
"The calls stopped immediately," Webb recalled.
Mention on radio
The matter came to light again recently when a caller to a local radio talk show complained about kids blocking a street near Wilson at dismissal time.
Webb said she hasn't heard of any complaints since September, but if it's happening again, she wants to know. If it is happening again, it's sporadic, said Melvin Las, Wilson principal.
There are five or six administrators outside the building daily at dismissal time walking with the kids, he said, adding, "We do watch it very closely."
Ted Terlesky, the district's chief of security, said Wilson is the only school the district has had to target in terms of children blocking a street.
That doesn't mean it can't or hasn't happened elsewhere, but the district hasn't had any other complaints, he added.
It's been a continuous effort over the years to educate the kids to stay on the sidewalk. They tend to spread out beyond the sidewalk to be with their friends as a group, Terlesky said.
gwin@vindy.com