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Boardman adds school zone
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
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Buses leave the Boardman Center Middle School parking lot on Market Street on Tuesday afternoon into the recently installed school zone. The flashing school zone lights are being re-programmed to account for daylight-saving time.
BOARDMAN
With warmer weather on the way, township officers are reminding residents to watch their speed — especially in school zones.
“It’s spring fever. Everybody starts speeding again,” said Sgt. John Allsopp, traffic-unit supervisor.
One place drivers should be cautious and aware of is a new school zone in front of Center Middle School on Market Street, across from the Southern Park Mall, he said.
Drivers should slow to 20 mph in the area between 8 and 9 a.m. and 3:15 to 4:15 p.m. Monday through Friday.
In the fall, flashing lights were added by the Ohio Department of Transportation District 4 because Market Street also is state Route 7.
“It was a school zone when it used to be an old high school. We thought it was an administration building. We don’t know when a building becomes a school again,” said Justin Chesnic, ODOT District 4 spokesman.
Center Middle School houses grades five through eight and also the school district’s administrative offices. Chesnic said as soon as ODOT got the request from Boardman police in August 2008 for school-zone signs, the signs were put in place.
“They did not request or desire the flashing signs until 2010, and shortly after they requested that, last October, ODOT installed them,” he said.
Parents waiting to pick up students Tuesday afternoon had mixed reactions to the school zone.
“To be honest, I didn’t notice the [lights] because I used the side entrance. Unlike the elementary schools, at this [school] the buses come in the back,” said Martina Frost, the parent of a fifth-grader in Center Middle School.
Steve Belus, whose son is in sixth grade, said he’s pleased with the new school zone.
“There was definitely a need with the mall across the street,” he said.
Speed zones already were in effect for public schools in Boardman and also St. Charles School. Only three, however, have the flashing lights: Center Middle School, Market Street Elementary School and St. Charles School on U.S. Route 224.
The flashing lights had to be reprogrammed by ODOT this week after the change to daylight-saving time, Allsopp said.
Lights were on Glenwood Avenue, a county road, in the zone by Boardman High School and Glenwood Middle School, but those lights were removed by Mahoning County a couple of years ago because of maintenance problems, said Superintendent Frank Lazzeri.
“People go far too fast, and [the lights] make a difference. We’d love to see those lights on Glenwood, too, because it’s just as busy as the Market Street corridor,” he said.
School resource officer Sgt. Chuck Hillman said students also can be culprits of speeding in school zones.
“Sometimes, it’s the students themselves. They’re excited to leave with the nice weather, not paying attention. We want all the students to be cautious of the speed limit in a school zone,” Hill added.
Allsopp said without proper signs, officers are limited with enforcement.
“Before then, there were no signs, nothing. It’s only enforceable when you have the proper pavement markings and times posted. If you don’t have times posted or flashing lights during the time, you can’t enforce it,” he said.
Boardman police also are reminding residents driving either direction to stop for school buses. This school year, the department already has received 30 documented violations, compared with 25 for the entire 2009-10 school year, Allsopp said.
“Bus drivers are required to report these violations,” he said, adding the ticket would go to the driver, not the car’s owner — unlike a parking ticket.