At school, learning to read one way and stop signs

NORTH CANAAN — The new year started at North Canaan Elementary School last week with some safety measures for pedestrians and drivers put in place at the 11th hour. Issues remain that still need to be addressed.Signs that were ordered weeks before the last school year ended were put in place a few days before the Aug. 30 first day of school. Two black-and-white signs declare the one-way status of Pease Street from 8 to 9 a.m. and 2:30 to 3:30 p.m., covering arrival and dismissal times at the school. They were installed near the intersection with Whiting Drive and across from the exit of the bus circle at the main entrance. Pease Street runs from Route 7 for two blocks, the second along the front of the school. It makes a left turn where it intersects with a Town Hall parking lot entrance and runs for another block, parallel to the parking lot, and ends at Bragg Street. A sign posted at the Bragg Street intersection for decades indicates there is no entry from that end during the prescribed hours. The goal was to simplify traffic movement, which includes school buses, on the narrow road during those busy periods.Yet it was not until last January, when crossing guard Don Caranci was moved to the crosswalk between the school and the parking lot, that the scope of problems was recognized. He logged hundreds of infractions monthly — of parents, teachers and administrators who ignored not only the one-way designation but also stop signs, parking restrictions, speed limits and the crossing guard helping children across the road. Caranci attended numerous school board meetings, and initiated dialogues between the school, the selectmen and the resident state trooper.The process was slowed, in part, by the need for one of the boards to claim jurisdiction. The school board told Caranci he needed to deal with the Board of Selectmen, which employs him, and that road safety issues also rest with the selectmen. The selectmen claimed that it was simply a quirk of the system that crossing guards are hired by the town, and that it only makes sense for the school to deal with its own safety issues. Eventually, all agreed that more signage was needed. The school board’s transportation committee considered getting school zone signs with flashing lights.In the end, much simpler signs were ordered, apparently by the town crew supervisor. Earlier last week, First Selectman Doug Humes told The Journal he thought the signs had been received and were at the town garage. Caranci also went to Town Hall, in an effort to find out about the delay. No record of the sign order was found.Humes described a proposed plan that includes adding a stop sign to the Pease Street/parking lot intersection. That has been done, making it a four-way stop.Still under consideration is the moving of the parking lot entrance halfway down the block toward Bragg Street. Humes said it would likely be where one of a row of small trees is dying and needs to be removed anyway.“It would slow people down, and be one less source of traffic at the crosswalk,” Humes said.On the first day of school, things seemed to be under control. Resident State Trooper Jim Promotico was at the crosswalk. Two drivers had already parked beyond the end of the marked spaces in the Town Hall lot. But he said there is nothing he can enforce in a parking lot.As happens just about every morning, a driver disregarded the sign and headed the wrong way down Pease Street. When confronted by Promotico, the woman, a parent of a student, stated that she “forgot” it was one way.By Thursday, any new year resolve seemed to be dissolving. Caranci said that, while the signs seemed to be making a difference, that afternoon, four teachers pulled out of the parking lot across from the school and traveled the wrong way on Pease Street.