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M I N U T E S Safe Routes to School Committee Meeting August 22, 2013 3:30 P.M. The Safe Routes to School Committee met during a regular meeting on August 22, 2013 at 3:30 p.m. at the MPO Office, 100 West Broadway, Farmington, New Mexico. Present: Coordinator: Anngela Wakan Committee: SRO Lead Coord. Michele DeLese Joe Delmagori June Markle Steve Krest Jeff Treat Duane Wakan Committee Absent: Officer Lisa McGaha Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:30 p.m. by Anngela Wakan and the following proceedings were duly had and taken. Mr. Wakan moved to approve the minutes from the July 18, 2013 meeting. Officer DeLese seconded the motion. The motion was passed unanimously. Officer DeLese mentioned that Safety Days had been tentatively scheduled for March 10-14, 2014. She said they would save Mrs. Wakan a time slot to teach pedestrian safety classes if she and SRTS was interested in participating again. NEWS Mrs. Wakan reported that SRTS was named as the recipient for this year’s Turkey Trot proceeds. SRTS will plan on purchasing a trailer to haul bikes and, with any money left over, will purchase bikes that can then be used for bike rodeos. EDUCATION Open Houses Mr. Wakan reported on attending the McKinley and Ladera Open Houses. He explained what SRTS was and how it worked in conjunction with the elementary schools in encouraging students to walk and bike to school and how to do that safely. Mr. Wakan showed and explained the buffered maps created by the MPO and how this information could be used to help develop the walking school buses for each of the schools. Mr. Wakan had three parents volunteer at McKinley and one at Ladera to help get walking school buses started. Mr. Delmagori attended the Open House at Mesa Verde and explained what SRTS was and how it worked in cooperation with the schools. He was surprised at how many ---PAGE BREAK--- parents were not familiar with SRTS. He said the buffered maps and the prizes brought in quite a bit of interest. No parents volunteered during the open house, but Mr. Delmagori was told about one woman in the neighborhood (Country Club Drive /Buckingham Street area) that already walks her six children to school. Mr. Treat will get her name to see if she would be willing to start a walking school bus for Mesa Verde. Due to all the open houses being held on the same day and Mrs. Wakan being out of town for SRTS training, the open house at Apache Elementary could not be attended. Mr. Krest said he would like to see the buffered maps posted at each of the SRTS schools. He thought the maps would provide interesting information for the students and get them excited about walking or biking to school. Officer DeLese was not comfortable with having information about where students lived posted in the schools for anyone to see. Additionally, the information was provided by the Farmington School District with the caveat that the information be kept proprietary. Mr. Wakan hopes to have information from the school district for the new school year in the next month or so and will update the maps when that information is provided. SRTS Training – Sacramento Mrs. Wakan reported on the SRTS training she attended in Sacramento, California on August 12-15. Some of the great ideas she brought back included: • Bike Friday Fleet – these bikes can be adjusted to fit riders from 4’2” to 6’4” tall. They are expensive to purchase at $500 each, but could be used at bike rodeos by many different people; • Traffic C.I.T.Y. (Creative Interactive Traffic for Youth) – this backdrop sets up like a stage and can depict Farmington city street sights. It is used to teach students about safety; • Student Leader Involvement – involving student leaders at each school in becoming active in SRTS activities; • Adult Volunteers – encourage older volunteer to participate with SRTS and walking school buses. Also consider using police cadets. Officer DeLese said the Police Department has potential police officers who are training in the police academy, but they also have an Explorer program for students ages 14-20. Officer DeLese said the Heights Jr. High SRO, Shawn Goodsell, would be the Explorer program contact. • Walking School Buses – conduct background checks, get contact information and availability from leaders, determine rules of each walking school bus (decided by leader for their WSB); consider allowing teachers to participate and arrive later than usual; consider remote drop and walk locations for a “Walking Wednesday” and have bus drivers lead a walking school bus from a remote drop off location; stipends could be made available for leaders/champions; locate school champions to organize the walking school bus leaders at that school (about 4 hours per week); consider formal or informal program. Mrs. Wakan said there had been several parents who volunteered to help kick off the walking school bus programs for McKinley and Ladera, but she would like to get others involved as well. Several others whom Mrs. Wakan has spoken with have kindergarten students, so these parents would not have the school or parental contacts that a parent with older children might have. Another parent who walks his ---PAGE BREAK--- child to school lives only two blocks away. She wondered if he would be willing to backtrack from his house or circle his neighborhood in order to lead a walking school bus. Another consideration is from PedNet who recommends getting all children to school by the time the school serves breakfast. Mrs. Wakan said Principal Sosaya is very keen on getting a walking school bus for Mesa Verde this year. The parental survey forms will be reviewed by Mr. Krest and Mrs. Wakan and then be sent home with students in late September or early October. REPORTS FROM PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS Apache Mrs. Wakan contacted the PE teacher, Tim Quackenbush, and he was very interested in partnering with SRTS for the Walk Across America campaign. Mrs. Wakan asked if the back path behind Apache Elementary could be reopened for walking and biking and to allow the students to avoid the traffic at Auburn and along Apache. The path had been closed due to safety concerns as well as some private property issues. Mr. Krest said he believed the City of Farmington owned the easement along this path and would look into it. Ladera Mrs. Wakan has not yet spoken with the new Ladera principal, Maestas. Mrs. Wakan asked Officer DeLese about using student crossing guards at Ladera Elementary. Officer DeLese is not in favor of using students as crossing guards and believed this was a liability. Mrs. Wakan said the plan was to have a police officer train the students and to only use students on side streets with fewer vehicles. Officer DeLese said she would re-consider the program and get back with Mrs. Wakan. School buses will be dropping students off along Dustin this year instead of in the parking lot on 35th Street. This change will impact parents who dropped their children off along Dustin in the past and will force many to use the 35th Street parking lot. McKinley McKinley Elementary also had an interest in using students as crossing guards along This program will be put on hold pending Officer DeLese’s re-evaluation of the overall safety of the program for the students. Mesa Verde Mrs. Wakan will be meeting with a student group at Mesa Verde to get their input on the Walk Across America campaign. The SRTS Committee discussed using punch cards and having the students periodically bring in their cards to be punched for having walked or for competing in other approved activities. Mrs. Wakan said that Mrs. Deanna Maurer was willing to punch the cards. Mr. Treat stated that this had been a time-consuming activity the last time. UPDATES Engineering: Mr. Krest said all the currently outstanding SRTS projects are moving forward. Most, however, will not be constructed until next spring. ---PAGE BREAK--- Mr. Krest reported that the HAWK signal (High-intensity Activated crossWalK) on College Boulevard for Mesa Verde Elementary was approved. Once installed, there will need to be education on the functioning of the signal for both students and drivers. Mr. Krest reported that a bus loading zone and sidewalk project for McCormick Elementary on Hydro Plant Road is still outstanding. Mr. Delmagori asked about applying for the additional SRTS money that the state has announced. This money is under the old SAFETEA-LU transportation bill and there are still federal funds available for SRTS projects. Letters of intent must be submitted to NMDOT by August 30. Mr. Krest said he had considered a project to increase the cross- walk waiting area at 20th Street and Hutton Avenue, but SRTS funding cannot be used to purchase rights-of-way which this project would require. Mr. Delmagori asked if there was anything that could be done about the fence and shrubs in the walkway along Hutton Avenue approaching Animas Elementary. Mr. Wakan also suggested another HAWK signal for the intersection of 30th Street and Knudsen Avenue. Another potential project was to improve the pathway behind Apache Elementary that was discussed earlier. Mr. Krest said the application process for this money was very time intensive and felt that he was not able to take on any additional new projects. He asked if MPO Staff or Mrs. Wakan could complete an application if they were interested in being considered for any of this additional SRTS funding. Enforcement: Officer DeLese reported that Sgt. Monfils would no longer be on the SRTS Committee. Mr. Krest thought that having a representative from the traffic division had provided SRTS with some good information. Mr. Krest and Officer DeLese discussed monitoring school traffic especially cars parked in crosswalks. Evaluation: Mr. Delmagori and the Committee discussed when to begin the fall student arrival counts. To avoid the cooler weather in the morning, it was agreed to take the counts in early September. Mesa Verde and Ladera will be counted on September 3, 4, and 5, and McKinley and Apache will be counted on September 10, 11, and 12. Mr. Delmagori will send out a tentative schedule next week for these upcoming counts. UPCOMING EVENTS Community Bike Rodeo: The Community Bike Rodeo is set for Friday, September 27 from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. at the Sycamore Community Center. The Sycamore Center has volunteers available, but Mrs. Wakan would like to have several more volunteers who have some experience with a bike rodeo. Mr. Treat said SRTS could borrow helmets from Mesa Verde. Mrs. Wakan was unable to reach Jennifer Quevedo about using the bikes the juvenile probation/drug court office had purchased. Officer DeLese will follow up with Ms. Quevedo to see if the bikes can be loaned out to SRTS. Walk Across America: Mrs. Wakan explained some of the possible ideas for prizes and for awarding prizes: - Every 20+ punches, a student would receive a prize - Trade in small prize/trinket for bigger prize. Mr. Treat said the students will really like this idea of trading up. - Have “active” outdoor prizes ---PAGE BREAK--- - Bracelet with mile marks, balls, Frisbee, jump rope, water bottle, t-shirts - Final event would be a pool party in the spring that all children who participate could attend - Possibly have a bike as top prize for the school that participate Walk to School Day – October 9 Mrs. Wakan plans to order more prizes that can be handed out to walkers and bikers that day. She asked the Committee members to give her any ideas for prizes. She noted that SRTS will no longer provide prizes as they have in the past. Mrs. Wakan has also contacted the San Juan Kids publication to help promote this event. The next meeting will be on Thursday, September 12 at 3:30 p.m. in the library at Mesa Verde Elementary. The meeting adjourned at 4:40 p.m.