Student, 8, Injured Crossing Street in Front of His School

OXNARD — An 8-year-old boy was struck by a car and critically injured Monday as he crossed a busy street on his way to Sunkist Elementary School, fueling calls from neighbors and school representatives that a crossing guard is needed in front of the Teakwood Street campus.

Sergio Martinez of Oxnard, a third-grader at the school, suffered a severe gash to his left leg and head injuries Monday morning when he was hit and propelled over a 1999 Toyota Camry driven by a 76-year-old Oxnard woman. The boy’s condition was upgraded to fair late Monday night.

The driver was not injured or cited in the accident, which occurred at the intersection of Napa and Teakwood streets on the Port Hueneme-Oxnard border.

Sergio was taken to St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard and later transferred to Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, where he was initially listed in critical condition before being upgraded to fair, a hospital spokeswoman said. Sergio was in the hospital’s intensive care unit and was breathing on his own after being on a life-support machine for a period of time.

Teachers at the school met with students after the 7:45 a.m. collision to discuss the incident, which was witnessed by dozens of students filing into class.

Several teachers also rerouted some students out of sight of the crash as they walked to class.

Neighbors and school officials, many of whom did not want to give their names, said they weren’t surprised the accident happened--only that such an incident hadn’t happened earlier.

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Others said parents and teachers have in recent years raised concerns about the heavy morning traffic at the school and the lack of adult supervision in front of the campus.

“It’s a mess out there,” said Cindy Payan, who works in the school’s cafeteria and has two grandchildren attending Sunkist. “They should have had a crossing guard out there. If parents are concerned, then they should volunteer.”

Oxnard city officials said they will meet with school officials and residents in the coming weeks to discuss the traffic and other safety issues.

Sergio was hit shortly after he got out of his mother’s car on southbound Napa Street, Oxnard Police Officer Don Mulville said. Although a marked crosswalk was visible on the other side of the street, the boy ran across the unmarked portion.

That’s where he was hit by the car that was westbound on Teakwood Street, Mulville said.

Because so many parents drop off their children in the morning, Mulville said, “the street is gridlocked.”

Often, witnesses to the collision said, traffic backs up on both sides of the two-lane street on mornings when kids are dropped off and again in the afternoons when they’re picked up.

“This happens every morning. I see the students and their mothers dropping them off, and I have to tell them to move,” said Sally Saenz, who lives on the corner across from where Sergio was hit. “There are no excuses for what happened. It’s terrible.”

Neighbors in the area have complained about the potential for accidents like Monday’s, Saenz said.

Jeff Baarstad, an associate superintendent at the Hueneme School District, said that along with Port Hueneme officials, school district representatives “have been pretty aggressive dealing with serious problems there.”

Baarstad said officials opened another entrance behind the campus to ease the crowding in the mornings and afternoons. The school, built in 1957, has 730 students.

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Complicating the situation, Baarstad said, the school sits on the borders of two cities, with the portion of Teakwood Street in front of the campus in Oxnard’s jurisdiction.

Suburban streets aren’t as safe as they used to be, Baarstad said, and “we worry a lot about kids crossing streets, so we try to alert the parents.”

Of the 11 schools in the Hueneme School District, Baarstad said, five use crossing guards whose services are provided by Oxnard.

Sunkist Elementary officials have not formally asked for a crossing guard at the location, he added, but “we’ll take a look at the situation with the principal.”

Oxnard traffic engineer Joe Genovese said the Oxnard Police Department employs 25 crossing guards citywide.

The city’s criteria for using a guard--last updated in 1988--require that at least 25 students per hour cross the street on the way to a school, and 300 vehicles per hour must pass by.

Genovese said speed bumps, flashing lights and other street modifications will be discussed with school officials and residents.

“We need to get together with the school and come to an agreement,” Genovese said.