First Test of the Morning: Get to School

At 8 a.m., the cars begin making their way toward Santa Ana’s Taft Elementary School. Soon they are stacked up for several blocks in both directions on West Keller Street, where the campus sits amid tract homes on narrow, winding streets off MacArthur Boulevard.

Children, some accompanied by parents, stream across the street--there is no passenger unloading zone--and are still arriving when the school’s starting bell rings at 8:30.

That is the morning ritual at Taft, a routine that many residents say is inconvenient, if not dangerous. To call attention to the situation, they held a rally Wednesday--national Walk Your Child to School Day. Other campuses across Orange County observed the day with rallies, posters and safety talks.

About two dozen residents and parents stood in front of the campus carrying red, heart-shaped balloons and signs that read: “Have a Heart, Safety 1st.”

Verle Eggleston, who lives across the street from Taft, said he plans his daily schedule around the school’s.

“There are times in the day when I can’t get my car out of the driveway even if I wanted to,” Eggleston said. What’s really worrisome “is that people will park on my side of the street and honk their horns at their kids and have them run across the street.”

Karen Templeton, whose children attended Taft over the past two decades and who now has foster children there, said traffic has been worse since sixth and seventh grades were added recently. Next year, eighth-graders will attend too.

“I have therapists who visit my home because I have five disabled kids,” Templeton said, “and they sometimes can’t even get into the neighborhood.”

Neighbor Ray Radisay’s concern is that emergency vehicles might be blocked. “You get a house on fire here, or if someone gets hurt, you can’t get an ambulance in,” he said.

Other neighborhoods have similar concerns. At Canyon View Elementary in Irvine, a “mini-city” was created to illustrate the hazards kids might encounter on their way to and from school.

Despite a morning drizzle, Irvine resident Robin Lubitz made the 10-minute walk to school with her two children. Kyle, a third-grader at Canyon, led the way on his scooter. Sister Erin, 4, sporting a pink raincoat, said walking is just more fun. Besides, she said, “driving gets you much more carsick.”

Raising concern about students’ safety was a survey released Wednesday by the National Safe Kids Campaign, a child safety advocacy group. It cited statistics showing that 65% of drivers nationwide--87% of those in Orange County--go 5 mph or more over the posted limit in school zones.

Hoping to reduce the risks, parents at Taft circulated petitions at Wednesday’s rally asking the Santa Ana Unified School District for immediate relief. They will be presented to the school board at a meeting Tuesday, when officials are expected to consider several options.

School board member Rosemarie Avila, who attended the Taft rally with Deputy Supt. John Bennett, said she will suggest staggering class schedules so that not all students arrive on campus at the same time.

“I’ve been in lines getting my kids to school, so I can sympathize with what they’re going through,” Avila said. “Staggering the hours would at least temporarily solve the problem while we work out the details for a permanent solution.”