Parents demand change after Palm Bay boy's death

PALM BAY — City Councilman Tres Holton called upon fellow council members Thursday night to look into better signage, crossing guards and a police presence during opening and dismissal times at all Palm Bay schools.

The call to action is in response to a fatal crash Wednesday, when a 10-year-old boy was hit by a vehicle and killed while riding his bicycle home from Odyssey Charter School's elementary campus.

Holton previously pushed through a $5,000 sign initiative to place 30 signs along arterial roads throughout the city. He suggested messages such as "HEAD'S UP! CROSS THE STREET, THEN UPDATE FACEBOOK" at crosswalks. He's also working with the school board to host a sign design competition for school crosswalks where students tend to text while walking and biking.

"The fact is, pedestrian/cyclist safety requires both the individual on foot or bike, as well as drivers to be extremely aware of their surroundings ...," he said.

The council agreed Thursday night to expedite the project.

The discussion comes a few weeks after parents pleaded with the city, school and police to add more safety precautions near Odyssey and its neighboring high school site.

"When a kid gets hit and seriously hurt there...everyone's going to say 'Why didn't we address this before?'" Palm Bay resident Randy Wickens commented on a Facebook thread.

He was right.

The day after the fourth-grader was fatally struck at about 2 p.m. by a 61-year-old driver in a Chevy 2500 truck, parents began asking questions. The accident occurred on Eldron Boulevard north of Bayside Lakes Boulevard when the man pulled out of a Publix parking lot.

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Safety issues

Although the boy, who has yet to be identified by police, was not in a school zone or crosswalk, the accident has brought to light some possible inefficiencies in protections for students who walk and bike to school.

Wickens, who lives a stone's throw from Odyssey Charter Junior Senior High, which is about five minutes away from the elementary campus, has been asking the city and police to address the problem for weeks.

His kids' bus stop is a short walk from the upper campus, and every morning he watches about 50 students walk and bike across Wyoming Drive.

"It's just not safe," Wickens said. "Cars don’t stop, cars don’t stop for the school buses. Nobody obeys the speed limit."

Parents in the pick-up and drop-off lines are some of the worst offenders, he said.

"They will just pull out of Odyssey, hit the gas and there they go. They're a big part of the problem," he said.

So he turned to city officials. When his phone calls went unanswered, he took his concerns straight to City Hall.

Within a week, two 20 mph signs joined signs already in place to indicate the beginning and end of the designated school zone. But Wickens was confused as to why they say "when children are present," unlike zones outside other nearby schools. Also in contrast to other schools in Palm Bay, there are no flashing lights to indicate the start of a school zone.

"It just boggles my mind that all these other schools around here have flashing lights and these two don’t. It boggles my mind," he said.

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Wickens speculates it was a quick and easy "Band-Aid" decision to "shut me up." His fourth- and second-grade sons are transferring to Odyssey next school year, but now he's hesitant for them to walk or bike, even though the school is situated right at the end of his street.

"It's too dangerous of a situation, way too dangerous," he said. "One of my kids is in fourth grade. I just can't imagine."

The city has previously taken part in the Safe Routes to School Program, which gives funding to five schools to increase the number of students who walk and bike to school by eliminating any unsafe infrastructure or adding safer infrastructure. City officials were unsure if Odyssey was included.

In March, the Florida Department of Transportation also granted the Palm Bay Police Department money to have officers work overtime to patrol areas deemed high risk for cyclists and pedestrians.

Speeding a problem

About a dozen teachers and administrators worked the car line during Odyssey's dismissal at 2:50 p.m. Thursday, carrying stop signs and walking kids in groups. It took about 15 minutes to get through the line.

Still, Donna Young, whose daughter is in sixth grade at Odyssey, sees cars whiz through the school zone every morning while she waits in the drop-off line. She guessed that the ongoing construction in the neighborhood or maybe younger drivers at nearby high schools are to blame.

"They have to get crossing guards" and speed bumps, she said, "because people aren’t going to slow down unless they have to."

Just 15 minutes away, Jupiter Elementary has flashing lights, lower speed limits and times posted for drop-off and pick-up windows. Whereas the Odyssey Charter neighborhood only has signs at crosswalks and another at the school entrance. There, the slowest speed limit is 25 mph; over at Jupiter, drivers have to slow down to 15 mph.

Young wondered why a school zone outside a traditional public school would be different than that of a charter.

Posting signs and hiring crossing guards, Palm Bay Deputy Mayor Harry Santiago explained, is the responsibility of the governing city or county, depending on where the school is. It is not the responsibility of the school board because the equipment is located off school grounds.

"We are responsible for crossing guards here in the city of Palm Bay. The school board does not pay for that," said Santiago.

City Councilman Tres Holton reminded council members that charter schools are considered public schools under state law, but "unfortunately, I think, don't get the resources that they deserve."

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Santiago has already tasked city staff to perform full assessments of routes to schools, and would like to expand the assessment to charters. Palm Bay, Jupiter and Sunrise Elementary were identified as schools that need additional crossing guards.

Some schools, he explained, are lacking crossing guards because of budget constraints to pay the part-time position. Palm Bay Police Chief Mark Renkens said the city does not use volunteers because they're not as reliable.

The city currently employs 28 crossing guards, and Renkens warned that adding more might mean another supervisor position.

"No list of safety measures via enforcement or engineering can prevent accidents if we are not paying attention or [are] distracted drivers," Holton said. "Safety begins within us as a responsible driver ... The text or social media can wait."

In January, Brevard County was ranked the second-most dangerous area for pedestrians in the nation. Last year, the Space Coast Transportation Planning Organization reported 23 collisions between pedestrians and automobiles, 18 of which resulted in fatalities. In Palm Bay alone, police reported 88 crashes involving bicyclists from January 2015 to January 2017.

Contact Glenn at caglenn@floridatoday.com or 321-576-5933, and follow her on Twitter @bycarolineglenn and like "Education at Florida Today" on Facebook.