The city and school districts will have to consider the next steps now that council has approved the Safe Journeys to School report.
The report also needs to be presented to all of the school districts that operate in St. Albert.
“I do think we’re going to be able to implement this,” said Coun. Tim Osborne, who served as the chair of the steering committee. “It really becomes a question of political will.”
The report identifies a lead for each of the suggested strategies listed in the report for each school. The city and school districts are listed in many of the cases, though the individual school and RCMP are identified as leads in some cases.
Ronald St-Jean, a school board trustee on the Greater North Central Francophone School Board, was his district’s representative on the steering committee.
He’s “astounded” by the amount of public input gathered for the report.
His school district will certainly be looking to implement the changes suggested for Ă©cole La Mission, he said, and of course the new building for Ă©cole Alexandre TachĂ© hasn’t been constructed yet.
Strategies suggested in the report for Ă©cole La Mission that identified the school district as the project lead included providing a crosswalk through the bus loop, installing fencing to separate a wooded area from school property, installing signs to help guide traffic flow through the bus loop and other items.
There is a chance to include some of the engineering suggestions for safety improvements at école Alexandre Taché from the get-go.
Barry Wowk, superintendent for St. Albert Public Schools, said his district will have to wait until the report’s been presented on March 11 to determine what steps will be taken to implement it.
David Keohane, superintendent of Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools, said in a comment provided by email that his district is pleased to have such a comprehensive document.
“It will take some time for our board and administration team to review and understand the initiatives recommended that require school district support,” Keohane said.
He said the district would be reviewing the recommendations with the city and other school districts to support the work being done by the city on an action plan.
City staff will review the report and propose an action plan to council by June 1. That action plan is supposed to include priorities and information on financial considerations.
First priority strategies to be implemented at all schools were identified in the report. Those include marked and signed crosswalks, including any new crosswalks, updating signs in pick-up and drop-off zones, signs updating parking regulations and sight line improvements.
St.-Jean specifically noted the need to make signs more visible, including trimming back greenery that could be obscuring the signs.
He did note many of the schools seem to share similar issues that were identified in the report.
“The only thing that gave me pause was many of the concerns were global,” he said.
