Mother raises safety concerns at Dawes Ave. school

SOMERS POINT — Theresa Dougherty brought her concerns about what she calls a dangerous situation for students to City Council’s attention Feb. 10, asking for help before someone gets hurt.

Dougherty, president of the Dawes Avenue School PTO, said traffic at the intersection of Pierson and Atlantic avenues during student pickup and drop-off makes it difficult to cross for pedestrians and bicyclists.

She said she reached out to Principal Laura Venello and Superintendent Michelle CarneyRay-Yoder and appreciates “all of their efforts to expedite and streamline the dismissal process to alleviate the traffic situation,” but feels that it persists nonetheless.

The school educates all of the city’s students in kindergarten to third grade, so the drop-off and pickup times see a couple of hundred cars converge twice a day.

Particularly distressing, Dougherty said, is the entrance to the line off Pierson Avenue, where cars turn right onto Atlantic, travel straight across Pierson on Atlantic and turn left off Pierson to get in line. 

She said cars often block the box, creating a traffic jam. To make matters worse, students and parents are trying to get across both Pierson and Atlantic to get to the school.

“The intersection of Atlantic and West Pierson becomes a free-for-all for 10 to 20 minutes each afternoon at pickup and to a lesser extent each morning at drop-off,” she said.

Dougherty also takes issue with the lack of a crossing guard at the intersection.

“There is one crossing guard at the Atlantic and Dawes intersection who does a great job of maintaining safety, but no crossing guard or anyone at the other intersection doing the same — no stop sign at Atlantic, no crosswalks across Atlantic, no one managing the flow of cars and pedestrians there,” she said.

Pierson also cuts across the bike path and cars in the intersection keep students from crossing safely.

Dougherty said the problems and safety risks persist each school day. 

“I believe more support is needed for the schools to ensure the safety of all cars and pedestrians using that intersection at these times of day and assure Safe Routes to School for Dawes Avenue students,” she said.

Dougherty created an online petition, collecting the signatures of more than two dozen parents and comments. She said that despite her reaching out to multiple people, nothing has been done to fix the situation.

“The superintendent has focused on efforts that help with the optics of the situation, such as children holding signs outside the school at pick-up encouraging people to do the right thing (which no one actually heeds), but there has been no substantive action to address the actual problems at the referenced intersection,” she said. “The mayor, city administrator and chief of police have all been notified as well and nothing has been done. There are just excuses and passing the buck.”

CarneyRay-Yoder said the truth is quite the contrary.

“We continue to discuss and collaborate with the city on ways to address the traffic. However, at the end of the day, the district is limited in its response as we are not permitted to enforce traffic laws, provide crossing guards or police patrols to meet the requirements of safe travel for school children,” she said. “We will continue to discuss options to support the city in any recommendations they may have, knowing that the safety of our kids is of the utmost importance.”

City Administrator Jason Frost said the city is “aware of the situation and engaged in discussions with the superintendent and police chief to try to remedy the situation.”

He said Feb. 24 that he and Police Chief Robert Somers had met with CarneyRay-Yoder during pickup to observe the situation.

“We are absolutely looking at it and discussing ways to resolve that issue,” he said. “Obviously we want to make sure everyone is safe.”

Dougherty said police officers are present sometimes but “are sitting in their cars, not located in close proximity to or doing anything to alleviate the free-for-all occurring at that intersection.”

Dougherty, who lives near Jordan Road School, said her children started going to Dawes only after the district changed which schools its students attend, no longer sending them closest to where they live.

She said the district later eliminated courtesy busing “and created a situation where there are more cars at the school.”

“It’s really just a mess of an intersection,” Dougherty said. “It just seems like there has to be a better way to do this.”

By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff