Mom steps in to make sure Brooklyn students get to school in safety

Crossing guard duty each morning at Brooklyn Primary is in the hands of Rachael Nickens of Baker City.(Baker City Herald/S.John Collins)

Nickens is volunteering as a crossing guard to escort children across Washington Avenue at Ash Street.

It’s not that she has spare time on her hands that she doesn’t know how to fill.

Nickens works at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, but she’s rearranged her work day to fit in the crossing-guard duty.

She was prompted to volunteer after her son, Garrett, who’s a Brooklyn third-grader, was nearly hit by a teenage speeder traveling down Washington.

Like a mother hen protecting her chicks, Nickens was propelled to action.

She called the school.

She called the police.

She called the Brooklyn Parent-Teacher Organization and she met with the Baker County Traffic Safety Commission researching ways to protect her son and his Brooklyn schoolmates.

Nickens believes children and adults in the community need to be better educated about the 20-mph speed limit in school zones. Signs posted around the school inform drivers that the school-zone speed is in effect from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. when classes are in session.

On her first day of crossing-guard duty, Nickens said a driver actually drove around her while she was crossing with children.

Nickens said she was pleased with the response she’s had from the individuals and agencies she’s contacted.

Police Chief Wyn Lohner sent the department’s radar trailer to Washington Avenue earlier this week to alert eastbound drivers of their speed. Later in the week the trailer was repositioned to gauge westbound speeds.

“We just want to remind people (of the 20-mph school zone speed),” Lohner said.

For the last couple of years the chief also has asked his two day-shift officers to choose a school to monitor daily by running radar and observing other activity in the area.

“Extra visibility is important,” Lohner says. “That’s why our officers are at a school every morning to try to slow people down and keep the kids safe,” he said.

Troy Fisher, Brooklyn principal, expressed his appreciation for Nickens’ efforts to improve student safety and he’s eager to support her.

Because schools were reorganized by grade level this year, and because Brooklyn is home to the youngest group, first-, second- and third-graders, more parents are dropping them off and picking them up than in past years.

Fisher says the students’ safety also could be ensured if parents would drop their children off on the playground sides of the school grounds only.

School employees are assigned to three crossing sites in the afternoons, but volunteers are needed to help make the program work in the mornings, Fisher said.

The PTO sent fliers home Monday asking parents to help with the effort from 7:45 a.m. to 8:10 a.m. daily. The fliers were printed at the beginning of the year after another parent expressed concern, but they were never distributed because there was no one available to lead the effort, said Angela Feldmeier, PTO president for the past three years.

The fliers ask parents to return the forms to the school and to list times they could serve as crossing guards.

The PTO is supportive of the effort and is willing to help provide equipment, Feldmeier said. But the group has a limited number of members who are busy helping with other school projects, and it has no volunteers to spare.

“This is a great opportunity for other parents to be more involved,” Feldmeier said. “I hope parents look at that and say: ‘it’s just 25 minutes.’ More parents do need to be involved.”

Patty McClure, Eastern Oregon traffic safety coordinator for the Oregon Department of Transportation and a member of the county’s Traffic Safety Commission, also has offered to provide training for crossing guards and children and to provide equipment available through the state Department of Education.

McClure said Thursday from her office in La Grande that Brooklyn School has been a concern for the safety commission since she joined it 10 years ago and even before then. She plans to investigate the possibility of having an ODOT traffic engineer study the traffic flow around the school for further action and to check into the possibility of securing newer, more visible school-zone signs.

The Traffic Safety Commission also has pledged to support the effort to improve safety for Brooklyn students, said commission member Tyra Ruberti, who is employed as an office assistant and car seat technician with the Baker City Police Department. Ruberti said she has orange reflective vests available through grant funding to distribute in the community and provided one for Nickens to wear on crossing-guard duty.

“We want people to know the we (the commission) really do enjoy and encourage citizens to bring their concerns in,” Ruberti said.

Nickens said today that her efforts have gained some momentum with two parents volunteering for the duty since the fliers went out Monday. She’d like to have at least 20, which would require each person to serve just once a month.

To volunteer, call Nickens at 541-403-1182.

“The end result is going to be good,” she said.