Seattle Schools Community Forum

The Times is reporting that the City will be installing speed cameras at five more school zones this summer.  They are Roxhill Elementary (WS), Dearborn Park Elementary (Beacon Hill), Bailey-Gatzert Elementary (Central) and Eckstein Middle (NE).  They will be used starting Sep. 2nd.  For the first 30 days, you'll get a warning and then the ticket is $189.  They will be used one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon most of the time. The Times is also reporting that the Bellingham School district is installing a panic button in every school office in their district using a grant from OSPI.   (As I previously reported, SPS also received money from this grant but I am unsure what it will be used for in our district.) The UW's Computer Science and Engineering Department recently honored 57 teachers in our region for being "Inspirational" teachers.  They include Assegid Derseh from Chief Sealth International High School and John Boucher f...

The Stranger follows up on this question with some answers (but still with question marks): As you may have noticed, the city began using automated cameras to enforce speed limits near four schools in December of 2012, and they're going to expand the program to install cameras near five more schools next year. By June, the city had issued 30,400 tickets at $189 a pop. While initially estimated to bring in some $800,000 in revenue for the year, they're now expecting closer to $5 million. Five million? Wow, wouldn't that fund crossing guards (the City used to pay and stopped several years back)? This morning, the council's government performance and finance committee approved a bill that would create a separate fund for those traffic-camera dollars, so that how, when, and on what the money is spent would be more carefully restricted. There's been talk of simply making sure whatever amount is raised from traffic-camera tickets would then be budgeted toward school...

From Seattle.gov: Today Mayor Mike McGinn announced five new locations for future school zone speed cameras at locations across Seattle. The existing school zone cameras have led to a combined 16 percent reduction in citations for speeding across the four schools. “The public has been clear that we need to do more to protect children as they travel to and from school,” said Mayor Mike McGinn. “The data shows that the existing cameras are helping improve safety near schools by reducing travel speed and cameras should be installed at additional schools.” “Increasing safety in our school zone and beyond continues to be a high priority for me and for our school community,” said Sherri Kokx, principal of Nathan Eckstein Middle School, a potential location for future school zone traffic cameras. “School zone cameras are one more tool that can help increase safety.” Last fall, the City installed school zone speed cameras in four locations – Broadview-Thomson K-8, Olympic...