School Crossing Guard Hit By SUV In Newton

NEWTON, MA — A Memorial Spaulding School crossing guard is recovering after she was hit by an SUV in front of families yesterday afternoon.

"Thankfully, she's OK. That's really, really, scary," Superintendent David Fleishman told Patch. "Crossing guards are hard to find, and they play a critical role in terms of the safety of our children and families and in terms of being welcoming."

Police were called at 3:04 p.m. Thursday to the intersection of Brookline Road and Hartman Street for a report of a pedestrian hit by a car in front of a number of families. Police said the crossing guard had stepped off the curb to direct traffic when the mirror of an SUV hit her. She was taken to the hospital, but was not badly injured, treated and released police said.

"It was a slow speed slow impact crash," said Lt. George McMains of the Newton Police. Investigators are still conducting interviews but so far no one has been charged.

The crossing guard's name was not released, but the event is a reminder, said Fleishman that drivers need to be safe around schools and pay special attention to our crossing guards.

"And also it's a reminder to appreciate our crossing guards," he said. "I will take an extra moment next time I cross to thank our crossing guards."

Memorial Spaulding Principal Tom Morris sent out an email to parents Thursday night letting them know what happened.

"Whether driving or walking, please use extra caution at that (and all) intersections near our school. The safety of our school community is on the forefront of my mind this evening," he wrote.

School committee member Matthew Miller said a parent posted about it on the school's PTO social media page when it happened and later the superintendent let the school committee know what happened.

The crash, at a busy intersection highlights a perennial issue for Memorial Spaulding - and across the district.

"Traffic around the schools has been something we've been trying to tackle, we knew sooner or later something was going to happen, hopefully this pushes people to action," said Miller who sits on the school committee's transportation group, which has been discussing steps to make school zones more safe. "Anyone getting hit is awful is but my biggest fear is that a kid's going to get hit."

Transportation became a district-wide goal this year, which means the Newton School Committee will be referring to it and measuring the success of the district on how they're meeting those goals.

The group is working to promote walking, biking, bus riding and car pooling, and then - last - independent drivers.

"We want to get as many cars of the road as possible," Miller said. "The safety piece is paramount and that's what we're really trying to promote."

One step coming up shortly is a proposal to take the bus registration process online, and in doing so help streamline the arranging of school busses.

"The idea is that the more people we can get on buses, and the more reliable we can help them be, we can get more people trusting them and not driving," he said, acknowledging that there have been several issues with them in the past. "But less kids on the busses, means more people on the road."

The district has also installed 20 new bike racks at schools to promote bike riding, created interactive maps on the transportation website to help encourage families to walk or bike or drop children off away from the "Blue Zone" meant only for busses.

For example, the map for Memorial Spaulding, will show where the bus stops,where the cross walks are, the route to school and drop off lanes a couple blocks away.

"We really want to get a coordinated communication out to parents about transportation safety, how the Blue Zone works, not to idol your car and promoting bus riding because it's a safety issue when you drive your car to school," he said.

The group is also working with the district to find intersections that would benefit from having flashing cross walks.

"Hartman Road and Brookline Street is a crazy intersection every morning. Parents line up at the Blue Zone and it backs up traffic," Miller said. "This incident is likely something we'll talk about immediately."

McMains told Patch there are usually two crossing guards at that intersection. Friday they had a police officer out helping traffic keep alert. The police department will be putting up speed monitoring signs in the area and gathering data to figure out next steps, he said.

The incident was one of two collisions involving pedestrians in Newton so far this month. The other was January 9 around 1:45 p.m. near the intersection of Cherry and Webster streets, according to police data.

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).