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Date: 10/12/2022
EAST LONGMEADOW – East Longmeadow Public Schools (ELHS) Superintendent Gordon Smith informed the School Committee that he had recently met with Town Manager Mary McNally, Deputy Town Manager Tom Christensen, Police Chief Mark Wolliams and DPW Superintendent Bruce Feeney to discuss traffic volume and speed on the roads behind the high school, particularly on Marshall Street.
For six days during September, an electronic sign was placed on Chestnut Street, just past the intersection with Marshall Street. In addition to alerting drivers to slow down, it also collected data on the number of vehicles and their speed, Smith said. He reported that while the average speed of vehicles approaching the stop sign ahead was 21.9 mph, the maximum speed was 66 mph.
Smith said the sign will be put back at the same location for six consecutive days, depending on the DPW’s schedule, to determine if traffic is as heavy and fast now that the Maple Street construction has concluded. School Committee member Elizabeth Marsian-Boucher commented that people slow down when they see the sign, which might skew the data.
Other methods of discouraging speeding that Smith said he discussed with town officials included increased police patrols and speed checks. Marsian-Boucher suggested the installation of rumble strips alert drivers who may not be paying attention to their speed. Smith said that stop signs are regulated by the federal Department of Transportation and would be much more difficult to implement.
The committee turned its attention to changes to district policies based on suggestions from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. The majority of the changes involved language use.
For example, in the anti-bullying policy, use of the word “victim” to describe someone who had undergone bullying was changed to the word “target.” Likewise, the term “perpetrator” for those who had participated in bullying was changed to “aggressor.” The use of the word “parent” throughout the policy was changed to “parent/guardian” to be more inclusive of all families.
Smith pointed out that while many incidents are reported as bullying, the behavior might not rise to the state’s definition of the act. Chapter 71, Section 370 of Massachusetts General Laws defines bullying in schools as the repeated “written, verbal or electronic expression or a physical act or gesture” that “causes physical or emotional harm to the victim or damage to the victim’s property; places the victim in reasonable fear of harm to himself or of damage to his property; creates a hostile environment at school for the victim; infringes on the rights of the victim at school or materially and substantially disrupts the education process or the orderly operation of a school.” Students, faculty, administration, staff or others may be either the target of bullying or the aggressor under the state’s definition.
“It doesn’t mean that the behavior that took place was acceptable. It just means it wasn’t bullying,” Smith emphasized and said that consequences are still put in place.
The district accepted two donations for the Spartan Walkway on the East Longmeadow High School (ELHS) campus. Resident Richard Thibeault donated $175, while Michaelene Kelley donated $100.
A portion of the donations will pay for an engraved brick for the walkway, while the rest of the money will go into the ELHS account.