BEVERLY — As Katie Steer got her 5-year-old son Cashen ready for school on a recent morning, she bundled him up in a coat and hat, strapped him into his stroller and headed out for the short walk across the street to the Northshore Education Consortium.
For all of the care Steer provided for Cashen, who is legally blind, non-verbal and autistic, there was one precaution she had to do without.
Despite the fact that the Northshore Education Consortium educates some of the area’s most vulnerable students in three schools on a busy street, the area is not designated as a school zone. There are no signs or flashing yellow lights alerting drivers that there is a school ahead, and no 20 mph school zone speed limit.
Parents say the lack of school zone is putting their children at risk. They have reached out to school and city officials in an attempt to legally establish one.
“There’s no notification to drivers to be cognizant of this situation,” Steer said, noting that the consortium’s two buildings on Sohier Road do not look like traditional school buildings. “As a driver I’d want to know if I’m driving past a school or anyplace that has a vulnerable population.”
Steer and Cashen did manage to cross Sohier Road safely that morning, using a crosswalk that was installed two years ago. But when Steer was trying to cross back after dropping Cashen off, pushing the empty stroller, she had to wait at the crosswalk while three cars sped past without stopping.
The Northshore Education Consortium is the largest provider of special education programs on the North Shore. More than 250 students from preschool to Grade 12 attend programs on Sohier Road, many of them with complex medical needs, physical and intellectual disabilities, visual or hearing impairment, and autism.
Executive Director Fran Rosenberg said there has always been a question about whether the consortium qualified as a school zone because so many of the students are driven to school in buses and vans, with a much smaller number walking to school.
But she said concerns have risen in recent years with an increase of traffic from the nearby Whole Foods plaza and the ongoing development of the Anchor Point housing complex. There is also a considerable amount of traffic heading to and from Beverly High School, which is also on Sohier Road.
“At this point, we’re really just asking for signage so people are aware we are a school and will hopefully slow down,” Rosenberg said.
Parents and school officials reached out to Beverly City Council President Julie Flowers about the possibility of establishing a school zone at the consortium. A school zone would be identified by a sign that includes a 20 mph speed limit during the hours that school is in session. The city can designate a school zone if it meets criteria established by the state.
In a letter to the City Council, Flowers said she believes the Northshore Education Consortium does meet the criteria, which include school children having “direct access” from school property to the street.
Even though many of the consortium’s students are driven to school, Flowers noted some students walk during the school day as part of their special education curriculum, and that students with autism can be at high risk of “eloping,” or wandering. Students also walk over to the Whole Foods plaza after school, including some who work there.
“There are vulnerable students, and if there are things we can do as a community to raise awareness and increase safety, that’s a positive,” Flowers said.
A total of 11 parents and teachers wrote letters to the Beverly City Council urging the city to establish a school zone. The council voted on Oct. 21 to to refer the matter to the city’s Parking and Traffic Commission to review and make a recommendation to the council.
Steer, who lives literally across the street from the school in the Northridge apartments, said she often drives Cashen to school because of the difficulty in crossing Sohier Road. During the day, she can watch from her window the speeding cars whipping by.
“I see first-hand the need,” she said.
Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@salemnews.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.