Mom worries about children in crosswalk

Recent accidents involving elementary school children at a crosswalk near Carson High School should never have happened, said the Carson City superintendent of schools.

"We try to arrange the bus stops so that none of the younger children are crossing major thoroughfares," said Superintendent Mary Pierczynski about the wide four-way stop at Saliman and Robinson streets near the south end of Carson High.

Three children, all from the same household, have been hit while crossing the intersection en route to what they thought was their bus stop.

"It was miscommunication," Pierczynski said. "Earlier this fall they may have been given some bad information. They were really supposed to be going to another bus stop. It's not our goal to have children crossing Robinson."

Pierczynski said the children who live on the south side of Robinson Street between Appaloosa and Pinto streets should be going to a bus stop on Carson Meadows, never crossing a major intersection.

Mother Cynthia Glasgow, whose two sons Jesse, 7, Max, 8, and roommate's son Jeremy Vernon, 7, were hit in two separate accidents in the last two weeks, said the intersection is too congested early in the morning and her young children aren't the only ones crossing the intersection on their way to the bus stop.

Jeremy and Max were hit by a teenager Jan. 25 as they crossed Robinson Street. Jeremy suffered a minor injury to his elbow; Max hurt his foot.

Since the accident, Glasgow said, a teenage boy has been walking the children to a bus stop, but Monday Jesse was running late and walked alone.

He was also struck as he crossed Robinson Street by an adult woman who didn't see him. He suffered a sprained ankle.

Glasgow said the accidents are not the drivers' faults.

"That stop is just crazy in the morning. There is just so much traffic there. One person is waving the kids on and another doesn't see them," she said. "Someone needs to be there to help the kids cross the street."

Glasgow was hoping for at least a crossing guard to monitor the intersection, but said she was told by Pierczynski that wouldn't happen.

"She said they have 250 stops and it's just not possible to put crossing guards on all stops," Glasgow said.

Pierczynski said the reason for not putting a crossing guard there is to deter younger children from crossing.

"We aren't putting a crossing guard there because we don't want the kids crossing the street there," she said. "We don't put crossing guards for the high school kids because we expect them to look."

Pierczynski, along with Mike Mitchell, director of operations for the school district, and a representative from the Carson City Sheriff's Department will be at the intersection this morning to monitor traffic and make sure no other elementary school children are crossing there.

"If (Glasgow's) children are doing it, then there are probably others," she said. "We don't want them to do that."

Glasgow said she is glad her boys suffered only minor injuries, but worries what might happen the next time.

"We've been real lucky not having anything more than a sprained ankle. It's just that somebody needs to do something and they need to do it before someone seriously gets injured," she said.