Tuolumne Elementary grieves, all schools on watch after 5-year-old’s death

A sidewalk memorial on the chain-link fence just past the kindergarten yard mourns a precocious 5-year-old who died as he dashed across Herndon Road from Tuolumne Elementary School on Wednesday. As the south Modesto school grieves, campuses around the region are redoubling their safety efforts, knowing such tragedies are only one heedless second away as cars converge.

“Unfortunately, no matter what you do, tragedies occur, especially with young kids. They’re impulsive,” said Jay Simmonds, assistant superintendent of the Ceres Unified School District. Ceres built smaller neighborhood schools as its enrollment grew over the past decade, routing parents through school parking lots to pick up children at curbside. “We try to get drop-offs off the main road,” Simmonds said.

For its older campuses, the district uses a Safe Routes to Schools grant to have volunteers lead groups to school and back, so-called walking school buses. “It’s about educating the students. That’s where you’re going to have success,” he said. Older schools tend to be on central streets and have the least parking, Simmonds noted. “Not a lot of students walk anymore, unlike years ago,” he said.

Tuolumne, built in 1950, faces narrow, two-lane Herndon with an awkward 10-slot parking area in front. Parents often double-park along the street, honking for kids to run between the cars to them, said parents and neighbors. Thursday, one woman launched into a three-point U-turn, snaring traffic for several minutes.

“We’ve worked on a system where parents would drop off on Sonora (Avenue). There are ongoing concerns and efforts to make it better,” said Principal Tonja Cargill. Newsletters sent home from August through November notified parents that vehicles no longer could stop in front of the school, and pickups would have to be along Sonora.

But problems continued. A March 12 letter devoted to traffic problems went home with students, saying drivers were ignoring the safety patrol’s stop signs and had nearly run over students. Cargill said a yard duty supervisor monitors Herndon each day. “He tries to make sure they don’t double-park, but they do it anyway,” she said.

It was shortly after noon Wednesday when kindergartner Alan “Alex” Fernandez saw his mother waiting across Herndon and ran in front of an oncoming city bus toward her. The driver told investigators he never saw the little boy. A Modesto City Schools nurse started CPR, but Alex could not be saved.

Children were excused one by one from the fenced kindergarten yard Thursday, but parents said that did not happen on rainy Wednesday. “We feel it’s not a secure place. There was an open door. He just ran out,” said mom Erica Landa, though it was not clear if she saw what happened. A district spokeswoman said a teacher was with the children.

Marybel Enciso, whose 5-year-old goes to afternoon kindergarten, said she wants to see the curb painted red and more police enforcement of traffic laws. “The city has to do something,” she said.

“We still can’t believe this happened,” said Alejanda Sanchez, 14, standing with friend Raquel Favela, 12, by the fence covered with balloons and posters. Stuffed animals and dozens of candles sat by the fence, and messages covered the sidewalk. Sanchez said she lives by Alex’s family. “He was an amazing little kid,” she said.

Kindergartner Tahlia Carrillo wrote chalk messages to her fallen classmate beside the memorial. “I don’t know how well she’s understanding. She knows he died,” said her mother, Aleina Lopez. Tahlia said the class drew pictures about Alex on Thursday, Lopez said.

Ten grief counselors fanned out over the campus Thursday, visiting classes and manning two rooms set aside for students and adults who needed to talk, said MCS spokeswoman Becky Fortuna. Community Hospice and Stanislaus County provided the counselors, she said, adding that Franklin & Downs has donated funeral services for Alex and Celeste Flowers donated a funeral arrangement.

Widespread problems

Other districts said they addressed the death with their staff and parents.

“We took this opportunity to highlight the danger in not adhering to our safety policies, like using crosswalks or parents escorting their children across the street,” said Salida Union Superintendent Twila Tosh. Not all parents listen, she said: “It is an ongoing struggle we face every day.”

In Patterson, Superintendent Phil Alfano said the district uses large signs as the school starts, and sends email blasts, newsletter reminders and Facebook posts telling parents the pickup and drop-off process. “We have a problem at one of our elementary schools with parents and students darting across the middle of the street instead of using the crosswalk about 40 yards down the road,” he said.

Waterford Unified has a combined elementary campus that suffers from severe congestion, especially as school starts, said Superintendent Don Davis. Local law enforcement is called in to keep parents from calling their children across the street, he said. The district provides crossing monitors, and busing is provided even in town, Davis said.

In Sylvan schools in north Modesto, kindergartners wait in a designated area until a parent walks in to get them, said Superintendent Debra Hendricks.

Tiny Gratton School in Denair may have the most structured release routine. Gratton Superintendent Shannon Sanford said she clears all 136 students in less than 10 minutes, but even that riles some drivers. “All students are kept behind gates until their name is called through a loudspeaker and they are given a color to stand on, by the curb, with the teacher. Approximately six cars are loaded on the curb at one time, then all pull away, with the next six pulling forward,” Sanford explained by email.

“During almond season, we have had large, two-trailer trucks sit in line and honk at parents to get out of the way, nonstop. We have had motorists make U-turns in the middle of the road, causing a collision because they did not want to wait two minutes in line,” she wrote.

There were 133 posts in response to a Bee Facebook query, many expressing disbelief at the lack of parental safety sense in school zones. Enochs High on Sylvan Avenue, Burbank Elementary on Paradise Road and Fremont Elementary on Orangeburg Avenue received the most complaints.

This story was originally published March 27, 2014 at 10:08 PM with the headline "Tuolumne Elementary grieves, all schools on watch after 5-year-old’s death."