Sheriff, police chief concerned about student safety

Smith added: “The only thing brought to our attention that I know of is the fact that they were asking could we get the (Georgia Department of Transportation) to time out the traffic lights. On top of this mile-and-a-half rule, they are trying to get buses loaded, students delivered, and the buses back to the schools within 35 minutes.”

Smith said he did receive an inquiry from a parent who wanted to know how many accidents there have been on roads within the Apalachee school cluster, where the roads do not have sidewalks.

“We’ve had 74 accidents within a 1.5-2 mile radius of those schools in the past year,” he said.

The sheriff said he also checked to see how many people on the local sex offender registry live within “parental responsibility zones” that school officials define as "within a radius of one and one-half miles from the school to which they are assigned, according to the nearest practical route by school bus."

Smith said: “We have several sex offenders within a 2-mile radius of the schools. However, we only have one known sexual predator in Barrow County. He lives off Horton Street, which is within a 2-mile radius of Winder-Barrow High School.”

Winder Police Chief Dennis Dorsey said as of today, no one has contacted the police administration about the change that takes effect on Monday, Aug. 13, which is the first day of the new school year.

He said he learned of the issue only this morning after returning from vacation, and he confirmed that neither of the officers next in line in his administration had been contacted.

“All I know is what the mayor told me this morning,” Dorsey said. “I did receive an email from a concerned parent who was considering letting his child ride his bike to school. But we still haven’t heard anything from (school system) transportation.”

Dorsey said while city streets have more sidewalks than county roads, all city streets do not have sidewalks, and there are very few crosswalks. This morning, he ordered from the city’s GIS department an aerial map of the parental responsibility zones.

“I’m going to need more police officers out there,” Dorsey said. “I want to make sure the kids get there safely.”

After checking state and city codes at the request of a reporter, Dorsey said he believes it is legal for children to ride bikes on city sidewalks. However, he said they could not ride skateboards within Fire Zone 1 in downtown Winder, per the city code. And anyone under the age of 16 who rides on a bike must have a safety helmet, per state law.

The school system also has changed the times that students must be at school. High school students will begin their days at 7:20 a.m. and leave at 2:50 p.m. Middle schoolers will start at 7:20 a.m. and leave at 2:30 p.m. Students who attend the alternative programs will start at 8:30 a.m. and get out at 4 p.m. Elementary school students in grades K-5, who will continue to ride buses, are to start at 8:30 a.m. and leave at 3:30 p.m.

Both the sheriff and the police chief said they plan to attend the Barrow County Board of Education’s meeting at 7 tonight where several parents have signed up to speak on the transportation issue.

The BOE last week adopted the budget for the current fiscal year, which actually began July 1. The transportation cuts are expected to save the system about $460,000. Voting against the budget were BOE members Will Dunn and Rickey Bailey.