PORT ORANGE, Fla. – Dozens of parents dropped off their children on Monday morning at Sugar Mill Elementary School in Port Orange.
The first day of school consisted of several safety changes following the death of Shaolan Kamaly, 10, who was struck and killed while riding her bike on the crosswalk back in May.
“I know they added the sidewalk last week, so that’s kinda nice,” Steffanie Bornhoft said.
Bornhoft said she walks her two sons to school every day and noticed extra traffic control officers on duty Monday morning.
“As far as the walk to school and stuff, I think we are fine there. We’ve never had issues, seems like it’s running smoothly just a little backed up,” she said.
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Things like new speed bumps and extra signage were added on campus since the tragedy.
News 6′s Ezzy Castro spoke to Volusia County Superintendent Carmen Balgobin about the changes and how they are using the tragedy to improve safety countywide.
“I do want all of our parents to understand that we used that opportunity to look at every single school in our district and determine what are some of enhancement features that could be incorporated by working collaborative with our cities,” Balgobin said.
Though one safety change that has not been completed is a right turning lane that goes into Sugar Mill Elementary, the turning lane is meant to help ease traffic in the area.
Another parent, Brittany Potesak, said she was frustrated to learn she was not allowed to walk her son, who has autism, to the front gate at the school like she’s usually done in the past.
“I understand that an incident happened and I feel terrible for that, but that didn’t happen on the school property. It happened out here. So, what they are doing out here I think is fantastic, but all the rules that they are now implying here that I can’t park and walk my child up to the gate is very ridiculous,” Potesak said.
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