PARMA HEIGHTS, Ohio — Parma Heights has a new plan to slow drivers down to keep the community and the students and staff of Valley Forge High School safe.
“The school zone will definitely be active on York Road by the 204-2025 school year,” said Detective Eric Taylor of Parma Heights Police Department.
Detective Eric Taylor tells News 5 that the city took this plan into consideration after receiving an email from a concerned resident following a pedestrian versus vehicle accident earlier this year.
“From when the school was built to now there hasn’t been one that we know of. There was no major defining incident that we decided that we have to have a school zone here,” said Taylor.
But he says the city realizes there is a need, so they’re taking preventative steps to keep the community safe, where drivers will have to go slower at 20 miles per hour while in the active school zone.
“Because it’s a 35 mile an hour zone, we want to give people that time to slow down,” said Taylor.
For parents like Angela Revay, she tells News 5’s Remi Murrey it’s a relief.
“It's a high traffic area. York Road being very busy, and even though the entrance to the high school is not on York Road or right off of York Road proper and it's off the side street. A lot of kids in our district walk to school still,” said Angela Revay, who’s a parent.
Revay and Taylor say the need for the school zone became even more apparent when Parma Senior High School closed its doors earlier this year, and some of those students transferred to Valley Forge.
“We added more students to that building so you’ve got more students there. That’s more young drivers, more people who are walking,” said Taylor.
Both Taylor and Revay hope adding this new school zone will make drivers more alert and watch out for students.
“It will give everybody pause when it’s time for school to start in the morning and for school to be released, so It’s definitely very important from a safety standpoint,” said Revay.
We reached out to Parma City School Superintendent Charles Smialek, and in a statement to News 5, he says:
“We are grateful for the support of Parma Heights leaders in recognizing the importance of student safety. Mayor Gallo and her team have been excellent partners in supporting our school district and this is one more example of their concern for students.”
“We want to make sure that our schools are a safe place,” said Taylor.
