QV Superintendent Attempts to Quell Rumors, Calm Leetsdale Neighborhood Fears

Tuesday's  meeting started off with reflections from Superintendent Joseph Clapper, who said he wanted to dispel rumors and distortions about the district's plan to purchase Leetsdale properties.

For starters, he said the district isn’t planning to kick senior citizens out of their homes nor do they want to purchase all nine houses in the 700 block of Beaver Street.

“Absolutely not,” Clapper said.

About 50 people attended the board meeting to discuss an ongoing traffic issue outside the high school and 's idea to construct a separate, off-street student drop-off point for high school parents to resolve the ongoing problem of motorists stopping in the middle of Beaver Street and tying up traffic to let students off.

School officials say the high school is landlocked and limited in possible solutions that don't involve mixing pedestrian students with buses, but repeatedly stressed to the public that plans to  to build the drop-off area is only “conceptual” at this point.

“We don’t have any deadline or time set that this needs to be finished,” said School Board Vice President Sarah Heres, who conducted the meeting in Board President Jack Norris’s absence. She said a traffic study is in the works. 

show a bus turnaround, parent drop off and additional parking where three homes currently stand between the  and Village Drive, the back entrance to the Quaker Village Shopping Center complex.

While board members said no decisions have been made, the district did and are in negotiations for the two other properties. The third home would be used to put a buffer between the drive and the rest of the neighborhood, according to designs.

“Don’t you have the cart before the horse?” asked Tom Michael of Leetsdale, who pointed out the district hasn’t filed planning or zoning applications or addressed Leetsdale Council with plans. He asked why the district hasn’t sought to take these steps first.

“Before you’re buying houses, shouldn’t you be figuring out whether or not you’ll be acquiring property that you need? Maybe if you have a conversation with those folks you will come up with that you don’t need to buy those houses. Maybe there’s another way that they can get along with,” said Michael, whose wife Linda is a member.

Board members said recently came up and they purchased the property to keep their options open.

“No decision’s been made,” School Director Gianni Floro reiterated.

Floro previously said parents who drive their students to school rather than put them on the bus are part of the problem. He said Tuesday there wouldn't be an issue if more students were riding “the big yellow bus,” which he said would also save gasoline costs.

Clapper said the problem has been ongoing for at least a decade, and listed instances over the years where the board has either discussed or addressed the matter. 

“One only has to visit during morning drop off to observe the dangerous practice that occurs in front of the high school,” he said.

He said the student pedestrian and traffic safety issue is well documented and that it was Leetsdale borough officials who approached the district with the idea to purchase nearby properties as a solution. He likened some of the rumors he said he’s been hearing about the Leetsdale properties to recent political advertisements running on television, saying the facts are being distorted.

“It appears that there is a variety of misinformation and multiple distortions that are being communicated as if they are facts,” he told the crowded room.

, who lives on the block, asked if the district would sign off on a legal agreement to assure the remaining six properties won't be pursued, an idea Clapper said they would have to consult with legal counsel about.

Several who spoke said they believed that plan was a rewarding “lawless” parents for and that the district was treating residents from the neighborhood with a heavy hand.

Lori Kastan, who also lives in the neighborhood, said there has been a "psychological battering" of neighbors. She said there was an implied threat from a realtor to an elderly resident and his son that their home could be taken if they didn't agree to sell. 

Others, like Anthony Scalercio of Edgeworth, wanted to know the cost of the plan from start to finish.

“It’s pretty tough to put a dollar amount on it,” Clapper said.

Linda Vaccaro of Sewickley said she's lived in Leetsdale for 50 years and served as president of council for a few years. She said the district is taking three homes from a that creates income for the borough. She agreed that there is a traffic issue that needs to be addressed.

“Is this the solution? I don’t think so,” she said. 

A parent who said she also drives her daughter to school thanked the board for exploring solutions.

“There are not safe alternatives for drop off,” the parent said.

Meredith Malcolm, the board’s new student representative, was asked how she feels about the safety situation. Malcolm said she drives to school and isn’t sure what the solution is, but does know something needs to be done.

Clapper said the district is compelled to provide a safe environment for students “both inside and outside the school house.” He said the school board and administration has spent literally thousands of dollars and man hours in an effort to devise a better plan for the beginning and end times of the school day, when the traffic issue is considered the biggest problem.

“These efforts have been undertaken with painful contemplation and in consultation with architects and engineers who are experts in the field of traffic safety,” Clapper said. 

Superintendent addresses rumors

Q. Are we looking to evict senior citizens from their homes as some are reporting?

A. "Absolutely not. To date, homeowners have all expressed willingness to sell their properties. Anyone making statements to the contrary of this is simply distorting the facts in a shameful manner. We don’t all agree 100 percent on the value of certain properties, but hopefully an agreement can be reached at a certain point."

Q. Is the district looking to purchase the remaining six properties on Beaver Street?

A. "Absolutely not. We’ve been very clear about this from the very beginning yet people continue to make this claim. That’s unfortunate and it only serves to rile people up and scare people. I find that to be disheartening. Claiming the district wants to buy all the homes has absolutely no basis in fact. It would be much appreciated if any further communication of this distortion would cease."

Q. The main reason the district is doing this project is for the parking and not student safety because you included parking lots in your conceptual design.

A. The district is exploring a safe way for students to ride and to park at school. It should be noted that parking is a consideration. Leetsdale borough safety officials have informed us on several occasions of their desire to paint the curb red in front of the high school so that no one can ever park at that location. The reason told is so that emergency vehicles can have the necessary access to the building in case of an emergency such as fire, health or some other reason.  

Many senior citizens also attend high school events. Most seniors are actually driving to events, so additional parking that’s closer in proximity would serve them well. 

The district has a very large number of special needs students in the schools, who need special care and special facilities, including special entrances and exits from buildings. The elementary schools and newly renovated middle school will have such accomodations. The high school is sorely lacking in this area.

"It is absolutely necessary to provide adequate pick up and drop off to busy Beaver Street for this very special population of students," Clapper said. "By the way, it’s not just a good idea, it’s the law.”

A decade of discussion

2000 

• When interviewing Eckles Architecture as a potential architect for the district, one of the items discussed was the problem with high school traffic.

2002

• In the facilities master plan for the district, high school traffic was identified as an issue that needed to be resolved. Eckles looked at the possibility of cutting the curb and installing a fence along Beaver Street in front of the school to prevent cars from stopping and dropping students off. Such a solution was deemed not to be viable, Clapper said.

• Also in 2002 when the tennis courts were being constructed, Leetsdale borough officials suggested that if the district purchased the back portion of the property adjacent to the high school it would make it easier for the public to access the tennis courts.

2004 

• In updating and revising the district’s facilty master plan as part of the PlanCOG process for Edgeworth and Osborne elementary renovations, the high school traffic was again studied.

 2005

• During the high school moisture remediation project in the schematic design phase, the district considered putting an atrium on the front of the high school, then installing a bus route and a car pull off lane as well as a design of  a governor’s drive that went up to the high school. An engineering firm that worked with Quaker Valley on the Edgeworth and Osborne traffic study was asked to preliminarily study the traffic at the high school and make a recommendation. If the board was to proceed with the project, the firm would have needed to do an official full-blown study. The firm told the district it was not worth the money to do the study from what they could see unless Quaker Valley planned to acquire a number of homes on both sides of the high school along Beaver Street to create an egress and ingress lane at a greater distance. Looking at the preliminary sketches, this was not feasible at that time.

• An engineer under contract for the high school moisture remediation project commented that due to the number of pipes, streams and geotechnical issues in front of the school, they had serious concerns about putting in a governor’s drive.

2007-2008

• There was a meeting with Leetsdale borough officials regarding various traffic issues, and signs were discussed on Route 65 for turning into the high school stadium.

2008-2009

• There were discussions regarding installing a traffic signal or flashing lights along Route 65 making it a school zone. The board ultimately decided against seeking approvals for this.

Fall 2010

• Leetsdale borough safety officials requested a meeting at the Quaker Valley School District office. At this meeting, it was shared that there was a plan to the paint curb red in front of the high school so that no one could ever park there. Borough officials questioned the district as to whether they might investigate purchasing land along Beaver to alleviate the traffic and pedestrian safety problem.

Sewickley Patch is on Facebook and on Twitter . Don't forget to sign up for our daily email newsletter by clicking here .

Sewickley Patch is on Facebook and on Twitter . Don't forget to sign up for our daily email newsletter by clicking here .