By ANEEKA SIMONIS
PATCHES of roadwork close to schools and early learning centres in Pakenham created safety hazards for kids trying to walk to and from school during their first week back.
The question on parents’ and teachers’ lips: Why didn’t council organise the repairs over the school holidays?
On the first day of term four, Pakenham Hills Primary School students had no choice but to walk along the road as parts of the Army Road footpath were undergoing repair.
“Yesterday, I was picking up my eldest and a friend of hers aged five and six and had to walk on the road with my toddler in the pram shuffling the kids along the little gap on the nature strip … the on-coming traffic didn’t even slow down,” said Larissa, the mother of a Pakenham Hills Primary School student on Tuesday 7 October.
Sharing similar concern was Brendan on the Pakenham Gazette’s Facebook page who thought the site was lacking safeguards.
“Isn’t it great to see they did this the week school goes back instead of doing it during school holidays when foot traffic is next to nothing,” he said.
“They could easily have put some bollards on Army Road (to) create a safer environment for the kids.”
Council’s manager for Environment and Engineering Martin Teplik said contractors were hired based on their availability and safety officers checked off on the site.
“Council officers attended the site to ensure pedestrian safety was being maintained by the contractor as required,” Mr Teplik said.
But that was not always the case according to another Pakenham Hills parent Tarzi Lee who said there was no traffic management in place as kids arrived at school on Thursday 9 October.
“I called council this morning who gave me the excuse traffic management can’t start until after 9.30am. Whatever happened to Safety First?” she wrote on Facebook.
Kids and carers at the Pakenham North Early Learning Centre have been experiencing the same problem with blocks of footpath closed off for repairs.
“We walk the kids to and from school morning and afternoon, sometimes 10 at a time, and we have had to take extra staff to usher them across the grass and around flag poles and workers,” kinder teacher Jess Chandler said.
Pakenham Hills Primary School principal Dale Hendrick said while the updates didn’t take long, they were poorly planned.
“The area closest to school is the narrowest to the road and should have been worked on first,” he said.
“It’s been inconvenient for kids but will in the long run make it safer for everybody.”
Council said footpath maintenance started every year from September all the way in April the following year as a means of protecting pedestrian safety.
