A local safety cosultant told the Maricopa Unified School District governing board on Oct. 22 that his assessment found "major defects" in school zones and crosswalk markings across Maricopa schools and asked the board to request a formal review by city officials.

Brad Follett, CEO of Rain World Environmental Consultants, told the board he assessed public and private school crossings and concluded the markings were not properly engineered and, in some cases, were so degraded that they were not ADA‑compliant. "These are actually intended to give notice and change for approaching drivers' behaviors, which has the potential of putting 9,950 of our students, our precious kiddos, in danger from dangerous crosswalks," Follett said.

Follett told the board he submitted documentation to the district on Oct. 10 and posted materials at earth‑month.org. He said he has communicated with a city public‑works representative, whom he named as Mr. Brown, and that city staff told him a traffic engineer would be consulted. He also said city staff told him each school must submit individual requests for corrections. "At this point, the demand is not in city code nor in state law," Follett said, and he asked the board to "represent the 11 schools or 12 schools that are public and submit a request to Mr. Brown and to the city council to have a formal review of each of the school zones and crosswalks to be inspected, audited, engineered, designed to conformity, repaired."

What the board said about public comment rules
Board materials read at the start of the public‑comment period cited Arizona law limiting board discussion of items not on the agenda (A.R.S. §38‑431.01(O)(1)), and staff reminded speakers that action resulting from public comment is limited to directing staff to study a matter, responding to criticism, or placing an item on a future agenda.

Next steps: Follett asked the board to request a formal city review. The district did not announce immediate follow‑up action at the meeting; board members did not debate or vote on the request during public comment.