Duval board to place proposed school traffic-safety resolution on Nov. 4 agenda, seeks municipal cooperation

Duval County School Board members spent a portion of their workshop discussing a draft resolution aimed at establishing an annual school traffic-safety week and coordinating public-safety messaging and traffic-safety efforts with municipal governments across Duval County.

Board members debated the resolution’s phrasing and the proper scope of partners. One board member read a working clause that staff said would be placed in the draft: "Be it resolved that the Duval County School Board direct the superintendent to work cooperatively with the municipal governments within Duval County to establish…" The board discussed whether that language should be "direct," "empower" or "work cooperatively," and whether to explicitly name the consolidated government of the City of Jacksonville as inclusive of municipalities such as Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Baldwin.

Members urged staff to pull aggregate counts of students by travel mode (walking, biking, bus riders, car riders) to help quantify exposure and focus the resolution’s outreach. Several members said the campaign should seek PSAs and participation from the sheriff, mayor and city council to increase public uptake; staff reported prior conversations with the sheriff and the mayor’s office and a draft superintendent letter to city leaders is already under review.

The board agreed to add the proposed resolution to the Nov. 4 meeting agenda. Board members emphasized the effort should be collaborative across municipal governments and include planning and public-works partners so the initiative addresses high-risk locations such as bus stops and major intersections.

Next steps: staff will place the draft resolution on the Nov. 4 agenda, provide the requested student-travel-mode counts and work to schedule a joint meeting with municipal partners for further planning.