Safety Changes on the Way at Kennewick School After Boy Hit by Bus Last Year

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By Chelsea Kopta

Summary

The Kennewick School District promised to look into their safety policies last March after a school bus driver struck an eight-year-old riding his bike home. A year later, we checked in to make sure they would.

Story Published: Mar 3, 2010 at 6:49 PM PST

KENNEWICK, WA -- Safety changes on the way at Washington Elementary in Kennewick after a boy was hit by a bus last March. An eight-year-old was riding his bike home from school when the bus struck the boy and dragged him and the bike 15 feet. Now, the district says they'll have a work order finalized as early as this week.

Back then, the Kennewick School District set a safety committee to work to review possible changes.

"I think we should all take this as a wake-up call," district Spokesperson Lorraine Cooper told us then.

Fast-forward one year and we found out the school district is moving forward with changes including moving fences, crosswalks and bike racks to make sure this school has a lot more visibility.

"I think that's good," mom Debi Widman said. "I think the more we can do for our children in school, the more they can be seen and watched and this kind of thing, I think that's wonderful."

"I think they would be good for the better of the student safety," Michelle Eckerman said, mom of a Washington Elementary student.

Action News found out there hasn't been a bus accident since the one in March of last year. We pulled the numbers and found 17 people were hit by vehicles in Kennewick last year, three were seriously hurt but no others involved school buses.

The boy in the bus accident survived with bumps and bruises but the district is intent on making sure it never happens again.

Cooper said the changes are likely to happen during spring break when fewer kids are around.

The Kennewick School District chose not to go on camera since the work order is not completely finalized. We'll stay on top of this as more details come out.