- St. Johns Schools apply for a "Safer Routes to School" grant to enhance student safety, including signs, sidewalks, and lighting.
- The grant would provide over $1M for safety upgrades at each school.
- Watch the video above to see how this grant could impact local students' daily commutes.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
The walk from home to school. A goal here is to make it safer for students. I’m your St. Johns neighborhood reporter Russell Shellberg showing you how the city and school district plan to make it happen.
Whether students travel by bus, in a car, or walk, getting to school safely remains a priority...
"It all comes down to safety, right? Whether kids are in school, leaving school, or coming to school, we try to provide a safer environment for them," said Berthiaume.
One way the district is working toward that goal is by applying for a new "Safer Routes to School" grant.
For this story, I had a conversation with St. Johns School Superintendent Anthony Berthiaume. I check in with him often to keep you updated on schools in my neighborhood. He told me that the potential grant money could be used for adding signs along the routes, and he gave me two other examples.
"We're not only able to look at sidewalks, but also lighting, and we’re able to look at safety measures between our middle school and high school. The goal is to create an atmosphere where our students can safely walk or ride their bikes to school," Berthiaume.
This grant would provide $350,000 per building in the district. Overall, that’s more than a million dollars to put toward safety. It’s a priority St. Johns City Manager Chad Gamble recognizes as well.
"To ensure that that network is the safest it can be is really one of our prime directives," said Gamble.
Now, I did talk to a handful of parents picking up their students here who didn’t want to be on camera, but they said that if their students were biking or walking to school, this grant would make that travel much safer.
"It would be beneficial year-round, but I think it’s one of those things that a district needs to be cognizant of," Berthiaume.
Berthiaume says the grant will take time to secure funding, and he told me new additions are expected to be completed sometime in 2028 or 2029.
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