PORT ORANGE, Fla. — Changes are happening at Sugar Mill Elementary after a was hit and killed by a car while riding her bike to school on May 24.

What You Need To Know

  • On May 24, a girl was hit and killed while riding her bike to Sugar Mill Elementary School
     
  • Since then, speed bumps have  been installed in the pick-up/drop-off lanes

  •  A turn lane is also being added to enter the school

  • Additional signage is also being added to exits of the school

Charles Street, which is the main road in front of Sugar Mill Elementary, is not very wide to begin with. The two-lane road doesn’t have any traffic signals on it for the portion that is in front of the school.

Laurie Cloud, who lives off Charles Street, said her road often feels like a parking lot for drop off and pick up during the school year.

“They line up in the street to drop the kids off,” Cloud said. “Then the kids will get out and cross the street to go to school.”

This past school year, Cloud had two grandchildren — a fifth grader and kindergartner — who attended Sugar Mill Elementary. When the school day ended, they would walk to her house. With the oldest of the two now getting ready to attend middle school, Cloud said she will help the first grader get home.

“With everything that has happened, you don’t want to see something else happen,” she said.

Neither does the district.

The school now has speed bumps to enter and exit the drop-off lane, trees have been removed down Charles Street to help with visibility, a turn lane into the school is being added, and officials say they will be adding more permanent signage to correct driving behaviors.

Cloud said she still thinks more is needed.

“There needs to be a crossing guard there,” she said. “You have this whole street will line up before and after school, of kids walking to cross the street to get to school. It’s like the highway out here in the mornings and afternoons.”

The district and Volusia County Sheriff’s Office are planning to do a traffic engineering study and more due diligence when school is back in session.

Capt. Todd Smith, who is the director of safety and security for Volusia County Schools, spoke at a recent school board meeting to advise the board about observations that will need to be made when school is in session.