Operation Yellow Blitz on mission to keep Central Mass. students riding school buses safe

STURBRIDGE — Residents here need not be alarmed if they see a school bus stopped on the side of the road with a police vehicle behind them — it’s all part of a safety initiative in town known as Operation Yellow Blitz.

The initiative — one of several throughout Central Massachusetts in place to help ensure students arrive to and from school safely — involves school resource officers following school buses during morning pickup and afternoon drop-off to enforcing traffic laws.

“It's important for the children and the parents that they see us out there trying to make it known that we're out there to address these violations and we take them seriously,” said Sturbridge Police Chief Earl Dessert.

The first two weeks the department is able to provide maximum coverage, ensuring that as many buses as possible are covered by a police vehicle in the morning and afternoon. After those two weeks, the operation is then scaled back, Dessert said.

“Throughout the school year, Sturbridge is fortunate enough to have several school resource officers that that’s part of their duty in the morning and afternoon,” he said. “They randomly select buses, and they shadow the buses throughout the school year.”

Dessert said that regular patrols will also periodically pick buses and get involved throughout the school year.

While the department has pulled people over for various reasons and given out punishments ranging from verbal warnings to tickets, there have not been any serious injuries or accidents.

Colby Tytula, one of the school resource officers who follows the buses, said that the job is personal for him, both as a parent and as someone who has bonded with the students he helps make sure get picked up and dropped off safely.

“I think it's kind of one of the more important things that we do to keep our community safe, especially our children,” he said. “There's still drivers out there who, they're either on their cellphone and not paying attention, or are trying to beat the yellow light to get past it so they don't have to stop.”

While there have not been any serious accidents or injuries while he’s been on the job, there have been some close calls.

One area that is often of concern, he said, is Cedar Street near Burgess Elementary School, where students crossing the street to their bus stop have had some close encounters with drivers turning off from Route 20.

Cellphones pose problem

While the department has worked with the bus company to move the stop further away from Route 20, cellphones still pose one of the biggest problems, he said.

“We're just trying to do our part and we do see a difference, but the job never ends,” Tytula said. “We're still out there doing it because there's still people that either aren't aren't paying attention or just flat out don't want to stop.”

When the department shared that they would be participating in Operation Yellow Blitz again this school year on Facebook, the post garnered thousands of likes and hundreds of shares, as well as, generally, positive feedback, Dessert said.

The post gained enough traction that other police departments, such as the Auburn Police Department saw it on social media as well.

The department does not participate in Operation Yellow Blitz but, when it has enough personnel and bandwidth, it is able to excuse officers from morning roll call to provide buses a similar service. However, it is not a daily occurrence like in Sturbridge.

“We have an excellent relationship with our schools, and not only through our SRO, but through … collaborative activities between the two departments,” Mills said. “It was something our chief spoke to the superintendent about and she was on board with it, so we've been just doing it.”

No violations so far

Since the department has started providing the service, there have not been reports of any violations thus far, he said.

“We've done some similar types of programs for several years,” Mills said. “Whether we use motorcycle units to escort them, or at least observe.”

He said that the opportunity to follow buses, on the occasion that they are able to do so, has “double value” since many of the officers have students in the Auburn Public School district.

“In doing your job, you're providing the service and potentially protecting your own children,” Mills said. “If you're a parent, or whether you're not a parent, you still want to protect kids. Everybody has a right to get to school safely.”

For smaller towns like Winchendon and Oxford, while police may not participate in Operation Yellow Blitz or have officers follow buses around regularly, they are able to provide other services to ensure students are getting on buses and to their destinations safely.

Lt. Kevin Wolski with the Winchendon Police Department said that officers monitor traffic in the town as well, paying attention to problematic areas that may pose risks to students on their commutes to or from school.

The department has received several complaints about Old Gardner Road, off Route 140, and keeps an officer around that area to ensure nothing goes wrong.

In Oxford, police will work with the dispatch center or even directly with the school district on occasions, about bus routes that may need extra patrolling if they’ve received complaints or concerns about it being unsafe.

“We might get a call … vehicles not stopping for the bus to pass on the bus,” said Lt. William Marcelonis. “We'll pick that bus route and we'll follow that route from the time it starts in the morning, and we'll bring it right up into the school. We'll look for violations that way.”

While police vehicles may not be out everyday following buses and enforcing traffic laws, officers are at the elementary schools every morning to make sure there are no issues.

Traffic study monitors speeding

The department also did a four-day traffic study, Marcelonis said, after people raised concerns that drivers were speeding on streets near schools.

After the study, he said, the department found that the average speed in a 30 mph area is 27 mph, and that if people were driving over the speed limit, it would be about 4 mph above the posted limit.

“We're a small community and we take care of our neighborhoods,” Marcelonis said. “When people ask … a question, especially when it comes to our children, we're going to be right on it so soon as they call it down … we address it immediately.”

While the Worcester Police Department used to take part in Operation Yellow Blitz, it has not done so since the COVID-19 pandemic, said Lt. Sean Murtha.

Instead, the department has focused on other safety initiatives such as car seat safety and pedestrian enforcement.

Sgt. James T. Foley, a member of the department's Crash Reconstruction Unit, said that six certified child passenger safety technicians are on site to help families make sure that their kids’ car seats are installed properly due to the Buckle Up for Life Grant the department received from Cincinnati's Children’s Hospital and Toyota.

“We've had a couple of fatalities, which involved kids not being properly secured in a motor vehicle, so it's important,” Foley said.

The issue came into particular focus, he said, during COVID-19, when parents opted to drive their kids to school rather than take the bus and kids were not being properly restrained inside of the vehicles.

Parents would assume, he said, that since they would be traveling a short distance, there would not be much of an issue, but it’s in those short distances that issues are the most likely to occur.

They are also focusing on enforcing crosswalk safety and educating parents and drivers about adhering to crosswalk safety laws, especially when near schools.

Use the crosswalk — it's the law

Foley said that families are often unaware that if they are within 300 feet of a crosswalk, they are required to use the crosswalk.

Using the crosswalk, especially when a traffic guard is nearby, will keep them and their students safer, he said, especially from motorists who may not slow down near a crosswalk or drive while distracted by their phone.

“[We’re] trying to get the motoring public to understand … if you approach a school, drop your speed, slow down, and be aware that you could have a child run out in front of you,” Foley said. “When you’re near a school, you’ve got to start paying attention.”

Like Tytula in Sturbridge, there are not only issues with drivers not paying attention to speed limit changes, but also driving while distracted by something like their cellphone, or trying to pass school buses when coming to a stop to let students on or off.

“The motoring public has got to understand yellow school buses … you’ve got to slow down,” he said. “Even … when they start to do the yellow signal flashing, that's a really good indication, you've got to slow down and don't try to pass the bus.”

The department has also received the $62,000 Municipal Road Safety Grant to help focus on a litany of issues each month, such as seatbelt safety and preventing distracted driving.

Throughout the year, the department also focuses on pedestrian bike enforcement.

Last school year, when driving by a school, Foley said he noticed some students riding bikes without helmets. He and the Crash Reconstruction Unit went to schools with helmets they received as donations from Walmart and provided them to students who didn’t have one.

While the department may not participate in Operation Yellow Blitz currently, it is possible in the future. However, it may appear differently than how it is done in Sturbridge, Foley said, as there are too many buses for the department to cover.

For now, the department will focus on enforcing traffic laws, while also educating families on the preventative steps they can take to keep their students safe.

“We see the end results when kids are not properly restrained ... we see the devastation that it can cause a family when they have a child suffer some type of a permanent disfigurement or injury that could have been prevented had the child and properly secured inside the motor vehicle,” he said. “It means a lot to us.”

Parents interested in having their child's car seat properly installed by one of the technicians can call the Crash Reconstruction Unit at 508-799-8674.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Operation Yellow Blitz on mission to keep school kids safe on road