Sikh school in Brampton to see traffic-safety measures reinstated

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A month after City of Brampton staff stripped the crosswalk paint off the road in front of a Sikh private school, they're back to install a new crosswalk, school-zone signs and a crossing guard – the same basic safety measures public and Catholic schools in the city have always enjoyed.

Two weeks ago, The Globe and Mail reported on a conflict involving the school, parents of students, neighbours and the city. Previously, a publicly funded Catholic school occupied the site that Khalsa Community School, a Sikh private school, now calls home. After the Catholic school closed, safety signs were removed from the site, which has caused traffic chaos at drop-off and pickup time at the school as well as serious safety concerns. In December, a city spokeswoman said the signs were removed from the site because "the intended need was no longer there."

Now, the city has done an about-face and in the coming weeks will be re-establishing all the measures that were in place when the school was a Catholic one.

"It's a very welcome move," said principal Ripsodhak Grewal.

Though the city doesn't typically provide these services and infrastructure for private schools, Marilyn Ball, Brampton's chief planning and infrastructure services officer, said they are acting now because this is a pressing public safety issue.

"There was certainly public concern expressed on this one so we went ahead," she said. A previous Globe and Mail story noted that a Christian private school in the city had city-issued school-zone signs around it.

Khalsa Community School is home to about 800 students, more than three times its built capacity. As a result, there is heavy traffic congestion in the area at the start and end of the school day. In a meeting with city officials, Mr. Grewal requested a city-trained crossing guard in the fall and even offered to pay for it so taxpayers wouldn't be on the hook. The city didn't respond and Mr. Grewal put his staff on rotation to fulfill that duty, though not all drivers took the volunteer crossing guards seriously. Parents reported near misses when children crossed the road. On Tuesday evening, Mr. Grewal was told the city is in the process of hiring a crossing guard for the school. Weather permitting, the city will soon paint new lines on the road to mark a re-established crosswalk, too.

Mr. Grewal and the city are involved in an ongoing dispute over the school's expansion. Mr. Grewal is currently working on the 15th revision of a site plan. Ms. Ball and Mr. Grewal said they are optimistic that issues will be resolved soon, though the city has taken the school to court for putting up 13 portables on its land when it has approval for only six. The two parties are back in court in February.

The city's move this week has resolved the safety issues at the school for now, but neither Mr. Grewal nor parents of students are certain if they're enough to temper the hostility directed at them by neighbours.

"The neighbourhood – how [are they] going to be satisfied?" Mr. Grewal asked. "Are they going to be satisfied if we totally get out of here? Or they are satisfied if we take a proactive approach to take the cars off the road?"

Summer Boparai, whose son attends the school, has dealt with a great deal of open aggression from neighbours when dropping off her son.

"Several neighbours don't want the school and they've said that. Then you have neighbours who don't mind the school there, but they'd like to see it be a small, little school with 100 or 200 students like [the Catholic school on the site] was right before it closed, which is unrealistic," she said.

Since the once-quiet school across the street reopened as a Sikh school in 2011, it has been a thorn in the side of resident Tony Iacobacci. He is irked by the children and parents who cut across a disputed patch of grass near his property line, and by the cars that do three-point turns in his driveway during pickup time. He said he's been in many arguments with parents of students.

While the city will soon be putting up no-stopping signs on Maitland Street and Montjoy Crescent to alleviate congestion on the street, that doesn't solve another issue Mr. Iacobacci has with the existence of the school: It serves as a hub for the Sikh community on evenings and weekends as well.

"I don't know what kind of function do they have. I see their cars parked on both sides of the road," he said.

Mr. Iacobacci's neighbour, Brian Vanderkwaak, has also been irritated by the amount of traffic on the street, but became an ally of the city and school to bring about change.

"I cannot express how happy I am that the children attending Khalsa Community School, and the people living in the surrounding area, will finally have a safe means to cross the street," he said in an e-mail.