We’re about a month into summer break for students in South Florida. But if you drive around schools frequently, it’s not always clear whether you’re still supposed to follow those posted speed limits telling you to drive a sluggish 15 miles per hour.
At Morningside Elementary School at 8:20 in the morning, for instance, there’s a sign posting a15 mph limit between 7:15 and 8:15 in the morning and 1:45 to 3:30 in the afternoon. There’s even flashing lights above the sign, but if you look across the street at the school, it’s like a ghost town. There’s no summer school in session. Still cars are creeping at the posted speed.
“Well if you look at the sign it says “school days.” Is it a school day? Do we have kids in session?” asks Lt. Raul Correa with the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department.
Obviously the answer is “no” for this school.
“So the community needs to be aware the school board is the largest employer in Miami-Dade County, so I recommend people get involved in the school system and know when the schools are in session,” he said.
So it’s sort of on you, the driver, to know which schools are in and which are out for the summer, to know if it is a school day.
But Correa says maybe you should ease off the gas anyway.
“Kids use the field even if the school’s not in session,” Correa says. “The community, they’ve got kids using the basketball courts, they may use the fields for playgrounds, so we should just be concerned as… we drive around schools.”
But at least you won’t get a ticket for the next month and a half if you forget to go slow. Students will be back in Miami-Dade schools on Aug. 22.
