Covillaud Elementary School to get new stop signs

A fifth-grade student council civics project from last year will pay off in a few weeks when Marysville installs new stop signs near Covillaud Elementary School.

Two intersections on G Street — one at Seventh Street and the other at Eighth Street — are set to become four-way traffic stops.

"The safety of our kids is obviously our paramount concern," said Mayor Bill Harris, who pushed for the change after receiving more than 50 letters from students at the school about the dangers of trying to cross the street.

"The kids were really instrumental in making this happen," Harris said.

After receiving the letters in June, Harris called for a traffic committee meeting to be held at Covillaud so that parents and teachers could weigh in with their concerns.

The City Council approved an amendment to the city's vehicles and traffic code to include the changes.

It will go into effect at the end of the month, after which the signs can be erected.

Last year's fifth-graders had been urged by student council leaders to write letters to the mayor about the problems dodging cars while crossing G Street.

Though F Street gets the majority of traffic before and after school, stop signs and patrols by police help mitigate the problems, according to school Principal Doug Escheman.

But on G Street, according to teachers, kids and parents, two-way stops often confuse drivers and crosswalks are routinely ignored.

Escheman said news about the stop signs energized recent student elections. Last year was the first for the elementary school's student government program.

"We had so many kids run for office this year," he said. Because of last year's letter-writing campaign, students followed the issue closely.

"The pen can be very powerful," Escheman said.