Council says no to lollipop person for Ratoath school

Parents and staff at St Paul"s National School in Ratoath are angry that Meath County Council has refused to allocate a school warden or lollipop person to the school. All of the school"s 266 pupils are under eight years old, but there is nobody to assist them across the road. The school"s principal, Morag MacGabhann said they had applied to the county council for a school warden, but were refused. 'They told us they hadn"t allowed for it in the budget,' she said. Despite the Jamestown Road, on which the school is located, being closed to through traffic, it is extremely busy with pupils arriving at the primary school and also to Ratoath College. The road also serves a number of busy local estates. There are proposals to fully open the road, with traffic calming measures in place, later this year. 'There is a fear that the situation will be even worse when through traffic starts driving through the area,' said Ms MacGabhann. 'Parents are very worried. They would love to walk their children to school, but because there isn"t a lollipop person, it is too dangerous, so they drive to school and parking is a major issue,' she said. Cllr Nick Killian said he had been attempting to persuade the council to appoint a lollipop person for the school. He also asked parents who lived near the school to walk their children there, rather than travel by car, to avoid adding to the traffic problems. He said that while new pedestrian lights would be provided when the inner relief road opened later this year, a lot would also depend on how parents acted themselves. St Paul"s National School opened three years ago and classes are currently taking place in temporary accommodation at Jamestown, on the site where the proposed permanent school building will be located. There are currently 266 pupils enrolled in the school, which will eventually cater for 600 pupils in 24 classes.