School asks for City’s help in slowing traffic
By Randy Bell
Providence Christian School officials have asked for the City’s help in slowing down traffic on Morrison Drive.
A Clinton school which educates children with learning disabilities is afraid to let its students go outside to play because of heavy traffic on the adjacent street – and it’s asking the City for some help.
“The problem is that we’re sandwiched between Clinton Boulevard and Highway 80,” says Becky Dewett, the headmaster of Providence Christian Academy (PCA) at 201 Morrison Drive. “Many people have started using [Morrison Drive] as a thoroughfare. There are no stop lights on our street, so they cut through where we are; and, because of that, it endangers our kids.”
“Also, the side road, McDonald Drive, has become a cut-through,” said Dewett. “Just the amount of traffic, the consistency of the traffic and the speed of the traffic has become a concern for us.”
A preschool facility is co-located on the property, known as the Morrison Heights Mission Campus, and Dewett is also worried about the safety of those children when they’re on the playground.
She spoke to Mayor Will Purdie and the Board of Aldermen at their work session October 6, asking the City to take steps to slow the traffic.
“Speed bumps would be ideal,” Dewett says, although she’s aware that Clinton leaders have been hesitant to install those on local streets.
The City is looking at establishing a school zone on Morrison Drive.
“That would be great,” she says. “That would be the first step.”
PCA, formerly known as Kaleidoscope Heights Academy, moved to Clinton from Jackson last year, and now serves about sixty students.
“The school is a Christian school that offers an education opportunity for neurodiverse children, [those who are] dyslexic, bipolar, on the autism spectrum [with] different learning disabilities,” Dewett says. “We offer services for three-year-olds all the way up to twelfth grade.”
Providence Christian School officials say that traffic has increased on McDonald Drive, as well.
