{"id":429277,"date":"2026-10-16T06:58:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T06:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/429277\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T06:58:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T06:58:19","slug":"parents-community-members-invited-to-weigh-in-on-public-safety-improvements-for-mandarin-middle-school-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/429277\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents, community members invited to weigh in on public safety improvements for Mandarin Middle School students"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mandarinmiddleDCPS\/posts\/pfbid023ubkHsj76i4MsmJymQy5Sp3STYE5eHu1A1bLBCm6JDAcFhhnoUDDCymEqmVm65QUl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mandarinmiddleDCPS\/posts\/pfbid023ubkHsj76i4MsmJymQy5Sp3STYE5eHu1A1bLBCm6JDAcFhhnoUDDCymEqmVm65QUl\">Mandarin Middle School<\/a> is inviting parents and community members to weigh in on proposed safety improvements around the school at a public meeting Thursday evening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">The meeting runs from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the school, located at 5100 Hood Road. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">It is part of Florida\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fdot.gov\/Safety\/programs\/safe-routes.shtm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.fdot.gov\/Safety\/programs\/safe-routes.shtm\">Safe Routes to School program<\/a>, a state initiative through the Florida Department of Transportation designed to make walking and biking to school safer for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Attendees can expect to hear about:<\/p>\n<p>An overview of the Safe Routes to School program<\/p>\n<p>Completed activities and data collection at the school<\/p>\n<p>Proposed infrastructure improvements<\/p>\n<p>Next steps for grant funding<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Read the public meeting plan below:<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">The program\u2019s goal is to remove barriers that currently prevent children from safely walking or biking to school \u2014 including missing or unsafe infrastructure and a lack of community education programs, according to FDOT.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">The meeting comes as some parents have raised concerns about conditions around the school. One parent commented online ahead of the meeting, calling the situation urgent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">\u201cMorning drop off and afternoon pick-up are a traffic fatality waiting to happen, to no fault of the school or DCPS,\u201d the parent wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Florida\u2019s Safe Routes to School program helps communities plan, fund, and build improvements that encourage students to walk or bike to school safely. A successful program, according to FDOT, integrates safety, traffic relief, health, environmental awareness, and physical activity.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Mandarin Middle School is inviting parents and community members to weigh in on proposed safety&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1040,2345,116,118,117,23024],"class_list":["post-429277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-dcps","tag-fdot","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-mandarin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}