Jamestown Public Schools Superintendent Kevin Whitaker is always concerned about student safety — including when it comes to school speed zones.

Whitaker noted that it takes just one incident “to become a tragedy.” He said there isn’t a “rampant disregard” for speed zones outside schools, but there are still concerns.

“It doesn’t take a rampant disregard for school zones to have a tragedy occur,” he said. “All it takes is one or two a day and the odds are it becomes a tragedy. Nobody wants to see that. The concern is that we make sure we are able to contain any potential individuals who want to speed through school zones or drive in an unsafe manner in school zones. Also, there are bus cameras that are part of that conversation, and those cameras record things that may be vehicle traffic violations or safety violations. We’re always concerned about school zones safety, safe driving around school zones and anything that can take us in the direction of more safety is something that I would be in favor of.”

When it comes to bus cameras, Whitaker said he is in favor of them but has concerns that should be taken into consideration.

“The one thing that comes with cameras that we’ve seen in Buffalo and around the country is that we have to be very careful of the neighbors and residents in those areas and if we are unfairly targeting a certain neighborhood or the hours don’t make sense, we end up with targets of folks who may not be able to afford to pay those fines,” he said. “That would be the part I’d be concerned about. But overall, if this is something that can reduce the risk for our kids, then that’s something we need to pursue.”

Whitaker said when it comes to increasing safety in school zones, he’s a “big fan of education.” These efforts could help reduce any instances that might occur and bring awareness to the issue.

“That’s kind of my business,” he said. “Marketing efforts, signage and clarity — whatever it takes to get the message out to be safe around kids. I know that the police chief and a number of officials always say at the beginning of the year, ‘Watch out, kids are back at school again so be careful driving.” That sort of message throughout the year to regularly reinforce is always a good thing.”

Whitaker said while there haven’t been a substantial number of issues, it is still a concern as the safety of students is paramount.

“I’m always concerned about it, I know our staff is concerned about it,” he said. “I know in years past, there was always some kind of situation that are either close calls or result in some minor injuries — we just want to minimize that and get that down to zero.”

He said the signage that is up for school zones should be assessed to make sure it remains adequate for those areas.

“The understanding now is that it’s adequate,” he said. “But it’s important we review that.”