SOUTH LEBANON — Every weekday, two Warren County deputies go back to school. Repeatedly.

        Specifically, officers go to the new South Lebanon Elementary School at 50 Ridgeview Lane. The school opened in its new location Aug. 22.

Warren County Sheriff's Deputy Sgt. Mike Highley directs buses from Ridgeview Lane onto Ohio 48 near South Lebanon Elementary School. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

        The officers are at the school four times a day to prevent possibly dangerous traffic snarls until a traffic light is installed at the intersection that leads out of the school at Ridgeview Lane and Ohio 48.

        Without their help, parents would have to enter Ohio 48, which has five lanes of traffic at the intersection, without a way to make the traffic stop.

        “Forty-eight is not what it was a few years ago,'' Capt. Gary Miller of the Warren County Sheriff's Department said. “There can be a lot of traffic out there.”

        Kurt Weber, assistant Warren County engineer, said the developer of a nearby new subdivision owns Ridgeview Lane, and developers usually have a two-year period for maintaining such roads. Mr. Weber said if private funds had been provided, a traffic light, average cost $60,000, could have been installed with the Ohio Department of Transportation's permission before school started. But private funds were not forthcoming.

        Warren County is working to get an early acceptance by ODOT for Ridgeview Lane as a public roadway in its current condition, without a final layer of asphalt, so that the state will install the light.

        Officers are at the school at 8:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m.and 3:30 p.m. to help kindergarten and elementary school classes enter and leave the school. Six buses in the morning, two at midday and six again in the late afternoon have to get out of the school grounds into Ohio 48 traffic.

        The Kings School District does not pay for the sheriff department's service, according to Sheriff Tom Ariss. Directing traffic for the school is considered part of the daily duties of the deputy and supervisor posted in the South Lebanon district.

        So far the service hasn't caused any disruptions of other duties.

        “You know you're doing something that's effective, and there's really a lot of safety involved,” Sheriff Ariss said. “It's a temporary problem and we're an immediate fix for it. We're concerned about our kids.”

        Sgt. Mike Highley, post commander for South Lebanon, said that if a call came in while he and his deputy were at the school, road deputies would be dispatched until Sgt. Highley and his deputy could finish the traffic detail. The sergeant said that situation has not occurred.

        Jay Hamilton, ODOT traffic planning engineer for District 8, could not give an official date for when the light would be installed. But he did say construction should start within 30 days. The school district expects the light will be operating by the end of October.

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