'Slow Down. School Back In Session': Del City First Responders Increase Presence As Classes Resume

First responders converged at Del City High School Wednesday morning, but they weren't responding to an emergency. They were there to prevent one.

Wednesday was the first day of classes for students in the Mid-Del School District. To remind drivers to slow down and yield at crosswalks in school zones, the Del City Fire Department and Del City Police increased their presence at various schools, including Del City High.

The fire department even put banners on their trucks that read, "Slow down. School back in session."

"I'm very thankful for the relationship that we have with them," Steve Gilliland, principal at Del City High School, said. "And they'll leave here and go do the same thing at the middle schools and then on down to the elementary school."

Brandon Pursell, chief of the Del City Fire Department, said they've been conducting this school zone safety effort for 16 years.

"Several years prior to when we began this initiative, we had some pretty close calls of students getting either hit or nearly hit in the crosswalks," Pursell said. "We have seen a reduction in our near misses in pedestrian-related events."

The Del City Fire Department plans to have an increased presence at various Mid-Del schools in both the mornings and afternoons through Friday. Then, firefighters will be at the school zones of some private schools as they open up.

Meanwhile, the Del City Police Department plans to have extra officers at school zones through the end of next week. After that, assigned officers at those schools will remain.

"We have been fortunate over the years, at least in my career, that we have not had any significant accidents involving pedestrians here in front of the high school," Maj. Brad Cowden with the Del City Police Department said. "But we know that it is a constant effort to bring awareness to that."

In addition to the increased presence of first responders, other measures were taken to improve the safety outside Del City High School. 

In 2010, Del City worked with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation to improve lighting and crosswalk markings in the school zone.

"I review what we do on a daily basis," Gilliland said. "Safety is foremost, safety of our students is No. 1."