At Wednesday's Youngstown council meeting, students from the Academy for Urban scholars voiced concerns over potentially losing the traffic light set up across from their school.

The light is one of 10 being considered for removal as part of a project in the city that would, "improve vehicle and pedestrian safety, enhance pedestrian accessibility, allow better traffic flow, and remove unneeded traffic signals."

Students and faculty are not only asking for the light to remain, but also for the area to be designated as a school zone.

"It is crucial that we keep this light because it's already been a lot of close calls and it's very scary and dangerous just to cross the street as is, even with the light in place," Sebastian Parnaby, a senior at the school said. "Me personally I've almost been hit by a couple cars by people just speeding and looking at their phones," he said.

"It is really scary because a lot of cars do speed through there and especially when it's the pedestrian's turn to walk, a lot of cars start coming out of nowhere trying to pass and stop us from crossing, essentially," Trinity Barber, a senior at the school said.

The school sits on Market Street and Auburndale, a busy 5 line roadway, that many students have to cross coming from and leaving the school.

"Not only have we had close calls, but some have been struck in that area," Mark Rheins Jr., CTE coordinator at the school said. "Our school was the only high school in the city of Youngstown that was not designated as a school zone. What makes our kids less...what makes their lives less valuable than the other lives in this city," he said.

Deputy Director of public works, Chuck Shasho said nothing is finalized just yet and they will consider all options over the next few months.

As for designating the area as a school zone, Shasho said the school must fill out a form and turn it in to the city.