Parents are now being instructed to enter through the northwest entrance off of 175th street. From there, cars can circle around the South Student Parking Lot to drop off students and then promptly exit the campus north through 175th street. Using this new zone, the line of waiting parents will be kept inside of the campus, stretching around the parking lot instead of on a public street.Bus pickup and drop-off will simply be moved to the same system formerly used by parents. The two main reasons for this alteration are primarily the complaints received and the legal issues associated with the old setup.
“I watched dismissal a few times and saw that some situations were pretty hazardous,” Director of Safety and Security Dan Carney said.
Principal Scott Roberts says that he had gotten multiple reports of people almost having accidents on 175th street. This is because of the shoulder on the street where it is illegal for parents to park the car and wait for the line to move down.
Administration decided to explore this new plan to avoid further complications and prevent the danger-level from rising to something more serious. Roberts worked with school resource officers, the planning department and individuals such as Carney, Executive Director of Facilities and Operations Dave Hill, and Director of Design and Construction Scott Crane to develop the new setup. The new zoning isn’t actually new at all though, the school was actually originally designed for this setup. The reason it hasn’t been implemented until now is because there were no problems in previous years.
“When the school first started you wouldn’t see so much traffic with this lower population, but when the population rose, the traffic did with it,” Carney said.
The plan previously decided on suddenly became obsolete, so several weeks were taken to analyze both zoning plans and decide which would work better now. They wanted to look at all possible consequences that could arise from the change.
“People have been using this way for a while and once they change it it’s going to mess some people up,” junior Cassidy Ruf said.
The first email describing the situation was sent out on Oct. 23, and Roberts plans to have one sent every week since then to get the word out.
There are also hopes to get a highway traffic sign that will display the new location and times for pick-ups and drop-offs. Police officers will be present as well to guide drivers and answer questions.
“Whenever you change traffic patterns there is going to be a learning curve, it will take awhile to adjust,” Carney said.
Although it’s a new change, it’s here to stay. The administration plans to use this system every year.
