Hi families,
I am concerned about the safety of our students and staff during carpool. We take great pride in ensuring your children get to and from your vehicles safely. The process is very deliberate for a few reasons, safety being the most important of those reasons. In the next few months, our PTA will hopefully be repainting the drop-off and pick-up area to make lines easier to see and make the movement of the students and vehicles safer. Until then I need to highlight a few safety issues.
Speed Limit: The speed limit is 10mph on campus. The lines are faded but there are two lanes. One is a drive through lane (inside lane farthest from the building), the other is a parking lane (the lane that has actual parking spots where we park for students to get in and out of vehicles). On Tuesday morning staff put cones on the faded line to show that there are two lines. Five cars were going so fast that they hit the cones head on in the middle of their bumpers. There was approximately thirty feet between spot #1 and the first cone.
Cell Phone Use: I’m pleading that cell phone usage stops when driving through campus. I’ve witnessed vehicles driving onto the curb where staff and students are standing, vehicles nearly hitting when merging, and vehicles nearly side swiping other vehicles in the parking lane on the curve. Most of these were a result of drivers texting, looking at their phone, or even holding their phone for video chats. Those cones that were placed out on Tuesday were sadly victims of someone using their cell phone. Those cones were placed in spots that represented the driver side of parked vehicles.
Staff Working the drop off and pick up lanes: Please do not let students open the doors to get in or out of the vehicle. A staff member will do it so we can ensure many elements are in place prior to that door being open. Just this week a child literally had their foot out the door while the vehicle was still moving. Parents might not see this while they are driving but we do and it's scary to think what the outcome could have been. Please pay attention to the staff members. They are directing vehicle traffic as well as student traffic.
Thank you so much for slowing down, stopping cell phone use, and paying attention to our staff so we can have a safe arrival and dismissal process for our carpool students.
Your principal,
Dr. Sykes
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