PHS student pick-up policy

[jkjs]

The paperwork we got last night states that for release the order will be - walkers and car riders first and then only after the car rider line is done will they release students to parents who park in the lot.

Is that what others understand as well?

I just don't see how this will work. The car rider pick-up line already extends back to the Mann's Chapel intersection.  It seems this policy will force more parents into the car rider line. Think of how much gas is wasted in that car line.

I also don't see how this will work for parents that need to get to Northwood (now) and Pollard (when it opens).

Any insight into how/why this was put into place?

Thanks

[jkjs]

What I don't understand is if walkers can just leave the campus why can't parking lot kids just leave as well?

I'm going to look into having my kids labeled as walkers - it is only about 7 miles. That walk builds character. And YES, it is uphill both ways.

[Snowball]

Ya reckon it's about safety?

[whatsup]

They just need to build an elevated walkway over the traffic lane across to the parking lot area.

[jkjs]

That would have been a better use of Stimulus Funds than the "sidewalk to nowhere" at Cole Park Plaza

They just need to build an elevated walkway over the traffic lane across to the parking lot area.

[Silk_Hope]

I thought 10's of thousands of people used that sidewalk?

[jkjs]

Ya reckon it's about safety?

What Safety? You think it is better to have a line of cars on Hamlet's Chapel Road? It is only a matter of time until someone rear-ends a car waiting in line. And I also bet it won't be a minor fender bender - people come speeding up Hamlet's Chapel Road.

[natvrabit]

Your confusion is understandable but the "mess" that is and always has been the PHS parking/rider situation comes from very poor design and I guess the administration
does the best they can.  Let's hope some architect/engineer was thinking more clearly when they designed Margaret Pollard.Good luck with that but this is about the 700th rule dealing with this situation.  I think they're just trying to keep everyone safe.

Likely when that school was built and it then being more or less out in the 'boondocks', the thought was that most students would be transported there by bus, vs. personal vehicles perhaps?

[kimmimom]

I would suggest everyone who has concerns go to the meeting where they will discuss it and answer questions.  I went to the PTA Action Council meeting a week or two ago and this was brought up and the reasoning was discussed.  There were apparently some near misses of children running across the drive-through line (with parental supervision, but not all parental supervision is equal) and almost getting hit.  Yes, it will be less convenient, but preventing one child from getting hit will be worth it.  Unless you show up at NW at 2:45, you sit in a LONG line there (and if you walked up at 2:45 at PHS, you still would not be to NW until 2:55) and when MPS opens it will dismiss about 20 minutes later allowing time to get there as well.

Go to the mtg and listen to the reasoning wtih an open mind and not just focus on your personal convenience.  And yes, I will have 3 kids at 3 different schools...   

[Innocent Bystander]

It's the safety of the kids that's the issue, not the convenience of the parents. A fender bender in the car line is a far different thing than a child darting across the oncoming cars in the car line to get to the parking lot up the hill with their parent. Then there are the kids who wait for their parents to finish their conversations with other parents. I've seen a lot of scary moments when these unattended kids chase each other near the moving car line. Or cars that, leaving the car line after the kids have been picked up, accelerate around other cars and suddenly have to screech to a halt as a parent and child walk right out in front of them. There are just so many ways for kids to get hurt, it makes sense to change the system in hopes that our kids stay safe. It may be more inconvenient for parents who don't want their kids to ride the bus and they will surely wait longer in the car line if they decide to do that instead of walking up. But that inconvenience is the price of keeping all of our children safe. Seems a pretty hard thing to take issue with.

[jkjs]

It's the safety of the kids that's the issue, not the convenience of the parents. A fender bender in the car line is a far different thing than a child darting across the oncoming cars in the car line to get to the parking lot up the hill with their parent. Then there are the kids who wait for their parents to finish their conversations with other parents. I've seen a lot of scary moments when these unattended kids chase each other near the moving car line. Or cars that, leaving the car line after the kids have been picked up, accelerate around other cars and suddenly have to screech to a halt as a parent and child walk right out in front of them. There are just so many ways for kids to get hurt, it makes sense to change the system in hopes that our kids stay safe. It may be more inconvenient for parents who don't want their kids to ride the bus and they will surely wait longer in the car line if they decide to do that instead of walking up. But that inconvenience is the price of keeping all of our children safe. Seems a pretty hard thing to take issue with.

You are all focused on the parents that park in the front lot. Many of us park in the gravel lot and our kids don't go anywhere near the driveway,

[Innocent Bystander]

You are all focused on the parents that park in the front lot. Many of us park in the gravel lot and our kids don't go anywhere near the driveway,

Again, the issue is what's in the best interest, the best SAFETY interest, of ALL the kids. Not just the kids of particular parents. And how are the teachers who are calling out the kids to leave to have any idea who is parking in which parking lot? Minor inconvenience to parents = a safer environment for kids who are leaving the school. I do not see why your particular situation should trump the safety of all of the other children.

[natvrabit]

You are all focused on the parents that park in the front lot. Many of us park in the gravel lot and our kids don't go anywhere near the driveway,

Again, the issue is what's in the best interest, the best SAFETY interest, of ALL the kids. Not just the kids of particular parents. And how are the teachers who are calling out the kids to leave to have any idea who is parking in which parking lot? Minor inconvenience to parents = a safer environment for kids who are leaving the school. I do not see why your particular situation should trump the safety of all of the other children.

What a joy it must be for teachers to also become traffic monitors?
Maybe the aren't. I'm OUT of that loop, but this sounds like they are addressed with that also.

[jkjs]

You are all focused on the parents that park in the front lot. Many of us park in the gravel lot and our kids don't go anywhere near the driveway,

Again, the issue is what's in the best interest, the best SAFETY interest, of ALL the kids. Not just the kids of particular parents. And how are the teachers who are calling out the kids to leave to have any idea who is parking in which parking lot? Minor inconvenience to parents = a safer environment for kids who are leaving the school. I do not see why your particular situation should trump the safety of all of the other children.

Aren't you concerned about Walkers? Should we let kids actually walk (GASP!) to school? Perhaps we need to hire personal escorts for Walkers to make sure that they make it home safely.

[Innocent Bystander]

 Before we stamp our feet and demand more changes, let's give this a try, shall we?

And from the looks of things, I don't think there are more than a tiny few children who are true walkers to school, as in, they walk on the non-existent shoulders of 2 very busy and narrow roads to get to their neighborhoods. Without parents. Can't say I've ever seen them, anyway. If we had sidewalks on Mann's Chapel and Hamlet's Chapel, perhaps it would be different.

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