Picking up Kids from School - a Nightmare!!

[va32h]

As soon as the weather cools off, I am going to walk or bike my kids to school!

I live 3/4 mile from the school, but it takes me nearly 30 minutes to pick up my kids at the end of the day.

There is a horseshoe driveway in front of the school, and you are supposed to pull in, pick up your child, and drive off. You are not supposed to park your car in the driveway, and get out to get your child. It's like dropping someone off at the airport - no stopping or standing!!!

But of course people don't do this. They stop right in the middle of the lane, and leave their car while they go look for their child. Or they park, illegally, on the curb, so that a two lane road can barely accommodate one car in any direction. There is a giant "no left turn" sign at the parking lot exit, which doesn't stop anyone from trying to make a left turn.

And even after you patiently wait in the line of cars, it is nearly impossible to see your child, because of the throng of parents who cannot do as the school asks, and wait in their cars or on the sidewalk, but insist on rushing on to the porch to find their kids.

The PTA is going to start a safety patrol as soon as we can get volunteers rounded up and organized, but I worry about letting ordinary folks direct traffic. People's tempers get out of hand quickly - I can just see a volunteer getting run over because they were told not to make a left turn!

I wonder how we could request a police car or something at the corner.

 

[SherryNC]

Carpool line sucks!! In nice weather I park next door at the YMCA and walk over. A week from Thursday the games begin.

 

[bsnyder]

I HATE the carpool line. And this year, at the middle school, it's even worse than elementary school.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

I've heard that here too, that the jr. high line is ridiculous. I've only dropped DD#1 off a couple of times when I was off because DH was ill. It seemed OK to me, but they've redrawn all the parking spaces and put in a guardrail so no one can drive right in--you have to drive all the way around.
Our elementary school is right next to a park. If I want to go in (usually I go in on Fridays and pick them up in person) I park there and cut across the field. But I've been picking up every day since April and everyone seems to follow the rules here. Same thing with left turns, though. If I have to turn left I go right, drive to my subdivision and turn around. (we only live probably 1/4 mile away, but across a 4 lane road, so luckily they bus the kids in the subdivision--unfortunately our bus driver is a jerk).
Robin M.

 

[we3disneygo]

it must be like this at every school I am going to try and walk to pick up dd11 from school, but take her in the am, we'd never be on time!! I figure we'll get more exercise and save gas!!!

 

[tlgoblue]

I feel your pain! We have a High School and a Jr. High right across the street from each other, at the end of a dead end road! And, the best part is they start 15 mins. apart! It took me an hour yesterday to get them to their respective schools (One in each) and they basically got out of the car and walked a half mile because they were going to be very late if we waited. People! If everyone would proceed in a single line, everything would move smoothly. But noooooo! Everyone is in a bigger/more important hurry and they just proceed to cause gridlock by filling in every available space. Folks! This is not the Haunted Mansion! Get in line and wait your turn! Did I mention that we have no school buses? So that means 2200 kids, most of them being driven two at most to a car, arriving at a one way in, one way out street, within a time frame of about 20 mins!
I solved this problem today by having my kids ride the public busses, which do have special school only routes. We'll se how that works out, though I'm not optimistic. While driving the bus route, some of the "students" were positively frightening. Lots of "tough girls" smoking and the like. I guess that can happen at any bus stop, public or not, though. Such a shock moving from rural suburbia to a small city.

 

[RadioNate]

I have a year to think about it and I'm already dreading it. Our preschool is about 2 block from the elementry school so I see the daily mess. Doesn't anyone take the bus anymore?

There is no way that we could walk to school. It is several miles. Ours is so bad I'm considering sending DS to kindergarten on the bus. It takes me more than 30 min to drop him off at preschool I can only imagine how long elementry school is going to take.

I wish there was a way to walk.

 

[MinnieM3]

I hate dismissal time! Starting a few years ago, the asst. principal put ALL homeroom teachers on dismissal duty every day. (we used to rotate). It's overkill, but that's another story.

We have a long straight road in the front of the school that dimisses 1st grade through 8th. Each grade sits together, monitored by the teachers. Special area teachers have mighty megaphones and call out kids/carpool's names and that child/those children, walk to the sidewalk and get in the car and go. Sometimes the cars make 2 stops if one kid is in 1st grade and one is in upper school. Teachers stand on the sidewalk and wave cars down and we'll get fairly insistent on cars moving down to make room for others. Still, the first few days it took us an HOUR to do dismissal. If a parent wants to walk and pick up his child, he must park in the church parking lot and hoof it.

In the back of the school, we have a small horseshoe. All 4K and 5K teachers and aids are on duty there every day. More megaphones and calling out family/carpool names. There are less kids invovled back there, so it moves more quickly. Again, NO stopping in the line.

Sounds like the OP's school needs teachers out there on duty and moving folks along!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I live 3 blocks away from the elementary school. If I pick dd up it is at the tail end.
They have it well organized with a crossing guard.

Older dd (high school) walks to a nearby church and I pick her up there. That place is a MADHOUSE!

 

[MinnieM3]

Forgot to add:

In the front we are dismissing about 450 to 500 kids. 27 teachers are out on duty.

In the back we are dismissing about 150 to 200 kids. 9 teachers are on duty.

 

[golfgal]

Is there someplace else, like the back of the school you can meet your child? When I pick up DS at the Jr High, the front of the building is a mad house, the side of the building there are exactly 3 moms that pick up their kids there, it is right outside the band room for us, so it is the last place DS needs to go at the end of the day anyway. The only issue I have there is the one mom in the morning that pulls into the intersection at the end of the school, blocking the whole intersection (4 way stop) to let off her DD and then drives down 5 parking spots on the road and parks her car--why DD can't get out in the parking spot is beyond me. I hope she was an 8th grader so they won't be there this year.

The twins walk to school--no more elementary pick up lines for me!!!!

 

[Mermaid02]

Reminds me of the movie Mr. Mom..... "It's south to pick up you idiot!!"

 

[Nancy]

We have always had drop off rules from pre school through elementary school. (Middle and high school have no designated rules.) There always had to be a few parents that just could not follow those drop off rules. (basically enter at blank drive and loop around the lot, drop kids off at door. Do not park the car, do not get out of the car) Why do people think the rules apply to everyone but them? Middle school I drop off at the corner at the stop sign, she gets out and crosses the street with the crossing guard. I make a left turn as she is crossing the street and drive down to the high school. Pull up in front, kids get out, I drive around the block, come back out by middle school and am home in under 15 minutes. Everyone pretty much does the same thing and there is no major congestion at drop off. Pickup gets a bit hairy because you never know exactly when the kids will walk out so I get to the middle school about 10 minutes early and park on the side street. DD knows where I park. By the time she gets out and we get to the highschool the congestion of pickup is pretty much gone and the 2 older ones are by the curb waiting for us. They only get picked up once or twice a week if they are lucky. Drop off is every morning.

 

[fanofmickey]

Okay, I guess I'll be the one to forge ahead and ask: why don't the kids ride the bus?

 

[va32h]

Okay, I guess I'll be the one to forge ahead and ask: why don't the kids ride the bus?

In my case, we live too close to the school to be eligible for busing. As soon as it is not swelteringly hot outside, I will walk the kids to school and back. I think the situation at our school is downright dangerous - cars butting into every available inch of space, while kids run across the drive to reach parents who are (illegally) parked on the curb.

I am going down on Friday to talk to the teacher - my son is in Kindergarten, and the teachers will only release the kindergartners to a parent. So I can't have him meet me somewhere, I have to physically get him from the teacher. I am going to ask if they will release him to his big sister (in 4th grade) so they can meet me at the edge of campus.

It just drives me nuts that the other kindergarten parents show up 1/2 hour before school gets out and form a giant mob in front of the door. Every day a teacher comes out and tells them they have to move - so they scoot back the bare minimum, and literally push and shove to get hold of their kids as soon as the doors open. I hope that as the school year wears on, they will get a grip and realize that their child won't get lost if they have to walk a few feet or wait a few minutes to be picked up.

 

[disneylizzy]

Reminds me of the movie Mr. Mom..... "It's south to pick up you idiot!!"

That's exactly what I was picturing.

 

[PlutoPony]

We have a REALLY organized dismissal/pick-up system for our elementary school of ~ 900 kids. Kids are categorized as either bus riders, pick-ups (car riders), or walkers. Bus riders are dismissed first and are mostly out of the school (to get the busses moving quickly) then walkers and car riders. It's not a free for all of 900 kids getting out all at once. Everyone who picks up their kid gets a hang tag for the rear view mirror (like a handicapped tag) with a number on it, and the school has a list of tag number and family name that they work from. Car riders are dismissed to a central place (like the library) and called from there as their parent drives up. Teachers are assigned the duty of managing the car riders. We have a horseshoe shaped drive and a teacher is outside in the drive with a walkie talkie calling the numbers in to another teacher who's with the car rider kids. This teacher lines up the kids in order and they march outside and get in the appropriate car. Plus we pay a retired gentleman to direct traffic for arrival and dismissal (you're only talking about an hour a day so not much $$). So in ~ 15 minutes all 900 kids are on their way, and the school's deserted. Once you get something like this set up it runs like clockwork.

 

[cruisnfamily]

It just drives me nuts that the other kindergarten parents show up 1/2 hour before school gets out and form a giant mob in front of the door.

I found this amusing! I'll tell you why. We have about 600 kids in our elementary, maybe 100 per grade. School lets out at 3:45pm. If you drive up to the school at 3pm, the parent pickup line is already there! Lots and lots and lots of parents begin showing up around 3pm so they can be at the head of the line at 3:45. My theory is to show up at 3:50 and I end up waiting maybe 3-5mins. Meanwhile all these parents had to wait 45mins to get out of there 5 mins before me. It's ridiculous! I only pick up one day a week for religous ed class, otherwise, DS rides the bus both ways.

 

[Nancy]

Okay, I guess I'll be the one to forge ahead and ask: why don't the kids ride the bus?

We live too close to bus. I drop off every morning because they have to cross a 4 lane road that is very busy between 7:30 and 8:30am. To cross at the light they have to go way out of their way for the schools. I have a hard time getting off the street to make a right hand turn in the morning...making a left is impossible. I don't want the kids crossing that street during rush hour, so I drive....PLUS we all get to sleep about 1/2 hour longer if I drive. They walk home most days, traffic isn't bad around 2:30/3:00. But if I'm home I'll pick them up.

 

[kidshop]

Do not get me started! We just moved here and this elementary school is a complete free-for-all, 700 students all dismissed at once and most do not follow the main rule: do not park in the drive through lane. I have no idea why no one uses the bus. I put my ds (6) on the bus yesterday for the first time on the way home. There were only about 20 kids total on it! This is a magnet school and it goes straight from the school to our local elem. school and he got home 15 minutes earlier than when I picked him up. I will most likely put him on the bus both ways, unless I discover some secret horror about bus riding!

My main concern is hoards of people crossing 2 lanes of cars in the drive through lane, crossing where cars are trying to leave the school; basically with no direction or organization. It is a matter of time before someone gets hit by a car. There is exactly one person from the school standing in the middle with a walkie talkie. And this is the acedemically advanced school.....