Guelder Rose

I'm truly fed up with the kids school only being a ten minute drive away, but it taking nearly a whole hour to collect them.

My daughters school has 3 entrances and 3 exits ... but now there are only 2 of each because the school puts bollards up across two of them. Some parents will not bother to park in an appropriate place and walk a few steps to collect their child ... they just stop their cars and prevent any movement of traffic in or out of the school until their child appears. Not only that, but getting in or out of the school is difficult because many of the parents will use the exit to enter the school and the entrance to exit (i.e. there is a queue at the entrance so they will just force their way through the exit instead). Quite often, I've tried to enter via the entrance only to have some parent in a huge truck force me back out because they are determined to exit via the entrance ... and vice versa!

Once you finally get out of the school there is a set of lights ... I'm turning right but can't because hundreds of children are crossing the road at that junction and don't take any notice of the crossing signal. Sometimes, they gather in the road to chat with their mates ... it makes me so angry!

How long does it take you to collect your children from school ... do you have the same problems ... why are so many parents quite happy to inconvenience so many other people just so they don't have to walk a few steps?

Bob

That sucks.....though couldn't you complain to the cops? they tend to hang around at the beginning and end of the month because it's an easy way for them to give tickets as they have to make a quota...also a bad time to be speeding

Guelder Rose

Speeding ... once you get near the school you're either crawling or stationary! Last year the school principle tried to get the police involved but they simply were not interested ... they have some guys who try to direct traffic and keep things in order, but it's a losing battle. As soon as one parent in a big truck behaves like an ignorant pig, they all join in and from that point on it's total chaos. It doesn't help that where I live they have built two elementary schools and one middle school all next to each other - so you're battling against the traffic volume of three schools rather than just one.

If it wasn't 100 degrees + here everyday I would be more than happy to walk ... it takes about 30 minutes each way. Although, even if the weather did make walking possible, my US children would rebel at the thought of walking that far each day!

mandpete

We live 3 miles from the schools so both my children get the bus to school.

On the odd occasion I picked my daughter up from elementary school it was very well organised. We had to wait in line and drive up to the door and 5 children would be released at a time. Once those 5 cars had left the school premises the next 5 cars would be allowed to collect their children. Also the roads were made into a temporary one way system so there was never a traffic jam.

She starts Intermediate School in September and it is a complete free for all when picking your child up. 23 buses have to leave the school before any car riders can leave so I am hoping that I never have to pick her up. I remember picking my son up from there and vowing never to do it again

The Middle and High schools are next to each other and whenever I have had to pick my son up he has told me to wait until 15 minutes after school finishes to get him because it is bedlam otherwise. Or maybe he just doesn't want to be seen with his Mum.

Bob

hehe...well stick 'em on the school bus?

Celtic_Angel

oh no ....can't blame you for being angry...adults can be so stooopid sometimes..

my kids go on the bus , the school is pretty good about ensuring that parents stay in their cars and keep the lines moving..but the school we're zoned for is not so good..i used to get stuck behind the same lazy parents who stop their cars and drop their kids off not even bothering to enter the line

i think you need to have a word with the Principle, go to the next PTO meeting and voice your complaint there too..you'll probably get a bunch of other parents agreeing with you!

and why isn't there a crossing guard at this intersection?..you might have to rally support at this PTO meeting and get a guard there to aid the kids in crossing the road safely and quickly!
good luck

CaliforniaBride

I'm really lucky. My son's elementary school has what they call 'valet' service. There's one entrance and an exit. You drive in and kids in reflective jackets are there supervised by parent volunteers. If your child is there in the covered waiting area (and your are one of the first three cars in line) they open the door and your kid hops in. Then little cutesies say 'have a nice day' and close the door for you.

The parent volunteers ensure that parents pull all the way up to the front of the line, no stopping in the middle, only the first three cars are allowed to pick up and if your kid isn't there yet you have to drive off and loop back round.

I like it so much I drive to pick my son up and it's just two streets away! But this is California!

My stepson is at Middle School where there is no such provison and absolute chaos. But it's only 5 mins away so he walks with friends.

Ray

Not relevent ..but it brought back a happy memory..

When I was about 9 or 10 ... we all had to walk the 2 or 3 miles to school ...
About 6 of us met up every morning for the walk .. one of my friends dad was a rag and bone man...complete with horse and cart ... and every now and then he would come along in the morning and we would all jump in the cart for the journey to school ..such happy days....

Celtic_Angel

Yeah they have that at my kids elementary school too, it's necessary though or otherwise it's a big mess....and parents need to ahere to the rules for it to run smoothly...last time i picked up my kids some idiot had parked their car in the area of the moving line and had gone inside the school, idiots!

the principle is on top of it though , notes are sent home if parents parking cars everywhere becomes a problem. I think it all boils down to the princple...go give her a hard time guelder rose!!

CaliforniaBride

Everyone was so much simpler then.

Ray

what do you mean ..I still am simple ....

Neathborn

Never had a problem with schools as my eldest daughter is 5 and only just starting kindergarten this September. Her school is only 5 minutes away, so I don't anticipate problems since I'll be walking her to and from school. However, don't get me started on daycare!! When my 5 year old used to go to daycare, they had only limited parking. This meant that people sometimes had to wait for a space before they could go in to collect their kid. Most parents were fine with this and people were quick to get their kids out of the daycare so people didn't have to wait too long. However, there were always the few who thought they were more important than anyone else, couldn't find a parking space and so left their cars right in the access way, blocking several parents from being able to get their cars out of the parking lot until they (the offending parent) returned to their car.

AmerLisa

And here I thought you were complex.

Guelder Rose

Our children are not allowed to use the school bus ... places are limited and only certain children get to use the service, which isn't surprising because I only ever see one bus there anyway.

Guelder Rose

We tried the principle last year ... she wasn't any help! She told us that she had asked the police to help but they weren't interested (something about one department claiming it was anothers departments problem and vice versa) ... after that, apart from a couple of guys who try to direct traffic, they just leave the chaos for the parents to deal with!