Parents dealing with a logjam of a problem: Traffic delays occur around West Elementary

By WILL STEWART / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard (McMinnville, Tenn.)

A new student pick-up procedure at West Elementary caused minor afternoon traffic jams around the school last week. Principal Marsha Newman says once parents get used to the new procedure, traffic will flow more smoothly. (Will Stewart photo)

A move to increase safety at West Elementary School resulted in traffic delays around the school during afternoon pick-up last week, delays principal Marsha Newman says are steadily decreasing.

“Our motto this year is ‘Safety Over Convenience.’ This means parents will have to wait a little longer to pick up their children, but the result is that our school is a lot safer. If everyone will do what’s asked this can work,” Newman said.

In a letter sent home with students Thursday, Newman informed parents that after a discussion with the school’s faculty, their two biggest concerns were school safety and the related issue of afternoon pick-up. As a result, she decided to make the school safer by locking all exterior doors, except for the main entrance, all day. All visitors must now enter though the main entrance where they are required to sign in and receive a visitor’s badge, per school board policy.

This is a move which has upset a number of parents, many of whom in years past entered the school through its multiple unlocked doors and picked up their children directly from their classrooms.

In addition to a being a major breach of safety, Newman said this practice interrupted instruction time at the end of the day and clogged the hallways after school was dismissed.

Now, instead of allowing parents inside the building after school or allowing multiple pick-up areas, all parents are required to pick up their children from a single location, in this case the school’s front circle on Clark Boulevard.

The single location pick-up is a method used successfully by some other county schools, including Hickory Creek Elementary. And while new at West, Newman said the new method can and will work, provided parents are patient and follow the pick-up plan. She added school system safety inspector Herb Klasek and McMinnville Police Capt. Bryan Denton both approve of the single location pick-up at the front circle.

Friday afternoon saw pick-up traffic move more steadily than Wednesday and Thursday, though a number of parents continued to exit their vehicles to retrieve their children, further stalling traffic. School officials ask parents to please remain in their vehicles and let teachers bring their children to them.

“Things are continuing to improve,” said Newman. “If parents will be patient and let us take care of getting the kids to the cars in the loading area instead of waving to them to come or trying to get them themselves everything will be so much safer.”

“I realize that change is hard, but I ask parents to understand that every decision I make as principal of this school has to do with their children’s safety and instruction time.”