Cops Take Over at HPMS
The University Park Police Department was in total butt kicking mode at Highland Park Middle School this morning. They were there, in the rain, with three lit up squad cars parked along Granada blocking areas that parents often use to stop illegally and let kids out. AND, there was not a crossing guard at Granada and High School, instead there was a uniformed officer directing traffic. There were 2 more officers running the queue lane.
I visited with one of the parent volunteers this morning. He said he counted three tickets issued by police but there was no penalty for the dad who refused to move up in the queue lane when asked by a volunteer and then by an officer. When he finally did pull out of the lane, the dad sped off, drenching the volunteer and several kids nearby.
I think it’s time to revisit the paintball idea. I’m just sayin’.
Gotta love this. It actually takes 3 of UP’s finest to control the unruly parents at HPMS. That’s more police presence than is needed to monitor the toughest DISD schools.
And by the way, the arrogant “dad” that got angry and sped away should have been caught, handcuffed and taken to jail for child endangerment. Needs to be in front of all the other parents. It would scare them straight.
Instead of tickets (and especially the arrogant dad!)all offenders need to serve community service hours – WORKING THE CARPOOL line. On rain days especially!
I am so happy the queue lanes are being patrolled. Monday afternoon I had to wait in line one block off of Mockingbird on High School street for over 1/2 hour to reach the queue lane. So you can understand my frustration with a woman in a white SUV cutting in in front of the school. She waited until the Crosswalk volunteers turned around and then cut in. I picked up my son and as I got on the traffic lane I tried to get her attention by honking and waving at her but she pretended to be busy holding her cell phone and staring forward. My son ended getting mad at me for “embarrassing” him. It’s just so irritating! My car’s thermostat read 113! I was in no mood for that rude and disgusting woman! I took a picture of her car it, it was still on paper plates so I did not get her plate number.
Apparently the 16 year old drivers at the high school can handle themselves better than the “adults” at HPMS!
Was the carpool process more efficient?
I don’t have a horse in this race (yet), but I still got caught in the MIS traffic this morning …. on Mockingbird Lane!
Still, I’m glad to see UP Police helping out.
What is it about the whole middle school traffic situation that makes people such lunatics? Is it parenting kids that are 11 – 14? I am 4 years out from my 4 years there and I can still feel the anger when I think about all that I witnessed. Didn’t happen at Armstrong, doesn’t happen at the High School. There needs to be some PHD student doing a dissertation on human behavior – bad behavior – come study the situation.
@ whoknew,
I love your idea! Brilliant!!!!!
Can they please send them around to the back, too? I’m envisioning 3 more there!!
Wow – sorry I missed the 3 tickets being given out on Granada. We definitely need some police presence on High School though. I got in the queue lane at 7:35 this morning and it was already almost to Mockingbird. I counted at least 5 parents who let their kids out in the rain from the thru traffic lane. Took me almost 30 minutes to get through the queue lane, but I was able to control my instinct to get out and knock on those parents’ windows who were letting their kids out in the middle of the street.
Kmom,
I think it’s more geography+population, really , 99% of the parents do the right thing. The streets were not designed for this. Maybe need a “traffic” study guru.
and AD: Dallas ISD uses buses. (except for maple lawn that gives the wrong kindergarten kid to the wrong parent…huh?)
Glad the police stepped in, and enforced the rules so that it is fair to all. But I wonder if there isn’t a design problem as well, as bdad mentioned. I guess my question is, if they were to solve the problem of breaking the Queue lane rules, and everyone dropped off per the proper procedure, would it still be a huge nightmare, with 1/2 hour waits, and traffic backed up on Mockingbird?
The difference between Armstrong is sheer number of people being dropped off (4 times as many), and I’m sure the there are many high school kids who drive themselves to school, so MIS is unique in that regard. My instincts tell me that someone needs to come up with a logistics solution to this, and that while changing behavior makes everyone feel better, it won’t fix the problem.
So glad my son has off-campus PE first period. There’s not a soul there when I drop him off at 8:45! Love it,
@carpool mom. My reference to DISD had nothing to do with traffic issues. I was referring to the number of police it takes to keep guns and drugs out of a DISD school. If they had 3 cops assigned to each middle school it might remove a significant number of weapons from the streets. The UP police are just trying to prevent 5000 pound weapons from killing someone’s child. Unfortunately the attitude of the people controlling the weapons at both school districts seems hauntingly similar.
@kmom, yes, it does happen at Armstrong as well. Parents often drop their kids off in the middle of the street if the line isn’t moving. That exacerbates the problem as the guard has to stop even more cars for those added kids who are now running to school.
My speculation would be 4-fold:
(1) poor design, but you would never know it because of the rampant “cheating”. Perhaps with the police enforcing the rules for a while, we’ll know for sure.
(2) a few self-entitled “cheaters” create havoc for everyone. Occasional police, some stiletto-booted Moms, and some genial Dads working car pool could minimize this problem.
(3) the merging of the different elementary carpool cultures from Armstrong, Bradfield, Hyer, and UP. I’ve had kids at both Armstrong and Bradfield and they are very different. Simple example: Armstrong’s drop-off area is the length of 2 cars. That’s all. Bradfield’s drop-off is half of Southern Ave., perhaps a 20-car length.
(4) as @D says, “sheer volume”
My daughter was a bit freaked out by the number of police cars (“police Tahoes”?) at the campus. She was afraid there was something “going on at school”. When I explained to her that the officers were probably simply trying to control traffic flow, she rolled her eyes and said “seriously? Is it sooo hard? There are signs like everywhere. Can’t parents read?”. Even the kids get it better than *some* parents!
One of the problems that I see is that there is an absolute need by some parents to drop their kids off at the doors. When I dropped the kids off on Granada today (7:30, little traffic), some of the parents were stopping to drop off at the office driveway so that there kids would be close to the front door, instead of driving to the 5/6 doors between the T-buildings. One parent stopped to let an older kid off at the driveway and then drove the 10 yards to the 5/6 door to let off another one. I know it was raining but not that hard!. My kids complain when I drop them off further up the line but it is on my “tough noggies” list…they can walk the extra 30 yards. I tell them the alternative is I drop them off at Golf and Binkley. They stop grumbling.
Pull up as far as you can on the Granada side and let your kids off further up. They can walk. Why is it necessary to drop your kids off right at the doors on High School ? Can’t you let them off on the sidewalk anywhere along the east side of High School and let them walk?
@James Tucker- This is a BIG part of the problem, parents want to let their kids out directly in front of the door. The volunteer I spoke to today said administration tried to fix that problem by opening the large set of doors further down the lane. But moms said they didn’t want their children to enter through those doors because they’d get confused. Seriously. If your kid is in at least 5th grade and can’t adjust the internal navigation when entering another 50 feet down the same freaking hall, that’s really sad.
The only way to solve the 2nd door problem on Granada is to lock the first set of doors and make the kids walk to the 2nd set of doors. If the school can’t/won’t do that, the cars will never move up voluntarily.
Some of the situation will subside as carpools are started and people fall into different patterns. After a week or two, some kids will get to school a minute before school starts and some 1/2 hour early. Right now everyone is getting there around the same time. And on rainy days, there’s always chaos. Always.
A real issue compounding the problem is that the school has more students than ever before. More than 500 in each grade. Just wait…when these kids are in high school, we’ll be bumped up to 5A.
@Laurie. More than 500 in each grade? True for just 5th or 5th-8th? PCP should write about this. Many issues, including 5A. That was one reason some wanted a fifth elementary school in the 90s. (Build it & they’ll come.)
@ James Tucker–you are onto it. When your kid is in 5th grade s/he is perfectly capable of walking a block or two to get to school. My kid is technically ‘special ed’ and is capable of this (even today in the rain) so I’m betting the ‘normal’ kids can do it, too. Take the job of chauffeur off your list of duties–you’ll be happier and your kids might be, too.
The class of 2008 at HPHS had over 500. This is not new and yes, the high school is even more crowded! Over there pickup also sucks plus you’ll get the added fun of dodging the teen drivers.
Dembones, I think it’s all four grades. Last year, they ran out of lockers for 7th graders, now 8th graders. I was told that 5th (or maybe it was 6th) is about 550, but you’d have to call the school to confirm it.
I saw one car drive down the alley from Golf to High School between Binkley and Shenandoah to avoid the traffic. She has done this two days in a row. I know she thinks she is being smart and beating the system.
There are so many recent posts about school starting and carpooling. So I may be misfiling this under the wrong post. But here I go. Everyone? Read this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/education/23college.html
Good for the UP police! That crossing guard who’s been at Granada and HS corner for the past couple years was a danger to the kids. He would wave cars to turn left onto Granada,instructing them to ignore the stop sign. But he has no authority to direct traffic! And the parents that ran that stop sign all the time because a “crossing guard” (!) told them to do it are completely irresponsible and more dangerous than some dad that got frustrated over all the clueless women drivers clogging up the streets around MIS).
Imagine how much the taxpayers paid for this. Can get a Robin Hood! What What