A bell shrieks, and students pour out of classrooms. They rush in every direction for pickup. Each parent and student has their own method of reducing the time it takes to leave school.
On Woodside’s campus, there are two designated drop-off and pick-up spaces, as well as a designated student lot. Still, many parents pick up in a variety of different locations. One parent, Melissa Karlsten, picks up in a non-designated location.
“[I pick up] next to the softball field, by the bus stop,” Karlsten said. “I think it is less crowded [over there].”
Karlsten and other parents employ different strategies to avoid busy pick up.
“I try not to go earlier than four,” freshman parent Hilary Duwe said. “To try and avoid peak mayhem time, and I don’t know what the solution is, but it would be great if somebody could rethink traffic flow.”
Woodside’s school day ends at 3:40 p.m. every day except Wednesdays, when it ends at 2:35 p.m. These parents said that most of the issues with pick-up and drop-off were in the circle by the office.
“I worry a little bit about the safety of students getting out of cars [by the front circle] and not having safe walkways to school,” Karlsten said. “I think they are at risk of being hit by cars.”
Duwe shares the same concerns and expresses an idea for a solution.
“I think the pickup circle is not big enough for how many people are coming in at the same time,” Duwe said. “If we could stagger pickups or something like that, it would be better.”
According to both parents, student drivers can contribute to the situation in a negative way.
“I think that there are a lot of new drivers coming through,” Duwe said. “It’s pretty confusing [for] me to navigate the pickup circle and the left turn [on to Churchill Ave] with all the people trying to come out of the student parking lot.”
On the other hand, according to junior Sam Sigal, the issues stem from parents’ behavior and sometimes unorthodox pickup methods.
“I’ve either been cut off or almost hit by a parent leaving the lot,” Sigal said.“I think we have a circle and a pickup line for a reason.”
According to Sigal, the biggest issue lies with parents being allowed to enter the student parking lot.
“It takes a while to get out of school,” Sigal said. “I think parents being able to enter the parking lot kind of defeats the point of us having a student lot, and as students, a lot of us have outside commitments that we need to get to promptly.”
Many involved in pick-up and drop-off mentioned that the current system acts as a stressor.
“It irritates me because people aren’t handling it the way I would handle it,” Karlsten said. “But I think anytime you’re a driver, there are always people making life more difficult. I wouldn’t say that it ruins my day.”
