The following information was sent to families via SchoolMessenger on Friday, May 7 with the subject "Afternoon Pickup Traffic". The content has been formatted for the web.
Hello West Jeff Middle families,
We know that the traffic situation is becoming increasingly frustrating in the afternoon, we share this frustration with you. Please understand that with 20 busses needing to get into and out of our parking lot and the amount of students who are being picked up since the return of 100% in person learning, the intersection of Barnes and Stansberry is a bottleneck for traffic movement.
Most days we try to have both school staff and the school resource officer from Conifer High School at the intersection helping to move traffic as best we can. There have been increasing safety concerns for our staff and the students walking with all of the traffic at the intersection and there has been increased hostility towards our staff and sheriff's deputy at the intersection.
With three weeks left in the school year, please consider a few points that might both help you to understand the traffic flow and help the entire process:
- If you arrive close to dismissal time and are stopped on Barnes, know that all the cars down Stansberry have been waiting and will be moved first.
- If you are on Stansberry, please help us by telling your student you will pick them up in our parking lot. Cars whose students have met them on Stansberry are wanting to turn left onto Barnes at the intersection instead of continuing into our parking lot, this requires us to stop the flow of traffic to allow the left turn. We will try to have a staff member stopping kids from walking off property if they are being picked up.
- If you are wanting to wait in the line on Stansberry, we recommend that you turn onto Fishbeck from Vosler, this will allow you to come in behind the traffic line and will eliminate the need to travel down Stansberry and do a U-turn.
- Some of our neighbors on Stansberry are becoming upset with the level of traffic on their street during this time. Please be mindful of not blocking their driveways and maintaining low speeds.
- Finally, we once again recommend that you arrive to pick up your students later, around 2:40 pm. By this time, the traffic has cleared and you can drive directly into the lot and out without waiting in traffic.
Thank you for your support with this issue for the next three weeks.
The following information was published in our school's In-Person Learning Plan:
We highly recommend that families picking up students that are not riding the bus come to West Jeff Middle after 2:40 PM. The significant amount of traffic created by picking up students moves much better after the busses leave around 2:20 PM.
(Link: WJMS PM Traffic Staging PDF)
(Link: WJMS PM Pick-Up PDF)