Murry Fly stops the traffic

The new Murry Fly Elementary School traffic plan has caused some parents to grumble, but principal Yolanda Hernandez said she hopes parents will be patient since the safety of the students is the top priority.

Last year, when more than 700 students were released from school, they would flood out the doors of Murry Fly, into the parking lot and across the street. The parking lots were filled with parked cars and bus drivers had to wait for the students to pass before they could leave the school, Hernandez said.

Hernandez, formerly the principal at Ross Elementary School, was moved to Murry Fly over the summer. After looking at the campus and talking with the staff, Hernandez decided they needed to institute an organized traffic plan, she said.

The traffic plan has changed where parents pick up their children after school. School is dismissed at 3:15 p.m. Students who walk home, ride buses or are picked up by parents head to different parts of the building about 10 minutes before school is dismissed. Now, buses and daycare vehicles are the only ones allowed in the circle drive on Westview Street at the front of the building.

Students who walk home now exit through the fifth grade wing of building and are escorted to the crosswalk by a teacher.

Parents who pick up their children in a car must drive their vehicles through the circle drive on the west side of the building at Knox Street, forming two lanes of traffic. A staff member approaches each vehicle, asks for the names of the student and calls the name with a megaphone. A teacher standing at the door of the gymnasium calls for the student and the student is escorted to the car.

By going through this routine every day, Hernandez said, the teachers have a way of getting to know the people who pick up the students. They can check with the students and make sure people they know are picking them up. It’s also a way for the teachers to have contact with parents and start establishing some kind of relationship, Hernandez said.

When school officials put the traffic plan in place on the first day of school, it took time to get all of the students picked up, since some parents weren’t clear on where they needed to go. The streets and parking lots where choked as parents parked in no parking zones across the street from the school and in the front parking lot that is only supposed to be used by the buses. Hernandez admitted it took some time, and parent Jazmin Rodriguez estimated she waited for her first-grade son, Jacob, for about an hour-and-a-half.

By Wednesday afternoon, protestors were being reported outside the school, and Hernandez was getting phone calls and complaints from irate parents. The principal said she has made a point of talking with anyone who wants to talk with her about the traffic plan.

Some parents were still frustrated on Thursday. Parent Lindsey Driver said she’s had problems picking her children from the school, and she is still frustrated with the process.

“It’s stupid. I get that they need to be safe and be careful about who’s picking up the kids, but it’s been a real mess,” Driver said.

Rodriguez said she tried to understand, but it was hard not to lose her patience.

“It’s necessary. This needed to be changed and we all want the kids to be safe, but it was really frustrating,” Rodriguez said. Rodriguez was so exasperated after the first few days of school she went and talked to the principal herself. Talking to Hernandez calmed her down, she said.

“It really helped, and it’s been getting a lot better over the past few days. It didn’t take as long today,” Rodriguez said.

Hernandez agreed the process has been slowly improving as the teacher, students and parents get used to the plan. This system for picking up students has been common in Texas schools for the past few years, Hernandez noted, pointing out that she implemented a similar plan at Ross a few years ago. She said the main thing parents need to do is to try and be patient as everyone adjusts to a new way of doing things.

“Look at this,” Hernandez said, gesturing at empting streets at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. It was just half an hour after school had let out and traffic was flowing smoothly around the schools, and there weren’t any students dodging through the parking lots or crossing the streets.

“I know change is hard, but we want the kids to be safe out here,” she said.

NIMITZ DROP OFF ZONES
Another school is having drop off issues.

Due to construction, Nimitz parents have been asked to drop off and pick up their students off in the east parking lot of the school.

Parents are asked to refrain from parking at the front of the building from 8 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. when the area becomes a bus zone.

Questions? Call the school at 368-2891.