Schools Chain of Command

I'd say pick up the phone and call the superintendent. Pester but in a nice way. The step above the superintendent is the school board.

If the conditions are as hazardous as you portray why don't you get the local police involved.

Maybe a sit-in? Bunch of parents go to Superintendent's office and refuse to leave til he/she listens to you? Or, call first and try to get the Superintendent on the phone.

"i still see others dealing with people driving the wrong way, passing, speeding, people stopping in the middle of the road to drop their children off, parents distracted by cell phones and being careless"

If that's truly the case, why not call the police?

I'm not trying to be an extremest at all! But seriously, if this is truly a safety issue to that extreme, the police should be involved.

I am very pleased with the way our school handles drop off and pick up. Our local police department has from time to time had an officer assigned to stand with the school employees to assist. At times there has been a patrol car sitting in one of the driveways, just hanging out and watching in case anything needs his/her assistance. I have no idea who decides when our officers should be there and to what extent, but I appreciate the fact that they are involved in the safety of our children.

I think it's worth a phone call or maybe stopping by the station to speak to someone and just express your concerns.

ETA - In your SWH, it seems like you glossed over the idea of trying to get the police involved. If they only stop by once a month and just chat, then talk to the sheriff or sergeant or whomever is in charge and ask that a regular officer be assigned every day for a week or so to monitor the situation. Perhaps they are just completely unaware that this is a problem. Make them aware!

It sounds to me like the problem is not with the school drop off procedures, but instead with parents who are breaking traffic laws. I think you need to go to the police and see if they can send some traffic enforcement to the school. After these parents start receiving some tickets for their bad driving they should smarten up. What our school did to ease traffic congestion around the school is ask parents who drive to drop kids off on the next block. Thus has drastically reduced traffic in and around the school, making it safer for everyone. So, the solution would be to contact the police traffic enforcement.

the parents are the stupid ones here. It's not the procedure. It's the parents. Things won't change until the parents change. It's the "Me" mentality. Good luck with fixing that.

I agree with what Julie said.

Here's why. We are in the same situation at our school - parents are forced to pull off to the side of our main road in the area. We have to walk through a treacherous path at the best of times, but this time of year, add in ice and/or snow. Parents allow time for this. We are courteous. We've never experienced this mayhem you describe.

We have a circle drop off system but it's not in use for parents while buses are coming and going, so only if you arrive late to drop your child off, can you use it.

Perhaps because it's always been this way, there have been no issues. None. The only one I could even think of is maybe two cars parked too close to a vehicle and they had to wait a few minutes to get out.

If I recall, you had two entrances to the school and now all kids have to go in through main entrance. My thought was, a lot of schools are like this - for security reasons. The principal and possibly superintendent may feel the need for added security outweighs parents' inconvenience.

If there really is such a safety issue - and brawls are about to start, and the kids are at that much risk - I would call the police. I'm not doubting what you are saying. It sounds completely disorganized and stressful. In other situations like this, police officers come to direct traffic. They will judge whether a police officer is necessary. Marda might know more about this with her background, but I wouldn't be waiting for someone to respond if it's really this bad.

It is like you cannot see it isn't the drop off procedures, it is the parents. You want to believe the old way would be perfect or your way would be perfect but in the end you have the same parents dropping off the same kids with the same issues.

What do you expect the principal and superintendent to do? Compel them to grow up and think of others? Do you see how silly that sounds? Call the police, see if they are interested. If not accept the school is filled with trash or move to a school that isn't.

I have to add after reading the other answers do people read this as aggressors and victims? These are aggressors and aggressors. The only victims are the kids and it isn't the driving it is god awful parenting.

Per your what happened, the police do not put in stop signs or speed bumps. That is streets and if it is a main road they will not put a speed bump in. You seem to be living in some odd version of reality all the time.

if this were a hill i was willing to die on, and it sounds as if this is the case for you, i'd go all in.
drop your kid off early every day for a week, and then put yourself somewhere safe and video the chaos. take the vids and edit them down to the most frightening and egregious incidents (you don't want the final version to run more than 2 minutes or so), and take them to the principal, and thence to the super. if you get nowhere, submit it to your local news stations. mention in a dark undertone getting legal advice. inform them of your intent to saturate social media with it.
yes, you will certainly get yourself labeled and blacklisted within the school system, but if this is your bete noir, go for it.
don't forget time and date stamps on the videos.
khairete
S.

Try recording the situation for awhile and then playing it to the school board.
OR - take it to a news station and let them go public with it.

Additional:
Drop off/pick up time is usually pretty hectic.
At one school our son went to (private, no buses) - I avoided the drop off line, parked in the parking lot away from that - where the traffic was much less - got out of the car and walked our son in through the front of the building (same thing at pick up time in reverse).
It was much safer and I didn't mind the walk.
Yeah, what you see at drop off time should make a lot of people ashamed of their behavior.
On their phones, putting on makeup, cussing at everyone in general - why did they have kids in the first place if they couldn't be bothered to put the time into the little details like planning ahead and getting their collective behinds to where they need to go while maintaining a bit of civility in the process?
I've seen parents drop their kids off while the PARENTS were still in pajamas.

I'd find 4-5 other parents who agree with you, and then take a series of videos of the conditions you find alarming, over a period of a week or two. Make sure the date stamps are on them. Get someone to edit them all together and send them to the principal, the superintendent, and the police chief (who is concerned with public safety). Make sure it's not just from you if possible.

If that doesn't work, give them to the local news station or newspaper. It's a great story and may get some traction.

You may want to try speaking to the police about it. Illinois has a law about talking on a phone in a school zone. NO cellphone at all, not even wireless is allowed. The middle school I pass on the way to the train in the morning has a person that stands outside in the morning and after school to make sure the school bus is not blocked and to make sure parents do not pull into the school bus area. At one time, they had the police there as well because parents would be on their phones.

The elementary school my younger daughter goes to occasionally has a police officer route traffic and makes parents move it or get a ticket due to the traffic build up. The police consider this a safety issue and have no problem sending someone for 20 minutes in the morning and afternoon.

Updated

You may want to try speaking to the police about it. Illinois has a law about talking on a phone in a school zone. NO cellphone at all, not even wireless is allowed. The middle school I pass on the way to the train in the morning has a person that stands outside in the morning and after school to make sure the school bus is not blocked and to make sure parents do not pull into the school bus area. At one time, they had the police there as well because parents would be on their phones.

The elementary school my younger daughter goes to occasionally has a police officer route traffic and makes parents move it or get a ticket due to the traffic build up. The police consider this a safety issue and have no problem sending someone for 20 minutes in the morning and afternoon.

I would follow up with the superintendent's office. Re-send the message and copy his or her assistant. Then call the assistant immediately after and very kindly, warmly and politely let him or her know that you just want to verify that the e-mail was received and need to know when you can expect a response. And that because this is a safety concern, you'd rather not have to call the police or school committee to observe without the superintendent having and opportunity to see the situation and offer a solution, but that you can't wait much longer.

If you get no reply in a few days, call the police, your school committee, and your local paper. If it's as bad as you report here, it should be pretty obvious to anyone in a position of leadership that it has to be addressed.

Tadpole,

This is not a "chain of command" issue. This is a parental issue. Do you think you can change the parents? The parents are the ones causing this problem. What do you expect the school to do?

Get the police involved.
Get your local media involved. Record the parents being obnoxious and shame them into fixing their issues.

These are people who obviously care more about themselves, their time and their issues than they do about others. They are horrible role models for their children - talking and texting while driving? Yeah!! I'm soooo important nothing can wait for me.

Only way to fix the chaos is to FIX THE PARENTS!! Shame them - record their talking on cell phones and dangerous activity. Blast it over the internet. Post them on YouTube with your school's name and show "parents behaving badly".

Good luck!! you're gonna need it!

In my district, the superintendent reports to the school board, so if the superintendent doesn't respond, I would take the issue to the next school board meeting.

That said, I agree with the principal in one respect - I learned long ago that it's a lot easier to get someone to solve a problem if you present both the problem AND a short list of possible solutions at the same time. I would definitely use this strategy with the superintendent and school board (if you need to go there).

ETA: I was focused on your immediate question of line of command. However, in retrospect, I have to also support Julie's response - is there a way to "solve" the problem of selfish impatient people?

Maybe someone should film the danger and chaos on their cellphone and send a copy to the superintendent so he/she can see for him/herself. If that doesn't work, send a copy to the local media. That will get somebody's attention for sure.

Have kids take the bus. Problem solved.

I don't have an answer to your question other than to bring a lawyer into it with the threat to sue. However, I urge you to document what is happening by video. They can't argue with video. It will take time and effort on your part. Also, if parents see you video taping it, it might make them angry, or they may behave better.

You will also need testimonials from people who have suffered over the bad behavior of drivers.

What about sending notes home with every single student, asking parents to submit their ideas for better way to control this. They have until XX-XX-2017 to submit ideas. Ask for volunteers to help form a committee to go over these submissions to form a couple of plans for better/safer drop off and pick up times.

Then have the committee members get on a mailing list so they can see the ideas submitted too. Meet a few times to compress the ideas and come up with 3 solid plans for this situation. These plans need to provide WHO will handle the new arrangement such as parents, crossing guard employees or crossing guard volunteers/parents, if a police officer can be present for a few months while people get into new habits, and how this will be funded as for signs posting "One Way", "No stopping", "Stop!!!", and any other permanent signs and/or how crossing guards will be paid.

Then call a school parent meeting where everyone can view the 3 ideas and can vote on which one they think will work best.

Ask for volunteers to form fundraisers to fund these new plans, have parents sign an agreement stating they will follow the new procedures and they'll accept the consequences of endangering the children or refuse to follow procedures, and things like that.

To me this is a parent issue. The principle or admins or anyone can stand out there and look like a fool waving their arms and directing traffic but if the parents aren't on board these adults will end up getting hit and killed first.

Your parents are the ones responsible for how they drive. If it were me I'd be on the phone to the police department and beg them to have an officer present every morning walking around on the curb, showing a police presence so that parents would take notice and drive more carefully.

I had to stop taking kiddos to school for a year because the drop off and pick up was so crazy. Traffic through the loop was 2 lanes, one for stopping and one for moving without stopping except at the crosswalks. Invariably someone would stop and park in the through lane even stop and get out of their vehicle! This would block traffic for blocks on the main street since everyone was turning in to pick up kids.

We had a similar, but not as bad, issue at the school where I teach. It took getting a whole bunch of people on board to make changes. We got the school district, neighbors to the school, law enforcement, parents, and city council all involved. Unfortunately, it took some really close calls before anyone got serious about changing it. A police officer monitoring the area witnessed an adult crossing guard almost get hit by two different cars within a 10 minute period. We had to get permission from the department of transportation and the city maintanence to change the direction of a one way street. We got permission to block off the street to everyone but busses in front of the school during drop off and pick up times. We got no parking and restricted parking set up on the streets near school. We made adjustments to where teachers park so that we can keep parents from stopping in some of the more unsafe areas where there are no sidewalks. And most of our staff are involved in helping to keep pick up and drop off running smoothly and safely. (We call the times drop and go and load and go. Parents who do want to get out of their cars have to find a legal parking spot a block or so away and walk their kids to the building.) Staff meet kids at the car. Parents do not even get out of their cars. It was a long process (at least 2 years) and we are constantly having to work out bugs. A couple of times a year parents are sent reminders of the procedures and expectations. Parents who continually disregard the procedure are approached in person or phoned by our principal to remind them of the expectations. It was a huge learning curve for parents. Police do ticket people who are not parked legally. They also do extra patrols in the area at the beginning of the year. It might take getting people who live near the school to also call the principal and/or superintendent and to show up at board meetings and city council meetings. Good luck!