Description

Excerpt from email sent to Principal Lowe, Acting Superintendent Hattabaugh and the PTA:

I would like to voice my complete frustration with the morning drop off process at Mallard Creek!! Since someone decided that it is a good idea to have our little ones start earlier than the older middle-schoolers and do away with before-school care.... the least that can be done is to try to help accommodate the situation.

The problem, as I see it, is that the window to drop off is too small and no one seems to be considering the fact that the school's population has increased by 100 magnet students. 7:15 to 7:45 does not allow time for all car riders to be dropped off in a timely manner. Is it possible to drop off at 7:00 a.m. instead of having to wait until 7:15? Waiting to 7:15 causes such congestion that even when we arrive in the extremely long line - in what seems like plenty of time to drop off - we end up being late after having waited 20 to 25 minutes. Maybe it is also time to revive before-school care...

And then, when the line is cut off promptly at 7:45, each car has to go around the small circle, park and sign your child in, which only 8 to 10 cars can park at a time.... leaving all of the other cars to have to wait even longer in line - - while their children are even later for class. By 7:45 are all of the buses in? if so, can't cars be allowed to park in the bus lot? Or, maybe continue to allow cars to drive around back, park and then sign your child in. I would also advocate that the poor students not be counted tardy until after 8:00 a.m. because they are the ones being punished for a drop-off system that is clearly flawed and not working. I am very upset that my daughter's attendance record is being negatively affected by this process!

I've written to Principal Lowe (who I am sure is very busy) and Acting-Superintendent Hattabaugh, but to date, have not heard back. I cannot be the only parent feeling this frustrated. Since I am new to the PTA I didn't know what to expect during the meetings, so I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to bring this up. I was hoping that it would come up, but surprisingly no one addressed the issue.

Do you have any ideas of what steps I can take to have this issue looked into and addressed as soon as possible because I only see it getting worse. You know there is a big problem when the line is cut off at 7:45 a.m. and the cars are still lined up and down Mallard Creek Road! I would like to see a comparison of the tardiness statistics from this year and last... I am certain this year's numbers are off the charts!

Please excuse the tone of my email; however, I am extremely frustrated with this problem!!! And please understand that I truly admire and am appreciative of the staff that is out there every morning trying to organize this chaos, it's just a process that clearly is not working and something has to be done to address the problem.

Thank you!