Parents and Guardians -
The City of Columbia is doing work that will require a road closure on Sexton all next week. Below are screenshots of information from the City as well as a map to refer to. I met with our transportation department and STA today to finalize a plan, as this will certainly impact us in terms of arrival and dismissal. Please read through these screenshots and review the map (below) prior to reading the rest of this information, so you have context and understand where the road closure is.
Arrival -
Buses typically pull past Ridgeway and turn left onto Mary Street or travel further down Sexton after they’ve dropped students off. They will be unable to travel this path, due to the City road closure. Buses will stop between King Street and Woodlawn Street to unload students, so that they can take a left turn down Woodlawn off of Sexton. We will have a staff member stationed between King and Woodlawn so that when a bus comes to a stopping point in that area, we can go ahead and unload them. The line should still continue to move close to normal, just instead of the bus stopping in front of the school, they’re stopping further down the line. The parent drop off car line will not change in terms of what parents are doing, except you MUST turn right on Grand after dropping your student off due to the city closure. If you park and walk your child to the front of the building, you will not be able to turn right onto Sexton when leaving, you’d have to turn left. We have crossing guards to help, but PLEASE pay attention to the crossing guard and be patient as we help people cross safely.
Do not park on Woodlawn, as it is already a tight squeeze for buses to get turned and travel that road. Some neighbors don’t have driveways and must street park. Let’s give buses as much room as we can by not parking there or traveling that street during arrival.
Please do NOT try to pass a bus.
Do NOT travel down Woodlawn and attempt to enter the middle of the drop off line. This goes for every morning, not just next week.
Turn RIGHT on Grand when exiting the parent pick up line
Dismissal -
As stated above, buses cannot travel their normal route, and will need to use Woodlawn Street and the space between Sexton and King to park, load, and drive. Students will have to load streetside on Woodlawn (which includes crossing Sexton), and therefore, we cannot have thru traffic. There will be several road closures, as indicated with red Xs on the map below, to ensure cars are not traveling through the area while we are loading students off and onto buses. Students from Locust, Benton and Jeff transfer buses here, so it is a larger operation than just getting our students onto buses. These road closures (red X) will include a sign, as well as a police officer to help enforce. Road closures will begin at 2:20 each day and will open again after buses have pulled away (approximately 2:55). This is where things will get complicated for parents picking students up. Please read through the bullet points so you know your options in terms of parking.
Park North facing on either side of Grand Street- this would require arriving prior to 2:20 so that you can travel down Sexton in order to make a right turn onto Grand. Sexton will be closed starting at 2:20.
Park on 4th street - there are no restrictions to parking anywhere on 4th
If you are parked South facing on Grand, you will not be able to turn left onto Sexton until road closure is lifted at 2:55(ish). If you’re ok with waiting until close to 3 to pull away, parking facing South is a fine option. Please wait until the road closure sign is moved before putting your vehicle in motion.
If you park South facing on Grand and attempt to leave while roads are still closed, it would require turning around, which will be very difficult and dangerous given the lack of space and parking lot area we have. Please avoid doing this.
We will have two crossing guards helping get families across the street safely, and I have requested an additional officer to help with traffic control on our block of Grand.
Trust me, I understand how frustrating this is. The City did not ask me about this or even inform me directly, I learned about it through an online post, which I immediately forwarded to our transportation department, CPS Safety and Security, and STA so they could work out a plan. Please bear with us next week and try to be as patient as possible, as there could be delays.
