The whiteboard in the Wheatland Center School board room still was covered Tuesday with the ideas brainstromed about the bus/car drop-off/pick-up issue by a committee of parents, bus drivers administrators and School Board member Troy Bruley.
Work continues on issues surrounding how children are transported to and from Wheatland Center School.
How buses and parents driving cars drop off and pick up students at the school was changed this year. In years past, buses used to drop off students in double file along the east side of the school and cars dropped off in the north parking lot.
This year, buses have been dropping off students in the bus parking lot southeast of the school and cars were dropping off along the east side of the school. The change was made to separate car and bus traffic. However, concerns have been raised from the public about the safety of students crossing the parking lot from the bus parking area while cars drive nearby.
Board member Troy Bruley presented a draft plan Tuesday that was the result of some research and a meeting with interested parties. The school’s insurance carrier also was consulted.
That plan would put buses back along the east side of the building in single file and have drop off and pick up for cars in the north lot. In addition, the plan proposes some traffic flow aids and closing off some of the parking spots in the north lot to improve flow.
The plan would have parents using a loop through the north lot to drop off students in the morning and parking and checking out students inside the school for pick-up in the evening.
After some questions were raised about details of the plan, board President Christopher Serak asked Bruley to refine the plan by addressing details such as how many parking spaces need to be closed and how much widening of some accesses might cost. He asked administration to research systems for checking out students for pick-up. Randall school was offered as one possible example.
Then both groups could come back and report on their findings at the next board meeting, Serak said.
