Welcome to the wild ride of mornings at Skyline, where navigating the chaos is just as challenging as the day’s lessons ahead!
With the new 2024 school year, Skyline administration decided to change the drop off and pick up traffic flow. “We decided to change it because we were constantly getting complaints last year,” says Casey Elmore, Skyline High School Principal.
The administration changed the traffic flow from a two-way to a one-way entry because of reports from students and parents about many incidents. “A lot of near accidents and complaints…all year about how things weren’t working,” says Elmore.
According to Ms. Elmore, the traffic flow this year has been much smoother, with improvements and haven’t heard about any car accidents, but did receive some complaints about drivers driving the wrong way after school. “Traffic flow has improved. I have not received any complaints about car accidents,” says Elmore. “I have had complaints about people driving the wrong way after hours.”
Students have noted that traffic flow around the school has become significantly slower, creating more congestion than last year when some complaints were already raised. The slower movement this year has intensified delays, affecting the timeliness of both student and faculty arrivals and departures. “The traffic flow is slow every day,” says Amaya Dawson (‘27). “It makes my mom late to work, especially when you can’t skip the line.”
Many student drivers find the new traffic flow to be inconvenient and frustrating. “There used to be two-way traffic going by the baseball fields but they changed it to one-way traffic,” says Kamryn Lindsey (‘25). “I’ve only tried to go that way once this year and it was slower than the two-way traffic.”
Many students report that new drivers find it scary and difficult to navigate the parking lot. The Skyline Post asked student drivers whether arriving as a new driver is scary. Students report driving yes, parking no. “People like to show off in the parking lot and that will increase accidents in my opinion,” says Jayda Townsend (‘27).
With the new “no drop off signs” around the parking lot and main entrance, some parents are running late to drop off a younger child or getting to work. “When we are running late, it makes me feel anxious because I don’t like for my children to be late to school or to be rushed,” says Skyline parent Stephanie Canada. “I want for them to be able to ease into their day comfortably and have a great start.”
Community assistant Tina Trombley says the traffic flow has been smoother and that they’re planning to keep it. “With the new traffic signs that we have purchased to explain the traffic flow,” she says. “We feel that so far it’s going super good, and the parents seem to be doing a good job.”
