Chandler High has always had a problem with traffic before and after school. Students and parents want some change to happen to the drop-off routes in the mornings and afternoons sooner than later to avoid congestion by the school. The heavy traffic at Chandler High School impedes many parents from dropping off their students and getting to class on time.
In more recent years, parents and students themselves have had more problems with traffic because of the number of students attending Chandler High; although the Chandler High administration tried to diminish this issue, it is still a problem to this day. Busy traffic in the morning is causing students to not get to class on time which can affect their attendance, possibly sending students to in-school suspension (I.S.S.) or lunch detention. Lots of students agree that the morning drop-off routes can get hectic for new drivers which can cause anxiety and possible accidents on the road.
We spoke to 11th-grade students, Dominic D’Amico and Julianna Ortiz, who shared their experiences and suggested some changes. In the first week of school, D’Amico and his parents found it hard to find enough time in temporary parking spots to be dropped off at. D’Amico has tried several spots in the front of the school and back of Chandler Center for the Arts, but very rarely did those spots work.
D’Amico explained that the morning routes “gets crowded very easily and then I’m late to class, even the front of the CCA gets crowded easily and it’s a long walk.” D’Amico has even left his house earlier than he regularly does to arrive on time for class but still ends up late to class because of traffic.
On the other hand, Julianna drives herself to school and parks at the Junior parking lot by K Building. In the first week of school, Ortiz found herself waiting up to 10 extra minutes because of parents who parked in students’ parking spots and then walked their kids to class. Ortiz explained her experiences with the Junior parking lot: “After the first week of school, it got better because sometimes security will help guide traffic. But the first day of school was messy because all the parking spots were filled with parents.” Ortiz did comment that the security guards are doing a good job controlling traffic in the mornings, but in the afternoons it’s every man for himself.
Both Dominic and Julianna agreed that Chandler High should make changes to the parent drop-off routes and even made suggestions such as new routes for parents to drop off students or more public transportation access for students. According to Yellow Live, some helpful tips to reduce traffic congestion around school areas are using the bus system more often, staggering the drop-off times by 15 minutes or less, more separated routes to separate clusters of parents, managing traffic zones with authorities, and implementing temporary parking zones. Of course, Chandler High is already implementing some ideas like separate parking lots for different grades, trying to encourage students to use the bus system, and different routes for parents to drop off children. Although Chandler High has these traffic rules in place, there can always be more improvements made to benefit students and parents, including more security/staff to help guide traffic, more temporary parking spots for parents, and separate routes for parents and students.
