District looks at NES safety issues

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
Weston County School District No. 1 administration and staff met with representatives of the Wyoming Department of Transportation to discuss safety concerns regarding the Newcastle Elementary School parking lot. 
During the meeting, WYDOT resident engineer John Leahy explained that the concerns first arose when the school began a student pickup policy to avoid gatherings at the school in response to COVID-19. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, parents gathered in the lobby or parking lot to wait for their children outside of their cars. Since the pandemic began, the school is not allowing parents inside the building to pick up children and has since encouraged parents to remain in their cars through the pick up line to avoid children leaving with the wrong person as well as having any change of illness spread, although some parents do wait in a corner of the parking lot outside of their cars for their children. 
 Since that time, there have been several concerns regarding the number of cars queued on the highway waiting to move through the pickup line to collect their children, potential accidents due to line-of-sight issues as cars enter the highway while other cars are lined on the highway waiting to enter the parking lot and safety concerns regarding children in the crowded parking lots as cars and parents maneuver the pick up process.
“What we do know is that it has become quite a concern at times,” Superintendent Brad LaCroix told the News Letter Journal. “We will be looking at all kinds of different options.” 
According to LaCroix, several options, including adjustments of where vehicles enter the parking lot and additional access points to the parking lot, have been suggested but that, as Leahy stated in the meeting, “just throwing money at the problem might not solve the issues.” 
The superintendent said that the school is going to consider all options but that the public is going to have to be aware of the issues and respond appropriately. He noted that issues parents and other drivers may not consider involve family dynamics and keeping children in the school safe. 
LaCroix reported that there are several situations at the school where certain individuals are not allowed to pick up certain children anymore and changes in pick up people that the school employees must track and be aware of to guarantee students are leaving with the appropriate person. 
“There are all kinds of different requests that bombard the elementary school,” LaCroix said. “Family dynamics change. School dynamics change.” 
What he does know, he said, is that things tend to never go more smoothly when people are in a hurry and that the situation is guaranteed to be less hectic if people understand that the schools are trying to accommodate several situations.
“You can put in different egresses and traffic flow, adjust speed limits, but if someone is speeding, that takes everything out,” LaCroix said. “A lot can change if people would slow down.” 
According to LaCroix, speeding isn’t the main concern regarding the pick up practices and concerns but he believes that if people were to slow down, both those entering the school property and those passing on the highway, the situation could improve until a solution is found. 
He noted that the school will continue to explore and analyze various options, and that the board of trustees will likely discuss the topic at its Dec. 8 meeting. 
“We will continue to watch and monitor as closely as possible,” LaCroix said, noting that any long-term solution will take some time to establish.