Drop off Procedures
ZWMS Traffic Reminders –
Though rare, students in other districts – even in Indiana – have suffered serious and fatal injury crossing traffic in drop-off and pick-up situations. We wish not to create such a hazard for our students and your children and have worked closely with State-trained School Safety Specialists and our public agency partners in the ZPD to examine our traffic procedures in our front parking lot. Please follow the procedures detailed below in order to ensure the greatest safety for students and most efficient drop-off/pick-up as possible. Additional information about arranging for early medical appointment release is included as well.
****Also worth noting: Statistically speaking, the ABSOLUTE SAFEST mode of transportation for a child to and from school is a school bus. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that, as an annual average, 58% of student fatalities during school hours occur when a TEEN is driving, 23% occur with an ADULT driver and only 1% occur when traveling by SCHOOL BUS (the remainder falls under “other.”
MORNING DROP-OFF PROCEDURES
Once clubs and activities begin, Door 4 will be the location for club/activity drop off, and further information will come from club sponsors.
Between 8:30-8:45am each morning, traffic in front of our school is reduced to one lane traveling one-way from the South entrance across the front of our building (indicated in green). Drivers should pull cars all the way to the end of the front sidewalk - NOT stopping at the crosswalk - and release students once the line of cars across the entire sidewalk is stopped. This allows for many more students to exit cars at a time and will speed up the rate at which cars progress through our drive. The North drive during these hours is a one-way EXIT ONLY, and the second lane west of the school is closed (indicated in red). These procedures will prevent students from needing to cross in front of cars during the morning rush.
AFTERNOON PICK-UP PROCEDURES
In order to promote the most safety possible for students, during afternoon pick-up at Door 1 at ZWest from 3:45-4:00pm, students should load into vehicles directly from the sidewalk. Safety is of utmost importance to us and we are committed to making sure that students are safe when exiting the building each afternoon. Please see the graphic and explanation below to assist you in understanding this new protocol.
As cars enter the south end of the car line from the south entrance near the fire station, traffic will remain ONE LANE (indicated in green). If cars enter the parking lot from the north entrance off of 700 East, they should proceed south in the lane closest to the main road and turn left to merge into the line of traffic moving north along the sidewalk (also green). Vehicles should line up across the entire area by pulling all the way to the north end of the sidewalk. Students will load cars from the sidewalk, and staff will be working with students NOT to walk through the parking lot without an adult escort (in blue). Students SHOULD NOT cross traffic to enter parked cars. After a student is loaded in a car at the sidewalk, that car may pull into the 2nd traffic lane and exit out of the north entrance and other cars can move up along the sidewalk to help traffic flow. If there is an exceptional circumstance that would require your child to walk across the lanes of traffic, please park your vehicle and walk to the sidewalk. Staff will assist to allow you to personally escort children back to the car from the sidewalk. ***Please note: This exception is NOT SAFE and will delay traffic for all other student pick-ups. This exception should be reserved for only the most unusual circumstances.
This process will help to keep our students safer all afternoon so they are not walking where there are moving cars and when everyone is in a rush to get home. This will also assist in times of inclement weather when students could slip and fall and not be seen by drivers that are approaching.
Thank you for your partnership to promote the safest circumstances possible in our front parking lot.