What's Up, Doc? It's Our Job to Help With School Traffic

By Randall Freeman, PhD School began a couple of weeks ago. Triple-digit heat has dominated the area. Not a good combination. The school...

By Randall Freeman, PhD

School began a couple of weeks ago. Triple-digit heat has dominated the area. Not a good combination.

The school districts (Menifee Union School District and Perris Union High School District) work closely with the City of Menifee to provide the best traffic flow for drop-off and pick-up of students at school. Despite this, problems persist. Why?

The single greatest factor in compounding problems with traffic are those individuals who insist that their time is more valuable than anyone else’s. I have witnessed drivers double- and even triple-parking at schools I have taught at. People stop in the middle of the line to drop off and pick up students despite being directed to move to the front of the line first. Cones utilized to direct traffic flow are run over and/or picked up and moved to improperly park.

As a parent and a teacher, I have experienced the momentary frustration of waiting in the heat for my daughters and their friends to reach the car and get in. Then I have to maneuver my way through traffic to head home. Frustration becomes greater when I witness people pulling dangerous stunts to perhaps gain a few seconds of time, risking injury to do so.

Those reading this column are no doubt the ones who are as frustrated as I am, wishing people would cooperate with the planned traffic flow. It is unfortunate that those who most often cause the problems either deny it is them or they don’t read my column.

Why don’t we go back to running buses, reducing this problem? Some 40 years ago, transportation reimbursement from the State of California was frozen at that level. Four decades later, MUSD receives the same pittance that it received in 1978, based upon the number of schools we had at that time (2) and the costs associated with fuel, etc. This leaves a million dollar hole in the district’s general budget -- a hole that has to be filled somehow. Hence, paying for transportation by families, less busing available overall, and private automobiles being pressed into service for transporting students to and from school.

We can’t bring back buses to 1978 levels. The best we can do is to design and enforce traffic flow in the most efficient manner for the circumstances. Our part is to cooperate with the schools and not go off and put individual desires ahead of necessary traffic requirements. Is saving a minute or two worth the resulting accidents? How much time is actually saved by ignoring the traffic flow designs?

Randy Freeman and his family have lived in Menifee since 1993. Randy teaches kindergarten in Perris and his lovely wife Karen teaches first grade here in Menifee at Freedom Crest Elementary School. They are the proud parents of four beautiful daughters: Daniela, 18, and 14-year-old triplets Sarah, Holly, and Megan. Other family members include dogs Scruffy, Mikko, & Max, 17-year-old cat Hunter, and turtle Tuttles. Randy earned his PhD in early childhood education in 2011 and has served on the Menifee Union School Board since 2008. Randy has wisely decided to delete the bit about being Karen's boss in order to continue living in his happy home.

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