As soon as the clock hits 7:30 a.m., 10 minutes before the warning bell, traffic along Wootton Parkway ramps up. The long line of cars and the fear of being late to first period heightens as the time ticks closer to 7:45 a.m.. Driving all the way down to the lower lot for drop off would take an extra five minutes, which is why cars drop students along Wootton Parkway, allowing students to quickly cut across.
The expectation is that parents and guardians drop off their students in the lower lot. However, there have been instances every day where cars slow down and drop students off along Wootton Parkway. This can cause major safety issues, especially as sudden stops can hold up traffic from behind and moving cars can be dangerous for students who are getting out.
Jay Gabele, a security officer, stands at the entrance of the bus loop every morning to monitor buses. Gabele has seen several near misses when cars drop students off. “I’ve seen a parent drop off their child and almost run them over,” Gabele said.
Assistant Principal Stephanie Labbe said that as a result, it is imperative that drop-off occurs solely at the lower lot. “Because of how the bus loop is and how you have to enter, there has always been the communication that the most appropriate place to drop your student off is the lower lot,” Labbe said.
Building Service Manager Anthony Murray said there are solutions to this problem. “You will actually have to have a police officer parked about here with a car on the sidewalk and actually deter parents from coming but the county doesn’t have that kind of money to have a police officer posted here. If there’s a crime committed, they’ll have to leave here and go where that is. So, parents have to change their mindset. If you want to drop your child off, you’ll have to leave a little early or let your child ride the bus,” Murray said.
Murray has reached out to the county and communicated these issues with them. “We’ve talked to Will Jawando, a council member. We talked to him about [the safety issues] but Montgomery County Public Schools, in my opinion, is a reactive system. They wait until something real bad happens and then they react to it. Most of our leaders in this county and our school system, it’s when it affects them, that’s when they respond,” Murray said.
Aside from drop-off issues, speeding has also been a concern. In an article published by The MoCo Show in April, speed cameras that were installed on Wootton Parkway have started issuing citations. “In a continuing effort to reduce the number of speeding vehicles in Rockville neighborhoods, the Rockville City Police Department deployed the speed monitoring system,” said the article.
It is impossible to address every safety concern on the parkway, but security and building service are working to combat these issues. Gabele will continue to stand outside the bus loop even after the late bell to make sure that cars are driving down the lower lot instead of into the bus loop. Speed cameras will be monitoring drivers.
Administration said that the extra five minutes of driving to the lower lot is worth it to ensure students’ safety. “In education, safety and security needs to be our top priority. The best way to move forward with our current infrastructure is for students to be dropped off [in the lower lot] and if we are not adhering to these expectations that have been spelled out, then we are putting each other in danger,” Labbe said.
