Summer vacation is over and Macon County students headed back to the classroom on Monday. As expected, there were a few things to work through on the first day of school, but Superintendent Chris Baldwin said the new school year got off to a good start.
“It was good to have the kids back in the buildings today,” he said Monday afternoon. “It was great to see everyone back.”
While visiting schools across the county, Baldwin said he saw a lot of excitement and positivity.
Bus safety
With school back in session, there will be more traffic on the roads during morning commutes and in the afternoons.
Baldwin said the busiest times are from 7:30 to 8 a.m. and in the afternoons from 2:30 to 3:30 . Although at some schools, parents are already sitting in the pick-up lines at 1:30 p.m.
Baldwin asks that drivers use caution during the heavy traffic times and to be patient with buses on the roads.
“There’s a reason they’re not going the speed limit,” he said. “That’s a precious commodity we have on these buses.”
He stressed the importance of drivers paying attention to stopped buses and the extended stop arms. “It’s a few seconds out of their day,” he said, but those few moments are important to ensuring children’s safety. “Please honor those stop signs.”
The North Carolina Department of Transportation offers the following safety tips when sharing the roads with school buses.
• When a school bus’s lights flash yellow, that means the bus is preparing to stop to load or unload children. Drivers should slow down and prepare to stop.
• Red flashing lights and extended stop arms indicate the bus has stopped and children are getting on or off. Drivers must stop their cars and wait until the red lights stop flashing, the extended stop arm is withdrawn and the bus begins moving before they start driving again.
• When a school bus is stopped, do not pass it for any reason if you are following behind it.
• Traffic in the opposite direction must stop as well, unless traveling on a road with four or more lanes with a center median or turn lane.
• When driving in neighborhoods, watch for children bicycling to school or walking in the street, especially if there are no sidewalks.
• Watch for children playing or congregating near bus stops.
• Be alert. Children arriving late for the bus may dart into the street without looking for traffic.
New traffic pattern at FHS
Franklin High School rolled out a new traffic flow pattern for afternoon pick-ups to help alleviate some of the congestion at the school. For afternoon dismissal, all buses line up on Panther Drive and exit at the front of campus onto Porter Street. Car pick-up traffic flows through McCollum Drive.
On Monday afternoon, the high school posted a message asking parents to wait until after 3:15 p.m. to pick up students if possible. School dismisses at 3:10 p.m. and by waiting until after 3:15 p.m. it will help lessen the amount of traffic at the school while the buses are leaving. School officials also asked that parents not arrive before 2:45 p.m. for pick-up. “This blocks any emergency traffic and raises safety concerns for staff,” the message stated.
Baldwin said the schools are no longer using the shuttle system that was in place prior to COVID. That means kids are riding the same bus for their full route rather than riding one bus and then switching to another at the high school.
With the shuttle system, Baldwin said they would have some kids get off the bus at the high school and get in a car with a parent or friend. In doing away with the shuttle system, bus drivers and school personnel can better account for children throughout their routes.
“A system without shuttles is safer for our kids,” he said.