Allow Walkers & Bike Riders to Enable Use of Pedestrian Gate in the Morning
Hello. Thank you for taking the time to look at this petition. I am trying to cover all bases while explaining my position.
The front of the school has access for walkers. One side of the school has access for walkers (Heritage Groves). Why doesn't the other side of the school have access for walkers (Pecan Creek)? It is not reasonable. The school used to open the first grade hallway door in the morning for the kids to go through. Now they don't. They should at least open the pedestrian door on the drive-through gate that is open (on the Pecan Creek side of the school) so the little ones can go to the open kindergarten hallway door that is open for car riders. Car riders get to walk straight to the kindergarten hallway. But walkers & bike riders are now being forced to walk all the way to the front of the school just to walk all the way to the back of the school. It's not logical, especially in this heat.
We need the pedestrian door open, then closed right back up (just like all the other doors) once school is in session at 8am. There are 4-5 staff members opening car rider doors for the kids. That number is a bit excessive. Just move one of them to the door just a few feet away, or add another staff member. I have even been told that some people who want to volunteer have been turned away - volunteers can be used to open the pedestrian door of the car gate.
Any random vehicle can enter the drive-through gate in the morning. And kinder car-riders are already allowed in that kinder door behind the gate, so no one is requesting an additional open door - just pedestrian access to an area that already has public vehicle access. There is no additional safety issue. The pedestrian gate auto-locks when closed. The kinder hallway door and vehicle gate already have to be closed/locked when school starts. So the only change would be having a staff member or volunteer open the pedestrian gate from the inside when kinder walkers arrive. Seems like a reasonable request that presents no new safety issue. And honestly, the real safety issue is allowing any random car to pull in through the vehicle gate. Also, the longer walk to classrooms poses more fall risks as one of my kids fell on his way to class.
The principal and assistant principal have dismissed my concerns. Therefore, I would like to implement the chain of command with petition in hand.
It's a simple straightforward solution to kids not having to walk all the way to the front of the school. Please sign the petition to help make it more convenient for our little ones to get to their classrooms. Every signature counts. Thank you very much.