I am one of the few teachers who that have the pleasure of starting some of my days on our crosswalk greeting our students and starting their day with a smile. Along with getting to share some morning cheer, I get to begin the day with one of the most important activities we are entrusted with as teachers; ensuring the health and safety of our students.
We will never be able to remove all of the risk associated with crossing the street, but we can certainly do our part to prepare our students and help minimize additional risks.
Due to our location we often have vehicles passing through as they make the transfer from one side of Lawrence to the other. On occasion these drivers behave dangerously and although we do our best to stop them to remind them that their driving is unsafe, especially because there are children around, but from time to time they still speed through, honk and attempt to pass other vehicles.
The unfortunate part is that although their driving behaviour is not acceptable or welcomed, it is not what inspired this reminder about the safety issues sometimes forgotten.
Unfortunately, we also see members of our own school community behaving as dangerously, speeding through the school grounds, or stopping to let students out in the middle of the road instead of at a designated drop off location. The Crestwood community must display the behaviours we would like other drivers to adopt consistently. How else can we expect others to adapt their thoughts and driving habits in order to ensure the safety of our students?
Aside from the obvious problems with what high speeds or mid-road drop offs create, they also serve to infuriate and encourage drivers who are not part of our community to make choices that could negatively affect our students and school community.
As we move towards the winter months where the road conditions become more treacherous and the likelihood of accidents increase, we need to be even more diligent to ensure that our students can thrive!
Please remember to travel at safe speeds and always drop off students at the atrium drop off. If you want an alternative to the atrium drop off, you can park in one of the visitor spots in front of the main office or you can take advantage of the 30 minutes of FREE parking at Glendon during morning drop off and afternoon pickup. All you need is the Crestwood logo on your dashboard (If you need a Crestwood logo you can get one from Grace in the main office).
-Mr. Cooper
