The school administration has revised its policies regarding traffic during the hour before and after school starts on the Saratoga Campus and has taken steps to solve the safety issues surrounding it since the start of the 2014-2015 school year.

Although the situation has improved since previous years, the implementation of new measures proposed by the school has not yet reached its goal. According to administration, parents and students still disregard many safety policies.

“Our issues still are the same ones: distracted drivers, still using cell phones, and parents in the parking lot, not moving fully up and leaving a space between cars,” Upper School Head of Student Affairs Greg Lawson said. “We also still have parents that are, when they merge from 280 South onto Saratoga, making illegal stops and right turns from the middle lane.”

The congested Saratoga Avenue intersections and highway 280 entrances surrounding the Upper School and the construction of more buildings in the nearby area remain the primary reasons for a high amount of traffic.

“Every year there’s new buildings coming up and more growth in student body. I don’t know if we were able to look that far down the road and anticipate close to 800 students here on this campus,” Upper School Dean of Students Kevin Williamson said. “But it [the traffic situation] seems to be working. I just think we just have to be aware.”

With up to forty cars coming in and out of the school every minute between 7:35 a.m. and 7:45 a.m., crossing guards agree with importance of staying aware while driving.

“Everybody’s got to be cautious and alert. It slows down the people behind them if they’re up in front and they’re not paying attention,” crossing guard Emily Manigo said.

In order to reduce the number of risky circumstances, the school is taking more precautions by increasing the number of crossing guards on campus during rush hours and constantly emphasizing the importance of safety to the school community.

“In terms of management, we have twice as many adults out there this year than last year. That’s a challenge for the school to maintain. In order to achieve these new goals, we have to put many people out there,” Lawson said.

More and more members of the Harker community continue to put pressure on the administration through emails and in person by reporting instances of unsafe student behavior in hopes of improving school policies regarding traffic and student safety.

“I have seen a student run in front of my car when I was exiting from the back from behind Main. There was a speed bump and luckily I paid enough attention that it didn’t matter for that student,” English teacher Andy Wicklund said. “I don’t even think it was near the crosswalk,”

The administration remains concerned about the improvement of the traffic flow as well as the safety of students, and will continue to address these problems throughout the school year.

This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on October 17, 2014.