Valet services ease school traffic jams Valet services ease school traffic jams (May 25, 2001)

Alisal monitors make drop-offs and pick-ups faster and safer
by Stephanie Ericson

A new program at Alisal Elementary School is making dropping off and picking up students quicker and easier for parents, and is practically eliminating traffic back-up into the adjacent frontage road and the intersection of Santa Rita and Black Avenue.

In the latest venture in traffic calming, last week parent volunteers and school staff began providing valet curbside service, helping students out of cars or into them, and directing traffic flow with gestures and signs saying, "Please pull forward."

"Whose ride?" volunteers call out to the waiting students as cars pull up after school lets out, and then hustle them to the right vehicle. Or they ask drivers whom they're picking up.

"Part of it is getting the kids to pay attention," explained Officer Paul Phillips, one of the Pleasanton police officers on hand to help during the program's first week, as parents and children get accustomed to the new routine. "I think it's working great. Everybody seems to be pretty pleased with it."

While parent organizations at other Pleasanton schools have assisted in some way to help reduce traffic congestion, this is the first valet program, said school district Public Information Officer Jerri Long. Next fall, fifth-graders will be trained to perform the valet service, while parent volunteers and staff will continue to help with traffic flow.

"Alisal is a pilot program," said Naomi Jones, parent of a first-grader at the school and organizer of the new program, a collaboration between the city and the school district. "If it works well here, it will be adopted at other schools in the district."

The program was implemented after a lengthy planning process, which included safety training of the parent volunteers by the Police Department. At least four parents are on hand each morning and afternoon for the critical 15-minute rush period, said Jones.

Previously, students were frequently dropped off from all three lanes of the traffic loop in front of the school, endangering their safety, Jones noted.

"This site is more challenging than others," commented Officer Phillips. "You've got the loop, the frontage road and a major intersection right by it. Most other schools have a longer straight-away."

"If it can work at this school, it can work at any school," he concluded.