Potter School’s parking lot shutdown causes frustrations for admins

Traffic around Potter Jr. High during pickup and drop off times has always been a point of frustration for parents in a hurry, leaving them looking for creative ways to quickly leave and collect their children. However, one option some parents are using has caused concerns for Potter’s administration, as it leaves students unattended.

Wait times to collect children at Potter Jr. High can be up to half an hour for some parents, as there have been recent changes in parking lot access in the past academic school year.

“Early in the 2015-16 school year, the CHP approached Potter Junior High administration with a recommendation aimed at improving traffic safety on Reche Road,” said Bill Billingsley, assistant superintendent for Fallbrook Union Elementary School District. “The CHP suggested restricting parents from using the small auxiliary parking lot (to the left of the main Potter campus entrance) as a drop off and pick up venue for students.”

Prior to this recommendation, parents had been using the lot rather than waiting in queue at the existing drop off/pick up route on campus. This caused several safety issues.

“First, the lot was never intended to be used for pick up - drop off. Because of its small size and location it is not staffed with Potter supervisory personnel. Therefore, students were unsupervised and crossing the traffic flow to get to the auxiliary parking area, creating student safety concerns,” said Billingsley. “Second, parents exiting the auxiliary lot turning left and right onto Reche Road interfered with the busses and parents exiting Potter. Traffic on Reche Road is busy, with vehicles traveling quickly. Having parents egress from two lots (Potter and the auxiliary lot) 50 feet from each other, was of major concern to CHP.

Brian Frost and the Potter team were proactive in addressing this safety concern by adhering to the CHP's recommendation to restrict use of the auxiliary lot from parents wishing to disregard the existing school traffic queue.”

With the closure of the lot, some Potter parents have been having their children cross to Live Oak Elementary’s parking lot and play area, which requires students to go through the flow of traffic and into an unsupervised field.

Initially, one crossing guard tried to police students in the field who were waiting for parents and enforce school policy, but Potter and Live Oak administrations took matters into their own hands.

“Currently, both Live Oak and Potter administrations are communicating to parents that the Live Oak parking lot should not be used for a pick up location for Potter students after school,” said Billingsley. “Again, Potter students are unsupervised at Live Oak after school causing safety concerns. We are responsible for students from the time they leave the house to the time that they get home. Mr. Frost will walk over if he sees parents picking up their students at Live Oak, and let them know that they need to make other arrangements. The situation is getting rectified.”

Billingsley stated that traffic and pickup wait times at Potter Jr. High are comparable to other middle schools.

“Pickups and drop offs are always busy, but we do a good job,” he said. “Unfortunately, some parents can’t wait in the queue, so they have their kids meet them at a ‘secret spot.’ That’s their right, but they can’t do it on our school properties. If they want to meet further down the road on a busy corner, that’s their prerogative. We hope parents are respectful of the rules, and wait in a cue so they can pick up their students from our supervised grounds.”