Important traffic safety procedures for the Middle and High Schools

map of the streets surrounding GFMS/HS and arrows to show traffic flow
Please drive slowly to keep students safe at dismissal

Dear MS/HS Parents and Guardians:

As your family’s school routine settles into a groove, please pay special attention to our traffic procedures for arrival and dismissal. Above all, we need to keep our kids safe. This will require extra patience and concentration by drivers moving around our school neighborhoods — particularly at the Middle School’s afternoon dismissal.

KEY POINTS:

Use counter-clockwise circulation on Quade. Approach the Middle School from Grant, continuing onto Quade, making a left onto Shippey. Approach the High School from West Notre Dame, turning left onto Quade, and continuing onto Sherman. This circulation pattern provides students access to and from vehicles directly from the sidewalk adjacent to the school, reducing the number of kids crossing Quade Street. Your car’s passenger side door should always line up with the entrance curb at each building.

Never stop or park next to the orange cones. Our school buses are loading inside the coned-off area as a trial procedure. They need to be able to enter and exit the coned area at all times.

Use Grant Ave. and Clayton Ave. as a pickup meeting point. Parents are encouraged to meet their children along the edge of the baseball field on Grant and Clayton Avenues. This walkway will be maintained throughout the winter months and is a good alternative to the congestion one might find in front of the buildings on Quade Street.

Do not enter the MS parking lot. The Middle School parking lot is for staff only at the beginning and end of the school day. Parents and guardians should not enter the parking lot to drop off or pick up their children, UNLESS they have a temporary “Student Special Permit Parking” dashboard sign.

The yellow-striped zone on Quade is for active loading/unloading only. Remember that the best way to use the yellow-striped zone is to wait until a space becomes free, pull all the way over into the zone, allow your child to enter/exit the vehicle, then pull slowly out of the zone and back into traffic flow. The signs designate each zone to be vehicle-free, unless students are actively entering or exiting a car. Drivers should not leave their cars unattended in these zones (“parking”), or stay inside their vehicles with the engine running as they wait (“standing”).

Please drive slowly and safely around all of our schools! Thank you for your cooperation.