The longest commute day of the year: the first day of the school year at Sidwell Friends

[Anonymous]

This is meant to be a minor vent, but I feel the need to get it off my chest: I am not a fan of the first day of school at Sidwell Friends. I live in McLean Gardens, the community across Wisconsin Avenue from the upper school. There is a green arrow for people driving to the school from points north on Wisconsin, but for some reason, people still find the need to take a right onto Rodman, do a U-Turn in the residential neighborhood and cross Wisconsin to get to the drop-off site at the school. This does two things, makes it difficult for people leaving the school to turn to go south on Wisconsin and make it so that it takes residents of McLean Gardens an extra 5-7 minutes to get out of the neighborhood (believe me, I have timed it on several occasions). I have tried to avoid the traffic (using alternative means of getting out of McLean Gardens to get to work, leaving a little earlier to avoid the 7:45 crowd, and employing deep breathing exercises) and I realize that this is an issue when you live near a school, but I just felt like getting this off my chest. Thanks for "listening."

[Anonymous]

I hear you as I commute down WI.

Call Sidwell and talk with someone in the administration. They can easily send out a note to parents telling them not to do this. I called St. Alban's last year about parents picking up kids on Mass and I thought it improved a little after the call.


You can also call the 2nd distric police department and make them aware of the safety issues that this is posing and see if they can send over a police officer between 7:45 and 8:00 so that people do not make u turns.

[Anonymous]

It's definitely not just you. The neighborhood middle school is located at the primary entrance/exit to our subdivision. School buses, parents, etc... definitely back things up. We take the "back way" out of the neighborhood to get to the major roads.

hang in there, we're all adjusting to that time of year.

[Anonymous]

Every day that GDS is in session adds 10 minutes to my commute down Macarthur Blvd. Amazing that they have an off duty officer who is able to give GDS people priority and make the rest of us skip lights, etc.

[Anonymous]

I second the suggestion that you call the school and politely air your specific complaint. In the interest of maintaining its very positive relationship with neighboring residents, my child's NW DC school is very responsive to neighbors' traffic/parking complaints. I hope and expect that you would get a similar response from Sidwell.

[Anonymous]

Also contact your councilperson.

For the person who lives in McClean Gardens - it is Mary Cheh. I have found her staff to be very supporative with any issue I have called about.
Here is a link with all the info you need to get in touch with her:
http://www.dccouncil.washington.dc.us/marycheh

[Anonymous]

For the MacArthur Blvd-commuting-person: I used to do that commute and the GDS backups were horrible. I found it much quicker to turn from Macarthur onto Reservoir and take that down. The lights are timed (or were then, anyway) so that traffic flowed much better from Reservoir rather than MacArthur.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the MacArthur Blvd-commuting-person: I used to do that commute and the GDS backups were horrible. I found it much quicker to turn from Macarthur onto Reservoir and take that down. The lights are timed (or were then, anyway) so that traffic flowed much better from Reservoir rather than MacArthur.

Thanks. I did Reservoir last year and it was indeed faster, but something changed so that Reservoir gets way backed up (sometimes back to the Lab School!). Now that school is back in session I will try it again and see if it is back to normal.

[Anonymous]

In previous years Sidwell administrators have emailed parents to ask that drivers not make the u-turn at Rodman. Please call the school (202.537.8100) to ask that this be done again.

[Anonymous]

As Sidwell lower school parents, we are constantly reminded of things we need to do traffic- and parking-wise to stay on good terms with the neighbors. The administators have a poor view of parents who put their needs and convenience above maintaining goodwill. Sidwell takes neighborhood concerns very seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the MacArthur Blvd-commuting-person: I used to do that commute and the GDS backups were horrible. I found it much quicker to turn from Macarthur onto Reservoir and take that down. The lights are timed (or were then, anyway) so that traffic flowed much better from Reservoir rather than MacArthur.

Thanks. I did Reservoir last year and it was indeed faster, but something changed so that Reservoir gets way backed up (sometimes back to the Lab School!). Now that school is back in session I will try it again and see if it is back to normal.

The GDS situation is horrible.!!!! It happened this morning at 8:00 am, a police officer stopped all the MacArthur commuter traffic so that any one pulling in to GDS could go and made every other car wait through green lights. This is ridiculous and should be stopped. It should be illegal actually and GDS administrators should be shamed into stopping it.

[Anonymous]

While we're complaining about back-to-school traffic, can I vent about my local public school? The over-zealous crossing guards are stationed at every corner for several blocks around, and they get downright excited to delay the already-backed-up traffic. This morning, I watched one spot a 15-year-old kid who was slowly ambling down the sidewalk about 20 feet from the corner. She rushed out into the street to stop cars trying to get through a short green light, and held them there while the boy continued his slow walk to the corner. When he reached the corner, the crossing guard motioned for him to cross in front of the cars she was blocking (as the green light turned to red again without any cars making it through). The boy looked confused. After the crossing guard waved him across again, he told her that he wasn't planning to cross that street and was crossing in the other direction. Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

PP again. It seems like crossing guards should focus on getting the kids across safely. That might mean holding the kids at the corner until it is safe to cross. Instead, many seem to think their job is to make sure any child or adult can get across immediately, and that any cars must stop immediately whenever anyone wants to cross, so the walker won't be delayed one step.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While we're complaining about back-to-school traffic, can I vent about my local public school? The over-zealous crossing guards are stationed at every corner for several blocks around, and they get downright excited to delay the already-backed-up traffic. This morning, I watched one spot a 15-year-old kid who was slowly ambling down the sidewalk about 20 feet from the corner. She rushed out into the street to stop cars trying to get through a short green light, and held them there while the boy continued his slow walk to the corner. When he reached the corner, the crossing guard motioned for him to cross in front of the cars she was blocking (as the green light turned to red again without any cars making it through). The boy looked confused. After the crossing guard waved him across again, he told her that he wasn't planning to cross that street and was crossing in the other direction. Ridiculous.

I hear your pain as I too have had my commute extended by almost 50% in the morning - but let's relax.

I remember over the last few years a few children being hit by cars while walking to school in MoCO. I believe there were 2 students within a few weeks of each other who were Middle Schoolers at Tilden MS on Old Georgetown Road. I do not beleive there were crossing guards in either of these accidents - and I am sure their parents wish that there was an over-zealous guard there to protect their child. Give it a few days and it will get to more of a steady state as the guards become familiar with the children and the routines.

[Anonymous]

most of the people held up at GDS probably don't live in the immediate vicinity. They aren't "neighbors" per se. Therefore there is no unified community to complain and I doubt without it that anything will change soon. It really takes an angry mob to get these schools to see the light sometimes.