Anonymous wrote:Safety improvements for children need to be implemented now. I hope she comes prepared to share how she is going to create a change at Churchill this year since questionable employees remain on staff. She could fix the situation but thus far, little measures have been taken.

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Anonymous wrote:Missed the change in drop off -- what is it?

They did a tiny bit of construction and have cones in place to form two entry lines rather than one. I think they also opened the parking lot near the stadium for drop off. (?? I've never tried that, but they indicated as much in the back-to-school letter??)

Traffic is much more backed up on the side streets in the morning than it used to be. The original traffic loop designed was flawed and the flow stops to a standstill because there is not a 4 way stop at the exit so no one can leave the loop.

In the afternoon, I have seen children driving out of the lot in the wrong direction. It is only a matter of time before a student has a head on collision or heaven forbid, strikes a pedestrian because he/she is not obeying the new traffic patterns. Perhaps the Principal or Assistant Principal can stop this behavior by withdrawing parking passes from Seniors who cannot use the proper exit for the lot.

Finally, it never made any sense for the drop off and pick up loop to be in the Senior Parking Lot. There is a lot less traffic flow in the faculty parking lot. Perhaps switch the Faculty and Senior lots around so parents could drop off and pick up in a lot where the faculty cars are just parked, not Senior cars coming and going. The change would distribute the flow of traffic better.

I agree that the main problem with the traffic flow is the exit. Not only slows traffic, but is dangerous for either driving straight or turning left out of the lot because of poor visibility. (And turning right is terribly backed up.)

Why do so many kids get dropped off and picked up?

Anonymous wrote:The real question is how she is interacting with/evaluating the teaching staff.

My dd says her teachers don't really *know* teachers in other departments because there are so few community types of activities.

This board also has long lists of teacher-related problems ranging from lack of oversight of overnight activities (Model UN) to problems with the athletic departments to weak teaching in the math department. Those things take a long time to correct, but if she does a good job in the first year, she can at least motivate/scare teachers into doing as much self correction as they are able.

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Anonymous wrote:The lack of female representation in the Athletic Department is a more urgent and dangerous problem than traffic. Heckert really needs to roll up her sleeves and fix the long standing patterns of employee misconduct by her current staff. Children have been hurt on athletic teams at Churchill and very little has been done to address the problems of bullying and sexual harassment by coaches on multiple teams.

Current athletes need to be educated as to what is considered appropriate and inappropriate standards of conduct for coaches. The damage is deep on some of the large coed teams at Churchill. Many students may need counseling services. Confidential investigations as to coaching conduct should be done on every team at the school to gage where help is needed. Ultimately, the previous school administration let this environment propagate and cleaning house is necessary to fix the situation.

I hope this gets addressed. I've told my child that s/he can't try out for track or cross country because of what I've heard.

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Anonymous wrote:Missed the change in drop off -- what is it?

They did a tiny bit of construction and have cones in place to form two entry lines rather than one. I think they also opened the parking lot near the stadium for drop off. (?? I've never tried that, but they indicated as much in the back-to-school letter??)

Traffic is much more backed up on the side streets in the morning than it used to be. The original traffic loop designed was flawed and the flow stops to a standstill because there is not a 4 way stop at the exit so no one can leave the loop.

In the afternoon, I have seen children driving out of the lot in the wrong direction. It is only a matter of time before a student has a head on collision or heaven forbid, strikes a pedestrian because he/she is not obeying the new traffic patterns. Perhaps the Principal or Assistant Principal can stop this behavior by withdrawing parking passes from Seniors who cannot use the proper exit for the lot.

Finally, it never made any sense for the drop off and pick up loop to be in the Senior Parking Lot. There is a lot less traffic flow in the faculty parking lot. Perhaps switch the Faculty and Senior lots around so parents could drop off and pick up in a lot where the faculty cars are just parked, not Senior cars coming and going. The change would distribute the flow of traffic better.

I agree that the main problem with the traffic flow is the exit. Not only slows traffic, but is dangerous for either driving straight or turning left out of the lot because of poor visibility. (And turning right is terribly backed up.)

Same situation for us. 1.5 miles and no sidewalks. It's not that this is such a top priority, but it should be easy to make at least some strides on it.

Why do so many kids get dropped off and picked up?

Because so many kids don't actually live in bounds for Churchill. Well known that many families in MCPS use alternate addresses to attend different schools. Even the teachers at Churchill know this happens. They admit it's the side effect of working at a school with a 'good reputation'. People want to attend, even if they don't live in bounds.

We live in bound and drive our child to school in the morning as it's a long walk (about 1.5 miles) and we don't have a school bus. Obviously, it's doable, but it's a long walk in the morning. It's also on the way to work so it's easy for us. That's what most of the parents do in our neighborhood, and then the kids make their way home in the afternoon by themselves (Ride on bus or walk). The Ride-on bus isn't really an option in the morning as it's not very reliable and we'd be concerned about our child getting to school late.

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Anonymous wrote:Missed the change in drop off -- what is it?

They did a tiny bit of construction and have cones in place to form two entry lines rather than one. I think they also opened the parking lot near the stadium for drop off. (?? I've never tried that, but they indicated as much in the back-to-school letter??)

Traffic is much more backed up on the side streets in the morning than it used to be. The original traffic loop designed was flawed and the flow stops to a standstill because there is not a 4 way stop at the exit so no one can leave the loop.

In the afternoon, I have seen children driving out of the lot in the wrong direction. It is only a matter of time before a student has a head on collision or heaven forbid, strikes a pedestrian because he/she is not obeying the new traffic patterns. Perhaps the Principal or Assistant Principal can stop this behavior by withdrawing parking passes from Seniors who cannot use the proper exit for the lot.

Finally, it never made any sense for the drop off and pick up loop to be in the Senior Parking Lot. There is a lot less traffic flow in the faculty parking lot. Perhaps switch the Faculty and Senior lots around so parents could drop off and pick up in a lot where the faculty cars are just parked, not Senior cars coming and going. The change would distribute the flow of traffic better.

I agree that the main problem with the traffic flow is the exit. Not only slows traffic, but is dangerous for either driving straight or turning left out of the lot because of poor visibility. (And turning right is terribly backed up.)

Why do so many kids get dropped off and picked up?

Because so many kids don't actually live in bounds for Churchill. Well known that many families in MCPS use alternate addresses to attend different schools. Even the teachers at Churchill know this happens. They admit it's the side effect of working at a school with a 'good reputation'. People want to attend, even if they don't live in bounds.

Anonymous wrote:Does it matter why? That is a individual parental decision.

The new traffic patterns put in place under Heckert has slowed the traffic pattern causing for greater delays. Adding a 2nd loop may have helped but the old loop is too small to serve the community needs and traffic going to that lot is added to by Seniors who are trying to park their cars in the school assigned spaces. More studies and a better design for the community is needed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The lack of female representation in the Athletic Department is a more urgent and dangerous problem than traffic. Heckert really needs to roll up her sleeves and fix the long standing patterns of employee misconduct by her current staff. Children have been hurt on athletic teams at Churchill and very little has been done to address the problems of bullying and sexual harassment by coaches on multiple teams.

Current athletes need to be educated as to what is considered appropriate and inappropriate standards of conduct for coaches. The damage is deep on some of the large coed teams at Churchill. Many students may need counseling services. Confidential investigations as to coaching conduct should be done on every team at the school to gage where help is needed. Ultimately, the previous school administration let this environment propagate and cleaning house is necessary to fix the situation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Missed the change in drop off -- what is it?

They did a tiny bit of construction and have cones in place to form two entry lines rather than one. I think they also opened the parking lot near the stadium for drop off. (?? I've never tried that, but they indicated as much in the back-to-school letter??)

Traffic is much more backed up on the side streets in the morning than it used to be. The original traffic loop designed was flawed and the flow stops to a standstill because there is not a 4 way stop at the exit so no one can leave the loop.

In the afternoon, I have seen children driving out of the lot in the wrong direction. It is only a matter of time before a student has a head on collision or heaven forbid, strikes a pedestrian because he/she is not obeying the new traffic patterns. Perhaps the Principal or Assistant Principal can stop this behavior by withdrawing parking passes from Seniors who cannot use the proper exit for the lot.

Finally, it never made any sense for the drop off and pick up loop to be in the Senior Parking Lot. There is a lot less traffic flow in the faculty parking lot. Perhaps switch the Faculty and Senior lots around so parents could drop off and pick up in a lot where the faculty cars are just parked, not Senior cars coming and going. The change would distribute the flow of traffic better.

Anonymous wrote:The lack of female representation in the Athletic Department is a more urgent and dangerous problem than traffic. Heckert really needs to roll up her sleeves and fix the long standing patterns of employee misconduct by her current staff. Children have been hurt on athletic teams at Churchill and very little has been done to address the problems of bullying and sexual harassment by coaches on multiple teams.