Montgomery Public Schools stressing school zone safety as students return to class
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WAKA) – Students in Montgomery Public Schools are preparing to return to class, which means drivers must be watching out for them in school zones.
The school year starts Monday, August 10. Adding to the safety concerns will be road construction that is happening near several school campuses.
The most significant congestion is expected near Percy Julian High School on Ann Street, JAG High School on Carter Hill Road and Dannelly Elementary School, which is also on Carter Hill Road.
To help ensure the safe arrival and dismissal of more than 25,000 students, the school system is asking drivers who are not traveling to or from these schools to consider alternate routes on weekday mornings from 7:00AM-8:30AM and between 2:30PM and 3:45PM in the afternoons.
Safety around school buses on the roads is also important.
“The safety of our students is our top priority, and we want to make sure that every scholar is able to get to school safely and get from school safely, so if you see a bus that stopped and they have their extended stop arm out, please don’t pass that bus,” Monae Stevens, the marketing and community development manager for Montgomery Public Schools told Action 8 News. “Make sure that you watch for those buses. Make sure that you pay attention to all of what’s going on in the school areas, and then parents, just make sure that you build in some extra time to get your kids to and from school. We know that the kids are excited. Everybody is excited for the first day of school, and you guys don’t want to be late so just make sure that you build in some extra time to your day.”
The school system will also send out text messages and emails to all of the families that are on its call list to make sure that they get that word out about school zone safety.
