The mornings at Ramapo High School are frustrating for students and their parents. With hundreds of cars pulling into the front circle at a snail’s pace, it can take upwards of 20 minutes for parents to get to the front and drop their child off at school.
My mom attended Ramapo years ago, and she constantly reminds me that there was never traffic coming into school when she was a student because everyone took the bus. It’s hard to imagine such a time, especially during the twenty-plus minutes it can take to reach the front doors each morning.
Traffic issues seemed to intensify at Ramapo when students from the FLOW district were given the chance to choose which of the district’s high schools they wanted to attend. Consequently, more students decided to go to Ramapo, but many of these kids live outside of the bus eligibility radius, so they rely on their parents to drive them to and from school. Even students who qualify for bussing often opt out because of the early pick-up times, preferring to press snooze until their mom or dad wakes them up and pushes them out the door. If the students want those extra minutes of sleep to skip the bus, parents and students should also attempt to leave earlier to avoid traffic and not waste time in a line of cars, or at least try to keep the line moving at a reasonable pace.
Jill Bavagnoli, a senior who parks in the upper lot at Ramapo and has to deal with the traffic, said, “I leave for school at 7:00 and get to school around 7:10 to avoid the traffic. I then sit in my car for 25 minutes before going into school as I watch the school traffic slowly move in my rearview mirror.” Another senior, Cayla Menicola, mentioned, “I would get to sleep in 20 minutes later if I didn’t have to leave so early to get around school traffic. It is so frustrating to deal with each morning.” Seniors wait years to be able to drive their own cars to school, but with the traffic overflowing out of Ramapo and into Ewing Avenue, driving to school has become more of a burden than a privilege.
Mr. Smith has made a great effort, along with many other administrators, to help and try to spread word about the issue with morning traffic and lessen the tension between cars by sending emails and searching for new ways to ease pick-up and drop-off. He has added the rules of the parking lot, different ways to speed up the journey and ideas on where else to drop off or migrate around the cars. (Ramapo High School Pickup and Drop-Off Reminders EBlast)
This issue has seemed to grow larger with each passing year. One staff member at Ramapo had the following to say: “If I come in 5 minutes later it can make or break the time I sit in my car and wait in traffic.” Another offered a suggestion: “If the kids got out of the car quicker, or the parents would drive out faster, it would make the lines more efficient.” Teachers are even sympathizing with students who are late to homeroom, knowing “it’s hard when it’s a one lane road because the traffic then causes the kids to be late when it’s not their fault the cars are backed up.”
The real question lies in what can be done about this traffic issue to help keep the cars moving at a reasonable speed. With different emails being sent out to parents and students by our administration, you can find ways to help avoid and ease the traffic in the upper lot. Find ways we make the mornings at Ramapo less stressful for the students, parents, and staff who have to drive up George Street each morning? Whether changes are made concerning student arrival times, or the amount of lanes coming into the school, or something else entirely, there has to be a solution out there that will help fix the traffic issues at Ramapo.
