Parking at Los Alamitos

October 11, 2002
Important: Police Related Issue


Dear Los Alamitos Parents,

At Los Alamitos Elementary School, our children are the most precious thing in the world and their safety is our top priority. Since the beginning of the school year, there have been a number of concerns about the manner in which children are dropped off and picked up from school, and the associated traffic around our campus. Many parents who attended Tuesday night’s PTA meeting expressed their concerns and frustrations about traffic issues around school.

Problems with double parking, illegal u-turns, blocking driveways of neighbors, dropping children across the street from school and having them run around moving vehicles, blocking bus zones, and verbal abuse of school personnel and parent volunteers who are on supervision duty place children in a very awkward and dangerous situation. Officers from the San Jose Police Department have monitored the above-mentioned violations within the past few weeks, have issued numerous citations, and will continue to do so.

Established rules regarding school safety and transportation have been communicated to parents throughout the years. This year, our school has welcomed almost 50 students more than in previous years. More parents drive their children to school, thus the concerns of safety have again been brought to the forefront.

This is the perfect opportunity to address basic safety rules of transporting students back and forth to school. Please be advised of the following procedures, for the safety of our students and the respect for our neighbors:

  1. We have a “valet service” in the front parking lot. Our 5th graders are here every day before and after school to direct you to the front of the drop-off area to facilitate the safe arrival and departure of your children.

  2. The north side of campus (Redmond Avenue) has areas where you can park and drop off your children. Students dropped off across Redmond Avenue should be dropped at locations close enough to use a crosswalk. Students should NOT run across Redmond to get to school.

  3. The west side of campus (Silberman Drive) closest to the school is a no parking, no drop off zone. The City of San Jose has already been contacted to replace the faded signs. Students should not be dropped on the school side of the street. Please pull in the valet area.

  4. The south side of campus (Butterfly Drive) has one small section that is currently marked as a “Bus Zone.” I am working with the City of San Jose with a request to remove these signs. Until the signs are removed, please abide by the sign rules and do not park in the designated bus zone.

  5. The east side of campus (Firefly Drive) has cones that designate our “Bus Zone.” The cones in the gutter are not to be removed. They are there to remind you that this entire area is a "no parking zone." U-turns on this street are particularly dangerous to our children and to other parents who drive down the street.

  6. Double parking means that if one vehicle is parked at the curb, you may not stop alongside the parked vehicle, especially to drop off or pick up students. This will result in a traffic citation with a fine of $255.

  7. Please do not park across the driveways of our neighbors. Blocking a driveway is a violation of SJPD Code.

  8. To better supervise our children, yard duties now arrive at 8:30 a.m. Please feel free to drop your children off any time after 8:30 a.m.

By observing these procedures, you will also be modeling safe and appropriate driving habits to your children and to other parents. We are a community that, collectively, wants all of our children to be safe. We will use a new slogan for the rest of the year, in hopes that it will help alleviate some of the traffic problems: “Leave 5 minutes early.”

We will also continue our “traffic” discussion at the next PTA Meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 12th, 2002 in the Los Alamitos Cafeteria. Officer Dan LeZotte of the San Jose Police Department will be on hand to help facilitate the traffic and safety discussion. We welcome any and all of your great ideas that will help further focus our collective efforts as to how we can work as a community to better protect our children.

Sincerely,

Shyril McGuiness,  Principal