CALABASAS : Student Traffic Aides Face Parents’ Wrath

Traffic volunteers at Bay Laurel Elementary School are like the comedian Rodney Dangerfield--they get no respect, says Drew Kravis.

Drew, a fourth-grader at the Calabasas school, stands in the parking lot each morning in his orange vest, politely asking parents dropping off children to observe a few simple traffic rules. However, some parents, he said, irate at being told what to do, spew verbal abuse.

“I’ve had adults cussing at me and swearing,” he said.

Drew and Ashley Manhan, a fifth-grader at the school, documented numerous rule infractions in the parking lot during March. It’s a situation, they said, that creates daily chaos, as well as a safety hazard. Afternoons are less of a problem, they said, because of three different dismissal times.

The students, along with their teacher, Annmarie Gavin, plan to meet today with Calabasas Traffic Engineer Robert Yalta to discuss the issue. Gavin said that, along with drivers ignoring the instructions of traffic volunteers, many drivers refuse to pull forward to a designated spot to drop off kids. That, she said, creates a backup of cars in the parking lot, sometimes spilling over into the street.

Many parents, she said, say long goodbys, which further backs up traffic. There are a host of other problems, she said, such as parents parking diagonally and going too fast and cutting in ahead of other drivers.

A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy came to the school for about five mornings over the course of two weeks, ordering parents to obey the rules, Ashley said. That helped a lot, she said, but sheriff’s officials said they couldn’t continue coming regularly because they had too many other duties.

Gavin said they contacted other schools that have experienced similar problems. She said they learned that White Oak Elementary School in Westlake Village buses pupils to school to alleviate the problem.