Student evacuation causes traffic mess, frustration among some parents

As hundreds of parents converge near the Crescenta Valley High sports field to pick up students evacuated from the campus, several said the slow progress of releasing their children was straining their patience.

Glendale Unified officials ordered the campus evacuated after an unidentified male student fell to his death near the administration building. Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials are handling the investigation and plan to make a public announcement soon.

Traffic control officers are directing vehicles to pick-up areas, where parents must fill out a release form for each child. A school official then calls out the student’s name, who is then released to their parents. The process has made for slow going at an emotional campus.

“I would hate to see what would happen in an emergency disaster,” said one parent on the scene who declined to give her name.

Still, other parents, such as Alli Traber, said the district did a good job of disseminating information about the incident over automated phone calls.

She also said the school’s principal gave a very “heart warming” initial message about getting through the crisis.

-- Jason Wells and Veronica Rocha, Times Community News

Twitter: @JasonBretWells