Riverdale High School students, parents face traffic woes

A long lines of cars is what parents are dealing with daily when picking up their children from Riverdale High School.

The backup of cars isn’t the only traffic jam during the school day, “Traffic in the morning and afternoon is just total chaos. You cannot get on or off it.” said parent Jack Cooper, adding, “If something major happened like a fire or something how are they going to get to it?”

Imagine 2,368 students navigating the halls in all different directions with every bell.

Principal Scott Cook says with space as the biggest challenge at the school, Riverdale has extra staff in the halls to make sure class changes run smooth.

“We’ve all got our laptops and have access to every kid’s schedule and we’re guiding them where they need to go” he said.

The school also has two resource officers keeping students safe. Cook says, “It’s just an extra sense of security and seeing them there and watching them”

The school has new security features such as when a visitor rings a bell, the front office gets to see who it is before okaying you to get in the door. Cook says it’s “… really helping this big school stay safe.”

Riverdale has dozens of emergency exits available and a fire drill is run every month to prepare students and teachers.

WINK News also talked to parents at the school who think something needs to be done to make Buckingham Road more accessible.

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