Peabody Parents,

During our March 1st Site-based Decision Making Committee, we met with Mr. Krone, SCS Department of Risk Management and Terry Glove, City of Memphis, to discuss our concerns about the restricted parking areas in front of our school, and parents getting ticketed for parking in these areas. We learned the reasons these areas are restricted parking between the times of 7:00am and 3:00pm is to ensure neighbors or patrons to nearby businesses don’t park in front of our school during school hours, blocking our bus and drop-off/pick-up traffic. They assured us that if a parent is in their vehicle, dropping a child off or picking up, they will not be ticketed. However, since the signs indicate a restricted parking area, parents risk getting ticketed should they leave their vehicle to go into the school.

One solution they had was to become a curbside drop-off and pick-up (car pool line) school, as most in the district are. We explained that we appreciate the option for parents to walk their children into the school and make contact with teachers and other parents, as well as doing so in the afternoon outside. We also believed that as the block is short, it would be logistically tough, and possibly unsafe, to have a car pool line.

So the solution we believe is best at this time is to leave our current system in place. Parents can walk students in, if they choose. Or students can be dropped off with our Watch Dog Dads at the curb. We plan to leave the signs for 7:00am to 3:00 pm, to ensure our parking in the front is available to us at pickup. However, there is no way to ensure that parents won’t be ticketed if they choose to park and leave their vehicles in the restricted areas during those times.

The restricted areas are from the bank (near Cooper) to Tanglewood on the North (school side) of Young Ave, and from the driveway to the Young Ave Deli to Tanglewood on the South side of Young Ave. Parents can safely park further down the street in either direction without the risk of getting a ticket.

We plan to include a vote on how Peabody handles drop-off and pick-up in our parent survey going out in April.

Thank you,

Site-based Decision Making Committee