Running smoother at Pilgrim High

By John Howell
Posted 9/8/16

There’s a plan and it works … at least as long as it’s not raining.

Pilgrim High School Assistant Principal Bruce Fairbanks pulled the phone from his pocket Tuesday afternoon.

“2:11,” …

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Running smoother at Pilgrim High

Posted

There’s a plan and it works … at least as long as it’s not raining.

Pilgrim High School Assistant Principal Bruce Fairbanks pulled the phone from his pocket Tuesday afternoon.

“2:11,” he declared with satisfaction.

Last year, Fairbanks explained, circulating traffic in the back of the school had cleared out by 2:05 p.m. A few cars waited in line to pickup waiting students, but the rush was over and traffic was moving relatively smoothly.

That wasn’t the case last Thursday, the first day of school for all 1,500 Pilgrim students. It was raining, and to top it off many parents decided to pick up their children who would have otherwise taken a bus or walked home.

Gridlock ensued. Motorists, whether en route to pick up kids or just traveling Warwick Avenue, found themselves in a tangle of crisscrossing cars and buses, not to mention soaked students dashing between them.

On Friday, Superintendent Philip Thornton and Mayor Scott Avedisian were at the school to see what could be done to accommodate the increase in traffic resulting from the consolidation of secondary schools. With Vets reopened as a junior high now that Gorton and Aldrich are closed, those students who would have attended Vets are at Pilgrim and Toll Gate. Pilgrim got the lion’s share of the students, an action based on the ability of the school to accommodate the numbers as well as busing and scheduling.

The bustle of school openings and closings – with students driving their own cars, along with parents and 16 buses, not counting the smaller special education buses – are the most publicly visible effect of consolidation. Making it all run smoothly seems to have been largely worked out by Tuesday.

Assistant Principal Pam Bernardi, who stood outside the school, could have been hawing popcorn at a baseball stadium. Instead of a tray of soda and popcorn, she was holding a sheet designating the location of buses by their number.

“What’s your number?” Bernardi inquired in a voice clearly audible above the buzz of students streaming from the school’s doors.

“Five?” asked one student. Without even looking up, Bernardi waved her hand in the direction of the bus. And so it went with students seeking directions every 10 to 15 seconds.

Principal Gerald Habershaw implemented the plan after realizing neither students nor teachers knew how buses were lined up. The result Thursday was students running up and down the line of parked buses in search for their bus, but that was not the case Tuesday.

With the buses on the road, the circulating parents picking up students in the back of the school were able to clear the lot and everything sped up.

Fairbanks expects that interior school traffic will likewise run smoother as new Pilgrim students become familiar with the school and their schedule.

“It’s coming around,” he said. “Everyone fits in here. The biggest thing is when kids slow down to look at their schedule.”

Habershaw was pleased with the performance so far.

“It’s been great, teachers have been good, the traffic issue is getting better,” he said.

Katrina Yakey, who is a junior and attended Pilgrim last year, finds she needs to get up 10 to 15 minutes earlier to accommodate for the delay in the drive to school. She said the school is packed, and the biggest problem she’s encountered is navigating the corridors during a change in class, “because I walk fast.”

Fairbanks watched as three lines of cars waiting to make pickups funneled into a single lane leaving the lot. There were no blaring horns, no aggravated expressions or obscene gestures. Motorists were following the lines.

“This is great,” he said. “Everybody is learning at once. Massive.”

And then he pulled out the joker: “Add some snow to this and then see what happens.”

Comments

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  • richardcorrente

    And how much help did Avedisian give? None! That is NOT the kind of Mayor I will be.

    I will be on site listening to the comments of my employers, the taxpayers of Warwick.

    I will help in any way that the teachers and parents (my employers) need.

    Count on it!

    Richard Corrente

    Endorsed Democrat for Mayor

    Thursday, September 8, 2016 Report this

  • Kammy

    *shakes head at yet another ridiculous corrente commentary*

    You complained he wasn't there and when he does show up you complain he didn't do anything. What exactly should he be doing? Directing traffic? Getting in the way of administrators who are working it out? No one needs a mayor that sticks their head into everything to micromanage. It only causes more chaos. And if that is the type of mayor you intend to be then we are all in big trouble. I don't always agree with everything Avedisian does but he certainly isn't the evil despot you keep painting him as.

    Friday, September 9, 2016 Report this