Ludington Elementary School opens, traffic issues being addressed. 

Eastbound traffic on Bryant Road at 3:52 p.m. today.

Ludington Elementary School opens, traffic issues being addressed. 

PERE MARQUETTE TOWNSHIP — Today was the first day of classes at the new Ludington Elementary School, located on Bryant Road near Jebavy Drive. While classes seemed to go smooth inside the school, traffic seemed to cause some issues. Motorists reported that eastbound traffic was backed up, at times, to Washington Avenue. 

School administrators announced some adjustments in a letter to the district posted this evening. 

“We had an amazing day back with students,” a letter to parents read. “They are quickly learning new routines and procedures and really impressed the adults in the building. While we are proud of the positives, we immediately recognized some areas of needed improvement. Our administrative team met immediately following our school day to reflect on the process and determine solutions for drop off and pick up.” 

Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole said he his hope is for this issue to get smoother and in short order as the bugs are worked out. 

“It’s my hope the school will continue to evaluate best practices for a smooth transfer of children before and after school, with safety and security of those children the number one priority,” he said. “Deputies will continue to ensure traffic safety while doing our best to keep traffic flowing out on Bryant Road and Jebavy Drive.”

Cole said he had anticipated traffic issues around the school, which was one of the reasons he held a countywide traffic safety meeting in December. He said school officials were invited to the meeting but did not attend. Attendees included several sheriff’s office representatives, along with representatives from Mason County Road Commission, Pere Marquette Township, Ludington Police Department, Scottville Police Department, City of Scottville, Custer Township, and Hamlin Township. 

The school announced some new procedures for drop-off and pick-up: 

Drop-off. 

• Drop off range for grades three through five will be extended allowing more students to exit the vehicle simultaneously. 
• Additional adults/safeties will be added at the kindergarten through second grade drop off area. More doors will be open. 
• “Please help us by making sure that your child is ‘backpack ready’ and prepared to exit the vehicle For K-2, the adult/safety will help your child with their backpack; however, please make sure your child has their hats, gloves or other items on as needed. 
• “Make sure that you pull all the way up to the farthest spot possible.” 
• “If you need to head north out of the parking lot, you will want to circle around to the Bryant exit. You cannot go north from the Jebavy exit as this is southbound only. Please stay to the right so buses can safely enter. 

Pick-up.

“First and foremost we would like to apologize for the time that it took to load students today. We recognize that it was far from perfect and we appreciate your patience as we work through this process. While we know where things went wrong we want to share our efforts to improve:”

• Students will be prepared earlier for dismissal and will be outside and ready to be loaded quicker. “We will be loading fewer cars at once, but will have more students ready to make it a continuous line. We will also have adults loading students until we get the process down.”
• The outside area will be set up with numbered cones meant to help students, parents and staff. 
• “To expedite the queuing (PikMyKid), please make sure that you have your child’s car tag visible in the window. We will be sending home another set on Jan. 5.”
• Car pick-up will not start prior to 3:20 p.m. as buses need to leave first. 
• “Please make sure that you stay in the line order. Every car needs to be entered into the system. We order the students based on that system, so arriving out of order make it more difficult to load students.” 

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