The event occurred at dismissal time, perhaps in a crosswalk or in the pickup line at Benton. Perhaps it was a slip of a foot from a brake, but perhaps it was an impatient driver. I have to think that the driver is also experiencing hard times as a result. Accidents do happen, and whether it was avoidable or not is probably irrelevant to the guilty feelings of this driver. I do not ever want to know what that feels like, but I can certainly empathize.
As I wrote yesterday about working in the pickup line at the end of the school day, I slightly recognized the dangers of that duty. Though I focused on extreme weather, we all need to take extra care when we around pedestrians, teachers, and children who are loading into cars. Parents, please be patient as we try to cross lines of traffic with students in tow. We do so to protect students from the vehicles. When I step in front of a car it is so the driver can see me, and not miss the much smaller child that is also crossing. I do not ever send a child in front of a car without first standing there. That is also why we want students to walk all the way to the end of the sidewalk - so the adults can load them safely and they will not cross unexpectedly. Keep in mind that we are watching for foul play as well as cars moving, and kids who might dart out without us.
I hope we can also count on parents to be extra vigilant in our pickup situation. Please do not get into a rush. We will get kids into cars as quickly as possible, but we will also sacrifice speed for safety. Drivers, there are two lanes in our drive for the purpose of picking students up at the end of the day; please do not take it upon yourself to make a third lane down the middle or around the side just because there may be room for an extra car. Remember, students and teachers are walking through the cars and neither may notice that you have done so.
We want to avoid any sort of accident that can happen in our own school, but we also don't want to forget that an accident already happened in Neosho. The big N above says Prayers for Neosho. Many have indicated such in social media by placing that big N on their status. How ever a person may express your concern, through religion or otherwise, we are a community that cares for another community that hurts.