PELHAM – Police Chief Larry Palmer asked parents to be patient on Thursday, Aug. 10, as they drop off and pick up their children on the first day of school at Pelham Park Middle.

At a press conference held on Monday, Aug. 7, Palmer and Pelham City Schools Superintendent Dr. Scott Coefield reviewed the drop-off and pick-up plans for PPMS.

“One thing we want to be real careful of is our kids,” Palmer said. “We want our kids to be safe and we want our parents to understand how we can get our kids in and out of the school as quickly as possible.”

On the first day of school, traffic will turn onto Pelham Park Boulevard from U.S. 31. Parents are instructed to turn into the school’s drop-off/pick-up lanes at the school’s second entrance point on the right side of the road. There will be two drop-off/pick-up lanes.

Once the unloading area is full, a signal will be given for parents to let students exit vehicles.

When the unloading/loading area is at capacity, the main City Park parking lot will serve as an overflow area for traffic. Vehicles will wait in the overflow area until the loading/unloading area clears. Palmer said students will not be allowed to exit vehicles in the overflow area.

Palmer said police officers will be on campus to direct traffic. Coefield said teachers and administrators will be on hand to assist the police. Officers will also be placed at the U.S. 31 traffic signal in front of the school to assist with traffic.

Coefield suggested that parents do a practice run prior to the first day of school to familiarize themselves with where the school is and where the turns are. He added that parents should leave home early to give themselves enough time to drop off students.

Coefield said the first day of school is always the slowest and busiest time for traffic so he’s asking everyone to be patient. He said he believes people will follow the routine pretty easily once it is established.

Eventually there will be a second access point for the school from Bearden Road, but it will not be complete by the time school begins.

The traffic plan can also be found at Pelhamcityschools.org and Pelhamalabama.gov.