CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Wednesday began as an excitingfirst day for the brand new Cullen Place Elementary School. But several hurdles did emerge as students and parents walked - or tried to walk through the front doors.
Principal Steve Barrera said because it was the first day, parents were allowed to walk their kids into the school. This caused a large traffic backup that left many frustrated and concerned.
"That caused a little more congestion today, so tomorrow we will enforce the different arrival and dismissal maps that we have created for our teams and for our families," Barrera said.
Barrera said parents are also trying to get parents familiar with the new school, location and routes.
Starting on Thursday, the school will enforce parents to drop their kids off at these designated locations.
"Pre-k through second will drop off in the front, we will have staff meeting them escorting them to the cafeteria and then to the classroom three four and five will enter the back parking lot which is the Greely entrance," Barrera said.
Barrera said most parents dropped off students at the front of the school, which led up to the back up in traffic.
CCISD Chief of Police Kirby Warnke said these situations are common on the first day of school, especially at new campuses.
"Congestion issues are not uncommon," he said. "Now we have multiple sites for drop offs, and once we start getting into the groove, I expect to see a much more smoother transitions for the mornings."
Barrera also wanted to ask parents for support during this transition and the new school year.
"Continue to be patient with us, we are going to be looking to continually improving our system," Barrera said.
Warnke said they will also have officers the rest of the week to help keep traffic flowing.
"We will have additional support there for the rest of the week, and we will evaluate Friday if we need to continue it on through the rest of the weeks," Warnke said.
Barrera encouraged parents to reach out to the school with any concerns they may have
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