October 14, 2015
Lindemann – Biggest Elementary in the district!
K-5 Student Population: 680 Students
Pre-School Program (1/2 Day AM & PM): 150 Students
Lindemann: Total Student Population: 830 Students
Middle School Population: 924 total students.
A little history: Allen Park Public Schools had six different elementary school buildings with an enrollment of 7,000 + students in the 1970’s. Our schools are considered “neighborhood” schools since they were built within the community between city streets. If you grew up in this area, or other surrounding communities you remember walking to school as a child. I know, I did too. Because everyone walked to school there were very little “transportation issues”. Fast forward to 2015. Times have changed. Allen Park has three elementary buildings with a district enrollment of 3800+ students. At Lindemann, we have never experienced such big enrollment numbers. 830 total students attend our programs. On any given day, we have 725+ students in our building at a time. And, 90+% of our student population is transported to and from school by car. Our regular K-5 program starts at 8:30 am. Our Pre-School program starts at 9:00 am. I’m sure you are starting to understand why we have so much congestion around our building during drop off and pick up. We have a lot of families jockying for position to drop off and pick up their children.
All three elementary schools as well as the middle school face the same problems during “drop off and pick up”. However, none of those other buildings have outside programs (Pre-School & ECP) like Lindemann does. We are unique. All four buildings work together to brain storm new ideas as well as partner with the Allen Park Police Department. However, our police department is under staffed and assist us when they are available. It is up to us as a school community to work together in the best interest of our families and our students. Please continue to be patient, be helpful, and be understanding to our situation.
Ways we can work together for a safer and smoother drop off and pick up at Lindemann:
- Follow the suggestion Traffic Pattern route. I have attached a copy of this route on our blog.
- Park a block away and walk with your child(ren).
- Only use Crosswalks to cross the streets. No Jaywalking.
- The Drop Off Zones (yellow painted curbs) were intended for morning Drop Off only. This allows the parent to pull up and drop off their student. This is for those parents that do not need to stay with their child until the bell rings and school starts. That is when we hang the banners and set up the cones. When picking up at the end of the day, those areas are normal parking spaces for our families.
- Do you have time to volunteer? If so, maybe we could establish a second “crosswalk” on Becker near the 3rd & 5th grade doors. We have safety vests for our Volunteers and can get you a Stop Sign to hold.
- I’m open to suggestions. Please feel free to email me.
Together, I am confident we can come up with a win/win solution that will meet our needs as a school community.
Thank you,
Mike Darga
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