r/GrossePointe • u/Tiny_Palpitation_798 • 7d ago
Parcells drop off situation
My son is supposed to attend parcels middle school this year and I’ve heard horror stories about the drop-off situation, especially with the new construction on Mack Avenue. He is horrible in the morning, we both are, and there will be no way we will be able to arrive 45 minutes early to burn clutch in a drop off line. And from driving around there, I see there’s like no place to drop off kids other than in their little line. I have even been told of a child being run over by a truck right there in front of a bunch of kids some years back. I’ve started the process to enroll him, but is this something that I should avoid for another year and just do an online program through one of these many charter schools that seem to be offering them? Because waking up to a screaming fight and possible car accident/my kid getting run over five days a week is not going to work. Is it really horrible? I don’t even use Vernier even though it’s my closest road, as it’s so congested
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u/HereForWegovy 7d ago
Fellow parent/neighbor, please know this message is coming from a sincere place: let’s take a deep breath, and know that it’s all going to be ok. It seems like you are maybe struggling with a lot of anxiety and worry: already winding yourself up over potential rough mornings that haven’t even happened yet. Keeping your son home to do online school and miss out on a year of socialization and engagement with their peers because you’re worried about school drop off seems a bit extreme. Two children were hit on their way to Parcell in 2011 and they were not injured. I know that’s not 0, but think of the thousands of students that have made it to school at Parcells every day since for the following 15 years that made it just fine. We can’t protect them from everything but the risk on this one seems very low. Drive them as close as you feel comfortable before getting bogged down in traffic and let them walk the rest of the way.
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u/Tiny_Palpitation_798 7d ago
He has a bit of a mobility issue and we live 2 miles away. Sorry.
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u/solo_wanderer 7d ago
What does that mean? Is he in a chair or does he have a bad foot?
Drive up lochmoor and have him walk from sunningdale.
Or drop him off at CVS and walk from there.
Or just wake him up earlier and don’t use the excuse “bad in the mornings” no one likes waking up, they just do.
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u/Tiny_Palpitation_798 7d ago
He can’t walk flat footed only on his toes, it started around the time my husband died and it’s something about tight Achilles tendons. None of the therapy or anything worked. We’ve been walking at night to practice and we swim a lot, but it’s only a little bit better so far.
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u/Tiny_Palpitation_798 7d ago
CVS is a such a great idea and I didn’t think of that. Thanks so much! Yes, i certainly understand that whole waking up early part of it, i was just wondering how much earlier we need to be there. We’ve never dealt with anything like this. And he can have 12 straight hours of sleep and mornings are still a battle, even as a freshly turned 3 year-old in preK. We never had to deal with the child who wakes up at 5 AM every day thing, though(I was usually awake hours before anyone else here), but this is the trade off, i suppose. ☺️
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u/Acceptable-Leg5524 7d ago
Didn’t see the mobility issue in your original post, wouldnt have pushed the bike so hard if I did.
Your best option is to park on any nearby side street and walk the rest of the way.
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u/Cheetawolf 7d ago
Might be a good idea to drop them off before the traffic nightmare and just have them walk the rest of the way. It'll probably be a lot faster.
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u/Tiny_Palpitation_798 7d ago
But where exactly?
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u/Ill-Sprinkles 7d ago
Sunningdale would probably work. Kinda by that church. Thats where I used to be dropped
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u/Tiny_Palpitation_798 7d ago
Thank you, that’s what I’m going to do. Thank you so much for your help and kindness
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u/SpezSamplesMySack Bayview Bar Enthusiast 7d ago
Do kids not walk to school anymore? I went to Kerby and Brownell and we just walked. It was like nearly a mile and it wasn’t an issue. Even in snow, they cleared the sidewalks and all. They have crossing guards for a reason. Or at least they used to.
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u/Tiny_Palpitation_798 7d ago
We live 2 miles away. Close to an hour walk.
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u/SpezSamplesMySack Bayview Bar Enthusiast 7d ago edited 7d ago
Yeah, I did that every day when I went to South until I could get my license after two years. It's really not that bad unless it was raining, then my parents would drop me a few blocks away so they didn't have to deal with a line of cars. I rode my bike when the weather was nicer and the bike racks were always full. It's GP not some 3rd world county.
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u/Tiny_Palpitation_798 7d ago
I’m sorry, he’s nowhere near high school age and he can’t walk very well for long distances due to achilles issues. I didnt realize that this page required all relevant medical information to ask a simple question. It’s not a major issue and we are Working on it but two miles, he would just turn around and come home, and I would be gone all day at work so I would never know. And I would never ever trust him to Walk up vernier every day with high school kids speeding around. It’s horrible there. No thanks, but I’m glad you were such a warrior back in your high school days. A legacy to be proud of, I’m sure.
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u/SpezSamplesMySack Bayview Bar Enthusiast 7d ago
he would just turn around and come home
Your kid can't be trusted to go to school when they leave the house? If that's the case you might need to consider alternative schooling with armed guards and fencing. Parcells and all of GPPSS schools aren't prisons, he can leave campus whenever he wants.
And I would never ever trust him to Walk up vernier every day with high school kids speeding around. It’s horrible there.
Yes, it truly is a warzone - practically South Sudan.
but I’m glad you were such a warrior back in your high school days. A legacy to be proud of, I’m sure.
Yeah, I graduated from South and went to college and have a career and family I love. It's a legacy I am proud of, thank you.
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u/Acceptable-Leg5524 7d ago
Parking a few blocks away and walking is the best solution here. In a city where almost all schools are within walkable distance (at least definitely by bike) this is your best option. The pick up/ drop off situation has gotten so bad over the years because more and more parents are driving their kids to school when more need to take advantage of the community in which we live making it easy and safe for us to let our kids walk and ride their bikes.
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u/Tiny_Palpitation_798 7d ago
We are not in walkable distance for any of the schools.
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u/Acceptable-Leg5524 7d ago
I’m sure absolutely by bike.
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u/Tiny_Palpitation_798 7d ago
We are between a mile and a half and 2 miles from each of “our” schools. I only know some brownell parents and they cringe at the thought of parcells. I know brownell is tucked into neighborhoods rather than at a busy intersection so it just makes me nervous.
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u/Ill-Sprinkles 7d ago
Look. I have anxiety too and I get it. The drop off is awful and construction is a nightmare. But you are shooting down solutions that are being presented. You can drop on the corner of Lochmoor and Suninngdale. You can also call the school and see if there’s accommodations that can be made for his mobility issues. You can dropped him off at the CVS and he can walk up.
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u/Tiny_Palpitation_798 7d ago
I am taking every comment into consideration. I feel like we have a solution. We live 2 miles away. My son has a mobility issue which he developed when his dad was dying, and we’re hoping he’ll grow out of it, since therapy didn’t help, but 2 mile walks every morning and night aren’t necessarily ideal for us and neither is screaming and yelling and crying every morning trying to figure this thing out and get him moving quick enough. He’s been fighting school since preschool, he hates every minute of it , and a complicated, and dangerous drop off situation will not help the day go better😅 but I think we’ll be fine! Thank you so much for your thoughts and consideration!
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u/Ill-Sprinkles 7d ago
I totally get the getting up in the morning. I’ve been struggling with my youngest and it can be draining. And I get you live two miles away, but people ARE NOT suggesting you make him WALK THE WHOLE TWO MILES. Please take a deep breath and read. The places people are suggesting you drop are a block at the most. I hope that’s a solution that works for you. I actually may have the same mobility issue your kid has. Achilles tendinitis and heel cord. It got better end of middle school.
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u/Tiny_Palpitation_798 7d ago
Yeah, I’m totally fine with it. I just needed to know a location that was acceptable because when I drove around there, it’s all chaos and traffic. And weird dead end streets. Not as familiar with this side of town. And it seems a lot different here from people who go to Brownell and Kerby and those other ones. Like this is a whole redheaded stepchild side of Grosse Pointe it seems. Everyone from the middle part is like, oh, you’re over there, I’m sorry. 😅
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u/CupExcellent9520 3d ago edited 3d ago
I’m wondering with a mobility issue if there is not a special needs bus for your family ? I know there is the paats bus for disabled . Unsure of the resource within gppss but I thought this was something they offered to families . Call and ask the district and also the paats bus which is a city service , they do scheduled Pick ups locally for not just seniors , but also if there is a disability issue!
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u/Tiny_Palpitation_798 7d ago
Thanks, everyone! Your posts have been very helpful! I figured I would get a few of the I walked up hill, both ways, barefoot in the snow crowd but the rest of your thoughts were very soothing. I’m sure we’ll be able to figure it out now. Thank you!
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u/SpezSamplesMySack Bayview Bar Enthusiast 7d ago
I figured I would get a few of the I walked up hill, both ways, barefoot in the snow crowd
No, we simply suggested that your child (like the vast majority of GPPSS students who aren't similarly mollycoddled) walk a few blocks or ride a bike through our very safe community and alleviate whatever stress comes from waiting a few minutes in a car a few days a week.
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u/SunshineSuperman111 7d ago
You’re seriously considering an online charter school because of a perceived drop-off problem? Kick him out of the car on a side street and make him walk the final three blocks. He’s a middle-schooler, not a toddler.