Considerations for Traffic and Carline Safety at Santa Fe Prep
- It’s very important that drivers be aware of pedestrian traffic at all times when on or near Santa Fe Prep’s campus. Our students can sometimes behave unpredictably when crossing Camino De La Cruz Blanca and the interior driveway on campus.
- Please be aware that you do not have to enter the main entrance and the traffic circle to drop off or pick up your student before or after school. Drop-off and pick-up are available at the MEA/IHM parking lot (entering and exiting at the West entrance is much faster and safer) and near the Meem along San Acacio. Should you choose the San Acacio option, please be sure not to double park, as we have received complaints from the neighbors.
- It will also save you time to ask your child to go to the library immediately after school and pick them up between 4:00-5:00 p.m. when most of our traffic has cleared.
- When you do enter the main entrance to pick up or drop off your student, please be sure to pull as far forward as possible – first, to the spaces immediately adjacent to Brennand Field and the gym (ZONE A), then, in the circle in front of the library, middle school and admin building (ZONE B), and finally, the area along the Main Campus parking WITHOUT blocking the entrances and exits to the lots (ZONE C).
- IMPORTANT NOTE: Zone C, which is the area along the parking lots before the circle, should NEVER be used for drop-off or pickup as it is very dangerous for incoming traffic. Please wait until there is a spot available in the circle or along Brennand Field to drop off or pick up; in turn, if you see a spot further along that is available, please safely move ahead and take it.
- Having your student walk a few yards longer to reach your properly positioned car is well worth it to shorten the wait time for all. Stopping short, particularly if it is a lengthy loading or unloading process, can cause backups onto Camino De La Cruz Blanca and significantly slows our process. Once the driveway inside Santa Fe Prep is at capacity, traffic will be directed to the IHM/MEA lot across the street. Those will be “waved” over by our crossing staff.
- The area off the circle in front of the gym and behind the library are not loading zones. Please do not pull into these areas.
- Please yield to the students in the pedestrian crosswalk in front (south of) the traffic circle. While we think it’s appropriate that our students are so lost in thought that they wander across the traffic circle during the academic day, their desire to do so in the middle of pick-up stresses us out. After school, we ask students to walk around the perimeter of the traffic circle or cross at the marked pedestrian area.
- Cars must pull forward constantly in order for the traffic pattern to work. No cars can be “parked” in the traffic pattern and left abandoned. Please do not drop off or pick up in the area BEFORE the circle begins, as this creates a bottleneck and stops traffic from moving.
- The left lanes along the driveway and inside lane around the circle are for through traffic only and should be kept clear at all times.
- The main entrance for Prep is a RIGHT turn only when exiting. If you need to turn LEFT onto Camino de la Cruz Blanca, please use our eastern exit that you can access by going through the parking lots.
- Do NOT drop off or pick up your child by pulling over on Camino de la Cruz Blanca. This activity is dangerous for the student and all other traffic.
- Teachers, coaches, tutors, or any other parent arriving between 3:30 pm – 4:10 pm on a normal day may be asked to park in the IHM/MEA parking lot until pick-up has ended. With many people operating in a small space for a brief period, we know we will have wait time – our goal is to make our pick-up times safer and smoother.