A mid-January accident in front of the school has Spartans talking about installing a stoplight where students cross Rolling Road.
After the incident, which happened shortly after Winter Break, Principal Mark Greenfelder sent out an e-mail informing students and their parents of the incident, involving a non-student pedestrian. A car turning left onto school property hit a 74-year-old man while he was running his usual morning route. The jogger wasn’t injured, but was taken to the hospital to be evaluated.
Although the man was unharmed, and no student was involved, the accident highlights complaints from parents concerning their children’s safety as they head to school each day.
Each weekday morning about one-third of our school population—about 800 students— is dropped off either on school property or near the school. Add to that mix the other 2,000 or so teachers and students arriving in cars and the kids getting off the buses, and we have another accident waiting to happen at the intersection where crossing guard Lanora Goral conducts her traffic symphony.

“With the amount of parents that drop-off and kids crossing over, God, that’s a mess,” said Safety & Security Specialist Mike Ukele. “The crossing guard does a great job, but if we had a light [at the entrance of the school] it would be safer.”
As cars and kids make their way to or from work or school, parents like Tracey Harvey express concern over the lack of a crosswalk or a traffic light for not only morning and afternoon commutes, but the students who participate in after-school activities.
“[The crossing guard] has nothing to do with the kids who do sports, who have any after-school activities and clubs,” said Harvey.
The crossing guard’s job is to direct traffic caused by buses, walkers and cars at the intersection of Rolling Road and Grigsby Drive in the weekday mornings and in the afternoon. But once the school day is done, the crossing guard has completed her duties and goes home, leaving the intersection up to the judgments of drivers and walkers.
With all the hustle and bustle of the morning and afternoon commutes, many bus drivers find it difficult to see frantic pedestrians running across the roads because of dark or rainy mornings.
Bus drivers, like Kimberly Hailey, believe it would be more beneficial to have a traffic light at the front of the school, to prevent miscommunication with the cross guard.
“[The front intersection of WS is] a dangerous spot,” said Hailey, “the crossing guard is telling cars to go and kids are coming up and I’m surprised it wasn’t a kid to be honest.”
Crossing guard Goral, for her part, gets credit for keeping us all safe—at least while she’s on duty.
“The crossing guard moves [traffic] faster in the school before and after, but the traffic light would help throughout the day,” said Ukele.
In order to have a stoplight set up, two major things have to happen. Number one, there has to be an important, noteworthy “incident,” which is bureaucratic language for a bad accident. Number two, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), which regulates changes on Rolling Road, has to come down and do an investigation to see if the spot is worth spending the money and time to install a light. VDOT’s Web site says that, “In the wrong location a traffic signal can actually contribute to accidents and congestion.”
But there is a chance we can get one in the future. Several years ago, VDOT installed a light at Tuttle Road and Rolling after serious accidents involving both car crashes and cars hitting pedestrians.
Although it is too far down the road to be certain, the renovations made to the school beginning in 2016 could help with the flow of traffic outside school. According to Ukele, the hill and trees at the front of the school will be removed, opening up the congested intersection, possibly making the long-time and unchanged Rolling Road large enough to put in a stoplight.
“That road was built in [the] 196[0s] when there were only 500 students at the school,” said Ukele, “[and] there has been a crossing guard since I joined the Police Department in 1981. That’s how far back it goes.”