Essen.
A primary school in the district of Altenessen is breaking new ground to combat the parents’ taxi problem. The project could set a precedent throughout the city.
Sabine Barkhoff-Pleines has been head of the Bückmannshofschule in Altenessen for 16 years, “and the parents’ taxi problem has gotten much worse during this time”. Every day there are hair-raisingly dangerous scenes in front of the school building, “they stop in the second and third rows, it’s absolutely dangerous for the few children who walk to school”.
Parent taxis are a problem city-wide. “The tendency to overprotect the children is becoming more and more widespread,” the headmistress has noted. In Kupferdreh there were already fisticuffs because of the parents’ taxi problem. The increasing size of passenger cars (keyword “SUV”) exacerbates the situation. In Frintrop, where parents have to turn their car around in a cul-de-sac in front of the school building, but also elsewhere, the elementary schools are complaining: If it were possible, fathers and mothers would like to drive their protégés right into the classroom, directly to the square. In Rüttenscheid, boys and girls have already given out lemons to drivers who cause dangerous scenes.
“Parents are warned in the morning, are back at the school by car at noon”
“None of that is of any use, we’ve already done that, the police also patrol the site regularly and issue warnings,” says Sabine Barkhoff-Pleines. “The same parents who are warned in the morning are back here at noon and block everything.” Around half of the 220 children, reports the headmistress, are brought by car; this is also due to the large catchment area of the school far beyond Altenessen.
A project that is already being implemented by 180 primary schools nationwide and that could soon find imitators in Essen is intended to remedy the situation – because there are already inquiries from the city area: the rules of the “School Express” at the Bückmannshofschule have been in effect since Wednesday, May 3rd . With the “School-Express” new paths are broken in the truest sense of the word. In long preparation and with the help of local politicians and sponsors, five free areas in the area were identified where parents should drop off their children with immediate effect. From there, the boys and girls are supposed to walk or ride a scooter – initially, for the first few days and weeks, accompanied by fathers and mothers, later alone.
Collection points: parking lots of hardware stores or supermarkets, open spaces, bus stops
The areas are, for example, a hardware store car park (Krablerstrasse, 15 minutes’ walk from the school) or a supermarket car park (Altenessener Strasse, 10 minutes’ walk) or other places that all have in common: They are easy to access and large enough so you can stop and let the kid out. There are often bus stops for short stops. And there is enough public space where children can safely congregate before heading out.
The five areas that are now used as collection points in the immediate and wider vicinity of the Bückmannshofschule have been marked with blue signs reading “Schulexpress Bückmannshofschule”.
How will the school ensure that all parents participate in the long term? “We can’t control that at all,” says Sabine Barkhoff-Pleines. As is so often the case, the focus is on the children: “We will regularly give out a challenge trophy to the class in which most of the children walk,” announces the headmistress. Otherwise, people are already advertising with the well-known arguments: Those who walk arrive at school more rested. Those who walk increase their ability to orientate themselves. Anyone who walks saves the environment a car trip – facts that are well known, but have so far fallen on deaf ears with many parents at many of Essen’s 84 elementary schools.
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