They're back...

One week from today local students will be back in class.

Hundreds of them will be swarming the streets between 7 and 9 a.m. and then 2:30 to 4 p.m.

For the first few weeks, drivers need to be on guard as traffic patterns will be disrupted and little people's brains will not be watching for cars.

As children cross streets and dart between cars, they will be thinking about whether their clothes are perfect, if they remembered their crayons, and if they see their friends walking on the other sidewalk.

Unless you are a parent - it is hard to understand that children do not think like adults. It is obvious to most people that safety should come first, but for children their attention span lasts 1 to 10 minutes depending of age and ability.

Compound that problem with the fact they have cell phones, text while walking, or are wearing "Earbuds" while listing to an MP3 player most of the time. It has become a dangerous situation before school and after school daily.

Parents could help the driving public by taking technology away from youths, but often Mom or Dad cannot tolerate a child's tirade and surrender to his whims.

The good news for 2009-10 is that the parking situation at South Main School will improve with the opening of school. By 2010-11, traffic patterns at all our schools will be better.

But with all the construction at Green Springs and Clyde High School and age old problems at Vine and Spring streets, drivers need to be on guard throughout this school year.