Alice High School Updates Drop-Off Procedures to Boost Campus Safety

Alice High School's arrival and dismissal windows look different starting this week. The Alice Independent School District activated a drive-through-only drop-off and pick-up system for the campus at 1 Coyote Trail, issuing the community-wide directive April 7 as part of its ongoing 2025-26 safety and operations plan for the district's roughly 1,290 high school students.

The mechanics are specific. Vehicles follow a designated route using assigned entry and exit points, advance through a continuous lane, and release students curbside only. No student may cross active traffic lanes to reach a vehicle. No driver may stop mid-lane or in a position that holds up the flow behind them. The district's own arrival and dismissal procedures state the standard without ambiguity: "the campus will operate as a drive-through system."

Double-parking is prohibited under the new rules. Drivers must obey posted campus speed limits while on school grounds and comply with directions from campus staff and safety monitors who will be stationed at key positions during both arrival and dismissal. The monitors, not the individual driver's judgment, govern the pace and positioning of each vehicle.

The rationale is straightforward: the drive-through format eliminates the stop-and-scatter pattern that puts students near moving vehicles the longest. By keeping cars in a single rolling queue with a defined drop-off point, the campus reduces the window during which a pedestrian and an idling or repositioning vehicle share the same space.

For families of students with mobility challenges or guardians who require extra time to transfer a student, the district is not asking them to make it work within the standard flow. Instead, Alice High campus administration should be contacted in advance so a safe alternative staging arrangement can be established before the morning rush, not improvised during it.

Noncompliance carries consequences that scale. One double-parked vehicle or one driver who walks their student to the building through active traffic can stall the entire queue and push students into uncontrolled space. Campus officials have indicated that if voluntary compliance proves insufficient, more formal enforcement measures could follow.

The drive-through model is now common at larger Texas high school campuses, where peak-period congestion has historically created the most pedestrian risk. Alice ISD's adoption of the format at its lone comprehensive high school, serving Alice and surrounding Jim Wells County communities, reflects that same logic applied locally.

Families needing clarification on routing, the specific designated entry and exit points, or accommodation requests should contact Alice High School administration at 1 Coyote Trail before their next arrival or dismissal rather than sorting it out in the drop-off lane.