With the school year over, the Davidsonville Area Civic Association is raising concerns about safety and traffic issues at several facilities in the South River High School cluster.

“I hate to sound like a Debbie Downer, but the parents, the community, the DACA Association were just so frustrated that all of these officials just refused to put out a plan of action,” said Grayson Morgan, father of a Davidsonville student.

The South River Cluster includes Central Middle, Central Elementary, Davidsonville Elementary and Mayo Elementary. It is also home to the Center of Applied Technology South campus.

DACA has complaints about almost every school. Most of the schools have crosswalks that are not safe, they argue, and Davidsonville has a chronic traffic problem, which they say is systemically making students late to school.

“For some reason, we seem to be getting some resistance, so we felt that it was time to start going a little bit more public with our efforts and see if we can get some more attention brought to this situation,” said Bruce Stein, president of the civic association.

At South River High, Central Middle, Central Elementary, Mayo Elementary and CAT South, some crosswalks are missing signs or paint markers alerting drivers to the crosswalk.

Though not required by Maryland law, research shows that markers can significantly improve pedestrian safety, and the district does maintain signs and paint on the road to enhance safety, a spokesperson for the district said.

They refresh pavement markings on a three-year cycle and will continue to do so, district spokesperson Bob Mosier said in a statement.

At Davidsonville Elementary, the complaint is more complicated.

Each morning there is a 20-minute window for parents to drop students off via car. After that, parents have to park, walk their student inside and sign them in.

Particularly since the return to school after the COVID-19 pandemic, parents say the backup in the morning has become unbearable.

“These kids at 7:58 are jumping out of cars on the shoulder of a state highway and running with their bags and musical instruments trying to get to the door before it closes,” said Morgan.

Morgan’s daughter was late several times in the past year because of the backup. Morgan has been vocal over the past two years about the issue, but he feels like the complaint is not being taken seriously.

“We asked them to find ways to reroute the traffic and use the areas around the school to get the traffic moving and they say they can’t or won’t. They just, they just won’t respond,” said Morgan.

Schools have limited staffing to manage the traffic, so DACA volunteered to help, but the school system declined and did not comment on why.

Mosier said the issues at Davidsonville have been “solidly reviewed by our school district and those who have communicated with AACPS have received responses.”

The district has been working with state and county officials over the past two years to examine the issue, according to Mosier.

“The traffic congestion is primarily caused by the high number of parents who opt to drive their students to school in lieu of using available bus service,” Mosier said in a statement.

DACA will continue to press for changes in the coming months and hopes to see changes by the end of the summer.

As of Friday, there were 67 days left in Anne Arundel’s summer vacation.

Have a news tip? Contact Bridget Byrne at bbyrne@baltsun.com or 443-690-7205