‘Absolute nightmare.’ Fort Mill schools won’t have traffic guards available
Just days before school starts, the Fort Mill School District warned parents to prepare for significant traffic safety changes due to a lack of traffic guards.
Fort Mill won’t get traffic guards from its usual third-party vendor this year, according to a message emailed to parents Wednesday. The district used traffic guards from Charlotte-based Cross Safe for several years.
Crossing guards will be stationed at all marked crosswalks to aid pedestrians in crossing roads, according to the message. But there won’t be guards to direct vehicle traffic.
“It is my understating that the company changed owners and they told us they would not be able to provide the traffic guards moving forward,” said district spokesman Joe Burke. “They are providing the crossing guards at painted crosswalks.”
The message to parents only said that an outside company would ”no longer supply traffic guards to direct vehicle flow entering and exiting school grounds.”
A district Facebook post Wednesday on the traffic guard situation had more than 100 comments, many from upset parents. Traffic is already difficult during school hours, parents said.
Laura Catto lives in Nims Village across from Catawba Ridge High, according to her post. Catto is close enough to hear the announcements at the school but there’s no painted line to allow students to cross Fort Mill Parkway.
“It’s a death wish to try to drive straight across from our neighborhood into the school entrance,” Catto posted.
Getting out of Pleasant Knoll Middle School is going to be an “absolute nightmare,” Nicole Christine posted. “Pleasant Road is so horrific in the mornings,” Christine said. “We suffered last year all the days the crossing guards weren’t there.”
High school student drivers are a concern at entrances with no lights, like at Catawba Ridge, Alexandra Williams posted. “Traffic on Fort Mill Parkway is already bad enough,” she said. “I am shocked we would put more people at risk without any method to enforce this.”
The school district posted a statement in response to the outpouring of parental concern.
The district stated it can only take additional safety measures on its own property, and not on highways beside it. Allowing only right turns into school entrances is the best short-term solution the district could find in working with law enforcement and municipalities, it said.
“We want everyone to know that we share the concerns about the traffic situation facing our district and how the loss of traffic guards has made it more challenging,” the district said in its statement.
The district has been in contact with local law enforcement, municipalities and the state Transportation Department in search of long-term solutions, the message said.
Crossing guard and vehicle safety has been a widespread topic of conversation within the district for the past couple of years, due largely to the death of a crossing guard who was hit in front of a school.
Fort Mill crossing guard killed
Last year, crossing guard Stanley Brucker was killed after being hit by a vehicle while working in front of Fort Mill Elementary and Fort Mill Middle schools. The Herald spoke to another guard who was struck by a vehicle six years earlier at the same site, but survived.
Traffic guards across the district didn’t show up for work the day after it was announced that the driver in Brucker’s death wouldn’t be charged. Traffic came to a standstill in many areas, as numerous Fort Mill schools are located just off main highways like Springfield or Fort Mill parkways.
Brucker’s family filed a lawsuit against the school district last fall related to his death.
Another traffic guard was hit by a vehicle last fall, too, in front of Catawba Ridge High School. The traffic guard survived that incident.
Traffic plan for Fort Mill parents
Six Fort Mill schools will only have right-turn access when school starts on Monday.
That will be in place at the car rider and student exits for both morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up. Those schools are Catawba Ridge, Fort Mill elementary and middle, River Trail Elementary, Riverview Elementary and Tega Cay Elementary.
The district encouraged parents to use bus transportation for their students, according to Wednesday’s message. Parents are asked to leave extra time for the first few weeks of school, when traffic is typically most congested.
Fort Mill and Tega Cay police will be out in greater numbers near schools, according to the district.
Fort Mill will open its 21st school this year, with the addition of Flint Hill Elementary School. Fort Mill is the largest school district in the Rock Hill region with more than 18,000 students.
This story was originally published July 30, 2025 at 5:41 PM.
