Fort Mill goes back to school, with police helping calm traffic — and nerves
Due to police officers and parents opting for buses, Monday morning traffic in Fort Mill was typical for a first day of school. Which, given widespread worries last week, counts as a win.
Traffic was a concern for many worried and upset Fort Mill parents after the school district announced last week there wouldn’t be traffic guards to direct vehicles in front of schools this year. A Charlotte company the district contracted in previous years wasn’t able to provide them, according to the district.
Guards would only be present to assist pedestrians. The district asked parents to use school buses if possible.
More than 300 comments, many of them from angry parents, had flooded district Facebook posts on the decision since last week.
Angellene Chriswell just moved to Fort Mill from North Augusta. Early Monday, a little before 7 a.m., she was the first of a couple dozen parents who brought their Riverview Elementary-bound children to a bus stop in the Elizabeth neighborhood on Fort Mill Parkway.
Chriswell has children in the first and third grades. “I’m of course worried,” she said. “It’s the first time they’ve ever done the bus.”
The school district had eliminated left turns at the exits of six schools due to not having crossing guards. Along with Catawba Ridge, those schools are Fort Mill Middle and three elementary schools — Fort Mill, River Trail, Riverview and Tega Cay.
On Saturday afternoon, though, the town of Fort Mill announced it would send police officers to five of those schools within its limits (all but Tega Cay). Fort Mill police will direct traffic for the first two weeks of school. They’ll still use the new right-turn-only exit pattern.
“At the end of the day, the safety of our community members is paramount,” Mayor Guynn Savage said in Saturday’s announcement.
Parents opt to use school buses
Jincy Satheesh sent her first-grade twins on the bus Monday. Satheesh came from Pineville, North Carolina, so the neighborhood and school are new to her.
She’d planned to drop off and pick up her children, but the district’s request for parents to use buses swayed her.
With a job in uptown Charlotte, Satheesh had traffic concerns of her own to consider, too.
“Plenty of traffic,” she said. “We’ll be stuck in the traffic for hours. Yeah, kind of a little bit concerned, a little bit nervous about the first day of school. Hopefully the bus will take care of it.”
Traffic problems in Fort Mill
Traffic was light along Fort Mill Parkway at 7 a.m., but it picked up as schools started. Elementary schools in Fort Mill start at 7:35 a.m., followed by middle schools at 8:10 a.m. and high schools at 8:40 a.m.
Catawba Ridge had a Fort Mill police officer at its main entrance, and at its student entrance.
The Fort Mill Middle and Elementary school complex had two officers at the main entrance, and a school resource officer helping cars in line at the schools. Traffic backed up in places along the parkway, but no more than a typical first day of school.
Barry Ledford, principal at Catawba Ridge High, told parents at an open house Thursday he’d received hundreds of emails about the traffic changes. State. Rep. David Martin called for emergency measures to bring in outside law enforcement to help with traffic.
Why there are traffic issues in Fort Mill
All area school districts see traffic upticks when school starts back, but Fort Mill traffic is different.
It’s the largest district in the region, with more than 18,000 students. Fort Mill also is situated between the region’s most populous areas — Charlotte, Rock Hill, Indian Land, Ballantyne — making it a magnet for cut-through traffic.
Because schools have had to keep up with massive population growth in Fort Mill, they’ve largely been built along a road meant to bypass the town as the road was created. Fort Mill Parkway, Springfield Parkway and Gold Hill Road connect to run from U.S. 21 near Rock Hill to the edge of Lake Wylie in Tega Cay.
More than half of the district’s 21 schools are located on or just off of that bypass loop. The bypass is a 45 mph road in most places, when school isn’t in session.
Fort Mill has used paid crossing guards to direct traffic in front of its schools for several years. Charlotte company Cross Safe was the most recent provider.
Area districts handle traffic different ways. The Rock Hill School District doesn’t use crossing guards. The Clover School District does, but they use district employees.
Last year, one of the Cross Safe guards in Fort Mill was struck by traffic and killed while working in front of the Fort Mill Middle and Elementary schools complex. Stanley Brucker was 61 when he was struck in March 2024. No charges were filed against the driver, and Brucker’s family filed a lawsuit against the school district.
Another crossing guard was hit last fall while working in front of Catawba Ridge.
There weren’t any problems or incidents with drop-off school traffic Monday morning but officers would return for afternoon dismissal, said Capt. Steven Bivins.
Fort Mill opens its newest school
As the drop-off line grew at 6:45 a.m. families waited in their cars for doors to open so their students could walk into their first day of school at Flint Hill Elementary.
With the recent traffic guard cuts, the concern for students’ safety has been the top issue on people’s minds Monday.
While not on a major road or parkway, Flint Hill had a smooth drop-off format with just the expected back-to-school traffic. However, parents shared concerns about their older students getting to school and about their fellow community members.
“I just hope that they can find something to help all the children and all the adults, especially since it is early in the morning, ” said Sonja Slater, the mom of a Flint Hill student. “Not having guards will probably be a huge issue for a lot of us.”
For the first two weeks of school, there will be officers placed to help with traffic at schools such as Catawba Ridge High School, Fort Mill Middle School and River Trail Elementary. However, the district is still looking into figuring out a long-term solution, said Fort Mill School District’s Chief Communication Officer Joe Burke.
During the drop-off period at Catawba Ridge High School, two police officers were stationed on the main parkway to control traffic and also allow and students from the neighborhood across the street to pass.
There were no significant backups, and the flow of traffic moved steadily.
With a higher demand for bussing, the district has made sure that there are enough drivers to cover the different routes for both a.m. and p.m. pick-ups/drop-offs.
“We feel pretty good about our bus transportation situation in the district currently,” Burke said.
Staff writer Andrew Dys contributed to this story.
This story was originally published August 4, 2025 at 10:05 AM.
