School Traffic - Up to 26% of Morning Traffic

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Today, while parents in Mill Valley may express a preference for their child or children among the five elementary schools, it is the school district which determines to which school their child/children is assigned. Depending on criteria such as facility capacity and class sizes, children in the Old Mill neighborhood may end up at Edna Maguire or Tam Valley, while children at Tam Valley may end up at Park or Strawberry. This reduces dramatically the ability for neighbors to carpool, as children on any given block may all be going to different schools, and results in significantly increased pressure on our over-burdened streets during morning and afternoon school transportation hours as parents ferry their children to school, sometimes driving past their neighborhood school in order to reach the school to which they have been assigned.
I envision that in 30 years children will attend the school which is closest to their homes. They will get to school on foot or by bicycle, and if motor transportation is required they will take a free school bus. The majority of parents volunteering in the schools will also voluntarily walk or ride bikes to their neighborhood school.