Traffic gets new director as Joe Creer is injured

Students+wait+after+school+to+cross+the+street+to+the+synagogue+lot.

Matilda Pihart

Students wait after school to cross the street to the synagogue lot.

Since January 4th BSM students have been forced to get used to the absence of Coach Creer directing traffic around the BSM parking lots. After Coach Creer tore his rotator cuff while directing traffic, he realized he wouldn’t be able to control the chaos known as the BSM parking lot anymore. At the beginning of his absence, BSM student drivers and parents were plagued with the fact that they had no one to mandate the ins and outs of the complicated system. Soon the school realized that they had to do something to prevent the disorder caused by Creer’s absence.

It was the first snowfall of the year, but that didn’t stop Creer. He was outside, bundled up in his ski mask with his traffic batons in hand, ready to regulate the disorder in the parking lot. Throughout his 10 years of directing BSM traffic he has managed to stay away from injuries but this one fateful afternoon, on January 3rd, was his exception. Creer retold the incident where he was trying to tell a parent to move their car when he hit a patch of ice. “I landed backward on my shoulder and fell up under the car where I almost got run over,” Creer said.

Since Creer broke his arm, the morning and afternoon traffic around the BSM parking lots has been an intense hassle. Students have noticed the traffic build-up and miss Creer controlling the cars. Junior Erica Lee is a student driver who has to walk through the crosswalk daily to get to the parking lot and leave. During the absence of Creer, Lee has noticed a long delay. “It just flows a lot better [with Creer] and after school like when you’re waiting at that crosswalk sometimes you’re waiting for what feels like 10 minutes,” Lee said.

The absence of a traffic director has generated confusion and disarray for the BSM drivers. Without someone to control the flow of cars traffic piles up on highway 100. The school administration recognized this issue and decided to make a change by training and implementing new traffic conductors. BSM’s own football coach, Sean McMenomy, was called up to the task. “I’m just glad I can help [Creer] out while he gets better. It’s dodging cars and getting honked at so there are better things in life to do, but you know it is what it is,” McMenomy said.

Creer is slowly healing but is still keeping busy. To still be of service, Creer has taken up the role of mandating parking in the synagogue parking lot. With the large amounts of snow being plowed into the lot’s corners, there is a serious lack of parking spots. The junior class consists of roughly 230 people, now with sophomores getting licenses spots are dwindling. “We have to give [the synagogue] a certain amount of slots every day, it’s part of our contract with them,” Creer said.

So the question everyone is asking is, when is Creer returning? His injuries will possibly require surgery, but Creer is hoping to avoid that because of the long recovery time. If he goes through with surgery it will require six months of rest and recovery. “If I did the surgery, [students] wouldn’t even see me when school starts next year,” Creer said.