My name is Teresa and I am a parent of a preschooler at Hilltop Elementary in Burien, WA. Over the past 3.5 years, 2 of my kiddos have attended Hilltop's Developmental Preschool Program, which has been instrumental to their development, helping them find their voices and go from non-verbal to having full conversations.

During our time at Hilltop, I, as well as many parents, staff, and residents, have been frustrated with how the morning drop-off area is. Due to staffing difficulties, the drop-off zone is not supervised, and there are a lot of issues. Cars are parking in the drop-off zone, crosswalks, blocking fire hydrants, mailboxes, and even resident driveways. This creates problems with safety as pedestrians (students and family) can't be seen by traffic until they are in the road. I have spoken with the city to get the school speed zone signs reinstalled. Recently, I met with the principal, and we are hoping to start a parent volunteer program to monitor the zone and keep traffic moving, as well as stopping traffic for pedestrians crossing.

Here's where I need help. The school is facing financial difficulty, having had to repair a wing that suffered a partial ceiling collapse, flooding from burst piping, and a malfunctioning heater. They do not have any funds left to purchase safety equipment to help with the zone.

We are looking to purchase 40-18in traffic safety cones, 9 traffic delineator posts, 4-8 - 24in no parking A-frame signs, and 2 bilingual 36in custom PVC safety zone signs. Most of which are available on Amazon; the 36in signs will need to be custom made.

We are hoping to introduce the new zone before the end of this school year.

If we exceed our goal, any additional funds will go towards supplies and equipment for the students and/or teachers.