With your help, we can dismiss all students safely in 20-25 minutes. Each student will be receiving a back pack tag identifying how the student gets dismissed: Walker, Bike Rider, Car Rider, Bus Rider, Day Care Van, and Extended Day. In order to expedite dismissal, please follow these directions:
There are four different ways that a student can be dismissed. Students are dismissed via Bus/Daycare Van, students can be Car-Riders, students can be Walkers/Bike Riders, and students can attend Kidzone. Even if students are not Car-Riders every day, if there is a chance that your student will be a car-rider (inclement weather, special circumstances), you will need to read and follow the procedures for a car-rider. Here are brief overviews of the changes to those four ways.
Bus/Daycare Van
Students are escorted to a bus rider waiting area. As buses and vans arrive, students are escorted to the buses and vans by faculty/staff members. Student back pack tags will have bus numbers/day care vans identified. After a few days, our students will be able to identify their bus numbers and their drivers.
Car-Riders
● Students will be inside our buildings in designated locations and supervised by faculty/staff members.
● If you are picking your child up using a vehicle, you will need to secure a car rider tag that can be signed for during “Meet the Teacher/Open House” or in the office throughout the school year. If you do not have a tag, you will be directed to park and will be directed to the main office. This tag is a sign to place on your visor/windshield indicating student grade and name.
● While on our campus, please follow the directions of staff members and obey the safety cones. Please do not use your cell phone.
● Until you reach the beginning of the main parking lot, there will be just one line of traffic entering campus. Our line then divides into two. Friendly faculty/staff members will be there to direct you to a number, call to your child's location, and indicate that your car has arrived. Upon this direction, students are escorted by faculty/staff members to the designated spot and will wait for your vehicle.
● Vehicles picking up students from the main building (2nd graders through 5th graders) will continue straight ahead and line up, in one line, along the front walkway. When your car is dismissed from the loading zone, you will drive down the first driveway on your left to exit the parking lot. Please be kind to cars that need to enter and exit the PLC driveway.
● Vehicles picking up students from the PLC (Kindergarten and 1st graders + older siblings) will make their second left to wrap around the parking lot to the PLC driveway. When you are dismissed from the loading zone, you will carefully enter the main stream of traffic leaving the school. ● All cars exit one car at a time. Do not attempt to go around the car in front of you.
● Parents, please remember that student safety is our first priority. Thanks for your help, support, and patience with this process.
It is absolutely essential to sign for car-rider tags prior to picking a student up in a car for dismissal. The Main Campus car-rider tag will be pink. The PLC car-rider tag will be green. You can sign for these tags during Meet the Teacher or throughout the school year during regular school hours. Vehicles/parents that do not have one of the official car rider tags will be kindly asked to park and to sign a child out in the main administrative office. By signing for an official car-rider tag, parents are a granting permission for that student to be picked up by the possessor of the tag.
Walkers/Biker Riders
Walkers and bikers need to know the direction they leave campus. We have a bike rack for the North Walkers/Bikers and one for the South Walkers/Bikers. Walkers use the same sidewalks as the bikers. There is one exception: if your child needs to cross Lockwood Boulevard, he/she will use the front sidewalk and cross with the crossing guard. We will refer to these students as Central Walkers/Bikers. If you are meeting your child, please wait at designated parent waiting areas, depending on which route your child takes. While waiting, it is important not to block the main entrance into the building, which is the primary exit. Also, parents are not permitted to wait outside classroom doors. Be sure to stand off the sidewalk so the children can pass.
Dismissal Arrangements
Please be certain that your child understands transportation arrangements before leaving home in the morning. A note to your child's teacher indicating any change in transportation MUST be sent each time there is a change, or your child will be sent home the usual way. In cases of emergency, transportation changes may be given to the receptionist in the Front Office. DO NOT leave transportation changes on a teacher's voice-mail.
Only regularly scheduled bus students are to ride the school buses. Students will not be allowed to ride a bus or a different bus, unless it is for emergency reasons related to the health, welfare, and safety of the student. Permission will not be granted for purposes of convenience. Parents are responsible for the behavior of their own children while at the bus stop.
If you transport your child to school by car, please observe the traffic directions within the parking lot. Students will wait on the sidewalk after school until you drive by to pick them up. In the interest of safety, DO NOT signal to your child to come to you when he/she must pass in front of cars, even if they are not moving at that time. For the safety of all children, students who are 'car riders' will only be dismissed to a car in line. Please DO NOT walk through the parking lot to pick up your child. No one is permitted to walk to the classroom door to pick up a child.
If your child walks or rides a bike, please discuss arrangements with your child about what to do on rainy days. On rainy days (heavy rain or lightning), walkers and bike riders will be held until the end of dismissal to provide time for parents to pick up children by car. We do not have adequate phones available for all students to call home. If you are meeting your walker/biker, please wait at the designated area.