Elementary School Pick-Up Policy

[mom2boys77]

My kids go to a private school and there are a lot of pick ups. We have to park in the parking lot and then stand in front of the doors. They go by grade. There are only 2 classes for every grade so it goes by fast.

 

[MushyMushy]

I hated parent pick up at my kids' school! You had to wait until 3:15 and then walk into one room to sign them out and wait for them to get called. Then traffic was so bad, you wouldn't get home until close to 4:00. They got home earlier than that by riding the bus. For whatever reason, though, DD loved being a parent pick up and would constantly beg me to pick her up. I rarely did it because it was such a pain in the neck.

 

[mickeyboat]

Parents park in the parking lot and wait in the cafeteria. Walkers are dismissed to the cafeteria and the school secretary watches the door as the correct parents take the correct children. The parking lot empties on the opposite side of where the busses are picking up.

Madi - Although it stinks that the parents have to wait outside, at least you could wait in your cars until dismissal and carry an umbrella to keep you and the kids dry.

Denae

 

[padams]

I wish our elementary school had the OP's policy. Up until a couple of years ago, we had a line of cars for pick up but you could also park in the parking lot, and walk up to get your child(ren)...the best of both worlds. A parent thought the parking lot was too dangerous for children to walk through, so he complained enough to get the policy changed. Now, everyone must drive through the pick up line. AND, if your car idles for more than a minute while waiting in the pick up line, it is school policy that you turn the car off to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions near the school.

 

[1PrincessMomma1]

.

 

[KadysMom]

Kids being picked up by parents must wait in the cafeteria and parents must line up and sign their child out.

us too!

 

[LisaNJ25]

Our school district doesnt bus. So they are all released to go find their parents or walk home. The only exception is pre-school and K classes. They have to have someone come get them form their line. a parent, older sibling etc.

 

[NotUrsula]

We have a gated lot with entrances on two sides; think of an L shape. Before dismissal the exit gate is closed. You can go in through the entrance and all cars line up in the same direction (facing the exit gate) and stop engines. The entire lot fills, except for the striped section closest to the fence that is a fire lane. You can get out of your car if you want to, or stay in it. Lots of people get out and stand with the door open so that they can socialize. Parents of K and Gr1 students must claim them at the school doors, so they walk over there.

Just before the dismissal bell rings, the entrance gate to the lot is closed, and no cars may move. At dismissal all kids older than Gr.1 can just go to their cars. The little guys are quickly walked back to cars by parents and settled in. Engines may be started, but cars do not move until 10 minutes after dismissal, when all of the kids are already in the cars. When that time comes, the duty teacher opens the exit gate and begins directing cars out of the lot in rows starting at the fire lane (they are packed in so tightly that there is no other way that they can move -- you have to wait for the car in front of you to leave.)

Children who walk home go out via a sidewalk directly to the street; they don't enter the parking lot. If your child is in aftercare you do have to go to the classroom and sign him out; both parking lot gates are left open after the dismissal routine is finished, so at that point you can park in any open marked space.

 

[minniecarousel]

I'm amazed at how the times have changed!

Of course, mine are now in their mid-to-late 20's, so it's understandable that some things have changed, but WOW, I had no idea! We lived 5 doors from their elementary school and when my youngest was in kindergarten, I finally agreed to watch him walk from our driveway all the way to school. Once I saw him turn into the k. playground, I could come inside. I would walk down and meet him after school, mainly to see the other moms!

My niece is disabled and the school where she took her daughter for pre-school wouldn't arrange to have someone bring the little girl to her car. So, she would get out of her car, get her walker and go get her daughter. Is that unusual? Or is that just the way it has to be these days?

 

[mrsv98]

Wow, I guess DD goes to a slacker school!

The Kdg teacher will bring the little ones out but all the rest of the kids just come spilling out willy nilly. There are a few bussed kids because they live across a busy street, but most kids walk or get picked up. We have a pickup line that works ok, but I prefer to park and get out to wait for DD. That way I am in roughly the same place everyday, in the pickup line there is no telling where you will be day to day.

When I was teaching at a private school, it was radically different. It was a fairly ritzy school and we had kids of wealthy and famous parents so pickup was very strict. Bussers were walked to the bus and whoever walked them made sure the youngest did their seat belts (we had our own small busses).
All other kids were walked to the sidewalk where they were met by a parent or personally placed in a car by a teacher. No child was allowed to leave without an adult. We even had a couple of custody cases with famous parents and we had to be careful that we released to the "right" parent.

 

[mom2aredhead]

Does double and triple parking in a no-standing lane, leaving the cute little purse-sized dog barking it's head off in the car, standing outside the schoolyard smoking a cigarette while talking on the cell phone and screaming your kids name like a banshee count as a policy??

(I'm only kidding a little bit BTW)

The kindergarten kids are dismissed to a specific area in the playground and the teacher waits for someone to pick them up. The older kids are let loose in the playground to find their parent or whomever is picking them up. No kids are allowed to leave the playground (fenced in/gated) without an adult. And although their specific policy is that they can only release your child to specific pre-determined people that you have listed, it's not really enforced beyond kindergarten because it's such a free for all out there.

This is why the school bus is my new best friend. Unfortunately we live 2/10 of a mile too close to the school, and my son can only take the bus until 2nd grade.

 

[Stacerita]

When DD was in elementry the bell would ring and the children would leave. The bussers went to the bus, walkers left campus, children being picked up would look for their parents. Some parents would wait on campus near the lunch tables, some would just wait in their cars till they saw their kid. There was a walk way into the parking lot. There was no sign out or anything like that. That is how it was when I attended that school.