CAR RIDERS: ARRIVAL PROCEDURES
· Doors open at 7:15 a.m.
· The bell will ring at 7:30 a.m. to indicate that the cafeteria doors are closed for breakfast. Students need to be inside the cafeteria doors at 7:30 a.m. to participate in breakfast.
· Students must remain in their vehicles until school personnel walk out at 7:15 a.m.
· Students are not to be left on the porch unsupervised.
· As soon as the duty personnel indicate that students may leave their vehicles, the process begins.
· We will form only one line of vehicles coming north on Waco Street and turn east on Michigan Street. Drivers must not block driveways to homes and businesses.
· There will be a cone on the sidewalk indicating where students may be dropped off. Students will be dropped off from that point forward to the front porch. The cone will be moved according to weather conditions.
· Students MUST EXIT TO THE RIGHT and walk directly to the porch area and into the building. The fire zone is free of traffic, so children are not in any danger.
· School personnel will indicate when it is safe for the traffic to move forward. Traffic will move slowly and exit the school driveway.
· The line of vehicles will split into two at the end of the line. The only line of vehicles allowed to turn left will be the line closer to Main Street. The line of vehicles closer to the school will only be allowed to go straight on Kentucky Street or turn right on Main Street.
· The bell will ring at 7:40 a.m. Students MUST be in the building and in the classroom at this time to be considered on time. All other students will be considered tardy. Parents of students who are tardy will be required to walk their children into the office and sign them in.
· Students with an excessive number of times arriving tardy to school may receive a request to meet with the principal or assistant principal.
CAR RIDERS: DISMISSAL PROCEDURES
· Dismissal is at 3:05 p.m.
· We will continue to allow only the one lane into the driveway. This is the safest method of getting the children into your vehicles.
· All parents must make one line of vehicles coming north on Waco street, turn east on Michigan street and enter the school driveway. Drivers must not block driveways to homes and businesses.
· Once you are in the school driveway please place your child’s identification card on the right side of your windshield so that school personnel calling out the name will be able to see and read it quickly. Please make sure you write your child’s name in large, dark letters. We suggest you use a thick black permanent marker.
· The student identification cards will be ready for you on August 22nd between 3:30 and 4:30, when you come to “Meet the Teacher and Drop Off School Supplies” parent activity.
· You will also be able to pick identification cards on the first day of school, when you accompany your children to their classrooms.
WALKERS: ARRIVAL PROCEDURES
The procedure will remain the same as previous years.
All walkers will be allowed into the building through the black gate and the double doors on Georgia Street.
· Parents and children will line up outside the double doors on Georgia Street.
· Doors open at 7:15 a.m.
· At 7:15 a.m. when the doors open, the children will be allowed to enter the building through the double doors. All students will go to the cafeteria for breakfast.
· A bell will ring at 7:30 a.m. to indicate that the cafeteria doors are closed for breakfast. Students need to be inside the cafeteria doors at 7:30 a.m. to participate in breakfast.
· The bell will ring at 7:40 a.m. Students MUST be in the building and in the classroom at this time to be considered on time. All other students will be considered tardy.
· After the bell rings at 7:40, parents will have to walk with their children to the school’s office to sign in their children.
· Students with an excessive number of times arriving tardy to school may receive a request to meet with the principal or assistant principal.
· School personnel will help monitor traffic in the area to make sure our students and parents get to and from the arrival area safely.
· The buses will not block the driveway so that parents and children can cross safely using the sidewalk.
WALKERS: DISMISSAL PROCEDURES
· Dismissal time is 3:05 p.m. through the double doors on Georgia Street.
· Independent walkers will be dismissed first.
· Parents who walk to the school to pick up their child will form an orderly line outside the double doors on Georgia Street. The children will be in the hallway waiting for you to pick them up. We will have school personnel there to dismiss your children to you.
· Parents must have the child’s identification card ready to show at the door. The doors will close at 3:20.
· The student identification cards will be ready for you on August 22nd between 3:30 and 4:30, when you come to “Meet the Teacher and Drop Off School Supplies” parent activity.
· You will also be able to pick identification cards on the first day of school, when you accompany your children to their classrooms.
· School personnel will help monitor traffic in the area to make sure our students and parents get to and from the dismissal area safely.
· The buses will not block the driveway so that parents and children can cross safely using the sidewalk.
· Parents of students who are late will have to go to the office and wait until car dismissal is done to pick up their students.
It will be very important for our students and parents to use the sidewalks to walk to and from the dismissal area. We agree that walking between the buses and other traffic in that area is not a safe practice!
Please keep the following in mind:
· Doors to the building will open at 7:15 a.m. Car riders and walkers are NOT allowed into the building until 7:15 a.m.
· You may not leave your children unsupervised. If you bring your children before 7:15 a.m., you must remain with them until the doors open at 7:15 a.m. We do not have personnel on duty until 7:15 a.m.
· Cafeteria doors will close at 7:30 a.m. Students that are not inside the cafeteria doors at 7:30 a.m. will not be able to participate in breakfast and will be directed to their classrooms.
· Please try to not wait until 7:35 to get in the drop off line so that students are not late to their classrooms.
· The bell will be at 7:40 a.m. Students MUST be inside the building and in their classroom at 7:40 a.m. to be considered on time. All other students will be considered tardy.
· The bus turnaround is not a parent drop off area. This is very dangerous for the children.
· The parking lot in the front of the school is for faculty and staff only. Parents are not allowed to park or drop off students in that area.
· Faculty and staff will be driving in to park during the time the car riders are arriving and getting into the building. Everyone must be extra careful!
· If you are driving a vehicle to the school you are considered a car rider. Please get in line on Waco, then Michigan Street and follow the car rider procedures.
· Our crossing guard will be placed where the greatest number of children are crossing. That will be determined at the start of the school year. We will place additional school personnel during both arrival and dismissal times to monitor the turnaround the buses use to drop off and pick up the students.
· Parent conferences will be held with the principal or assistant principal for students who are consistently tardy.
Parents who choose to violate the arrival and dismissal policies and procedures implemented by South Houston Elementary are jeopardizing their child’s safety. We realize many of you are on your way to work in the mornings, on your way to other schools to drop off or pick up other children, or that you don’t like waiting in line, but please keep in mind that our priority is to do our best to keep the children safe as they arrive and leave this school. We do not have the personnel to monitor the numerous places parents drop off and pick up their children.
Thank you for your support!
E. Karina Zarzosa Monserrath Vasquez
Principal Assistant Principal