Safe Drop-Off and Pickup Tips

We're counting on you to help make this a safe year for our kids. Here are a few safety issues regarding bringing our children to school and picking them up.

This year, as in past years, we are going to be experiencing some congestion problems as our children arrive and depart from school. You, or whomever you designate to bring your children to school, can help us with this problem by following a few simple rules:

1. DROPPING OFF KIDS: When arriving at school to drop your children off be sure the car is in a direction that will place the passenger side of your vehicle along the curb, allowing your children to always exit the vehicle on the curbside.
2. WHITE CURB ZONE: The white curb zones around the schools are for bus loading and unloading. If you must stop in a white curb zone to allow your children to exit, do so in a timely manner and make sure you do not exit the vehicle. Vehicles are not allowed to be parked unattended in white curb zones for any amount of time. Again, the white curb zones are primarily for bus loading and unloading only. Vehicles parked in a white curb zone and left unattended will be subject to a citation.
3. DOUBLE-PARKING: When bringing your children to school, please do not double-park. Double-parking is illegal and you can be cited. Even more important, when you double-park and your children exit the vehicle, they either have to walk in front of or behind another vehicle, which presents a danger that they could be struck by an inattentive or hurrying driver.
4. PARKING: Please do not park on the opposite of the street from where you want to pickup your children. Do not allow them to cross in the middle of the street to your vehicle. All schools have crosswalks located at or near intersections and, in some cases, in the middle of the street. When you encourage your child to cross the street other than in a crosswalk, the danger of them being struck is much greater. In the case of very young children, please do not stand across the street and motion them to cross. This encourages dangerous behavior. Take the extra time to walk over to them and escort them across the street.
5. PICKUP AND DROP-OFF TIMES: If you are able to stagger the times you arrive at school, especially in the afternoon when the children are picked up, it would lessen the congestion at peak times.
6. ALTERNATE DROP-OFF OR PICKUP SITE: In the case of older children, perhaps an alternate drop-off or pickup site could be arranged, a half block or so from the school. This could relieve congestion at the school and aid you in your drop-off or pickup.

Putting some of these suggestions into practice will help relieve some of the potentially dangerous situations that we face when bringing our children to school or picking them up.

If your children are walking to school, please take time to go over safety precautions with them. Tell them how to cross streets and where they should cross. Remind them that they should always cross the street at an intersection and always look in all directions before crossing. Suggest they walk with a friend. Tell them, if a stranger approaches them or asks them to walk over to their vehicle, that they should refuse and leave the area immediately. If an incident of this type should occur, the child should report it to their teacher as soon as they arrive at school.