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Post by epeanymous on May 27, 2016 0:46:05 GMT
I wasn't sure how to title this one. My kids have done kindergarten at three different schools. School #1, kindergarten students had to be either (1) picked up from the classroom by a parent or guardian or (2) signed up for the bus or for after school care on site, which they would be escorted to from class. School #2, kindergarten students were walked to the bus or lined up along the wall with their teacher for pick-up. At the school my kids currently attend, kindergarten students are released from their class and just leave -- parents pick them up outside the school, the off-site daycare gathers them up from the playground, or they walk to the bus.
We've had several instances this year of kindergarten students who were temporarily unable to be located by their parents, and one minor injury. Yesterday, one of the kindergarten students ran outside to the monkey bars at the bell, fell, and broke his arm.
Should our school be more structured with respect to kindergarten release? I only have experience with these three schools, all of which are here in my city, so I really don't know what the norm would be in terms of releasing kindergarten students.
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Post by Dixie Lou on May 27, 2016 0:58:21 GMT
All of the schools where I have taught lined the kids up and waited for pick-up. Daycare kids are sent to the gym since the buses go to the back of the school. At my current school the kindergarten dismiss at one side of the school away from the older kids. I've never heard of such a free for all as you've described.
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Post by monklady123 on May 27, 2016 1:00:58 GMT
I can't compare schools because I only know the one where my kids went and where I now sub. Kindergartners are supervised always. So the walkers/car riders are picked up by two staff members and the whole line (from all four kindergartens) goes outside with the staff. The kids line up along the wall and are watched by one staff member while the other goes out and watches for car pickup, then he'll come back and get the kid whose parent is there. Meanwhile the one watching everyone on the wall also watches for parents of walkers.
After school care kindergarten kids are picked up at the door to their classroom and taken down the hall by staff. They call it the "Extended Day Train", lol.
Bus kids wait in their classrooms until their particular bus is called and then a kindergarten teacher or assistant picks up kids from each classroom who are riding that particular bus and escorts the whole line out to the bus.
1st - 5th just wait until their category is called -- i.e., "walkers and car riders may now be dismissed" and they all just go. "Extended Day may now be dismissed." Bus riders all wait in their own classes till that bus is called.
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Post by melanell on May 27, 2016 1:03:55 GMT
The 3rd school is how things were when I was in elementary school. The doors open and kids flood out. I haven't seen any schools work things like that since having my own kids. It surprises me, but I could live with it. I'd just arrange to be there waiting before dismissal. (Which is what I do now, anyway.)
Our elementary dismisses kids from the lobby of the school a few at a time only once their pick-up vehicle is in front of the building and can be seen by the dismissing teachers. The bus students gather in clusters with other teachers who lead them, in a line, right to their bus door.
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Post by finally~a~mama on May 27, 2016 1:04:47 GMT
At my DD's school the students that were car riders were sent to one K room & the bus riders were sent to another K room and then the teacher in that room would take the group to the part of the building for car riders or bus riders -- one group dismisses from the front of the building & the other dismisses from the back. Parents did not go in to the building to get their child unless it was for special circumstances. There are also adults supervising all the bus riders & the car riders until all students are gone. The few students that walked are walked to the end of the school property.
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Post by redrulz on May 27, 2016 1:07:23 GMT
The two different elementary schools my kids went to both supervised kids from the classroom to the exit. They would escort all bus riders to the bus area, then escort the kids out that were picked up, and then released the kids that walked home. I think it's the best way to ensure that kids (especially the young kindergartners) are fully supervised for their safety and also because they are responsible for all children while they are on school property.
I know when I was young, kids just streamed out of the school as soon as they were released and it was up to the kid to go where they were supposed to go. lol. It's just very different now.
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Post by bigbundt on May 27, 2016 1:10:36 GMT
It would make sense to be more structured not only for safety reasons but your current system can't be efficient for car pick up! I currently have a kindergartner and I would not be happy with your system.
I do like our current car pick up system:
There is a long driveway that is two cars wide, so we have two lines of cars going at once. We all have yellow papers displayed on the dash with the name of our kid and the grade. As we drive to the front of the school, a teacher stands in the middle of the cars and calls out the kids' names into a walkie talkie and indicating "curb side" or "cross walk". Kids wait in the cafeteria with their class until their name is called. The PE teacher stands at the front of the line and tells cars when they can drive forward and we have a safety patrol made up of older kids who open the doors for the cars and hold the hands of younger students. My daughter always comes out holding the hand of someone on the safety patrol. It is safe and quick, we are usually back home within ten minutes of me leaving our house and that is with a large number of car riders (no bus service available in our district if you live too close to the school).
I don't know how our school does school or daycare bus pickup because it is on the side of the school.
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LeaP
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Post by LeaP on May 27, 2016 1:10:39 GMT
Our school was #1 for K-2 grade. Busses didn't apply for K, only 1st grade and up.
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johnnysmom
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Post by johnnysmom on May 27, 2016 1:10:49 GMT
Tiny rural,school here but we're mostly like school 2 for prek- 1st grade. The parents don't come in and there is no drive up pick up line, parents walk up. The teachers pretty much know where each kid is supposed to go (watch for parent outside/meet sibling/meet sitter at the tree/walk/etc). Pre K has to be signed out but not the others. Older kids aren't as supervised but there are teachers at that door and I don't believe they allow kids to go to the playground.
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Post by bc2ca on May 27, 2016 1:15:40 GMT
Our school was like your first school for K, with all kids being handed over to a parent or guardian. We were in the morning K class, so the bus home was only K students and a parent or guardian had to meet them at the bus stop. Your child could go home with another parent if a note was sent in to the teacher.
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johnnysmom
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Post by johnnysmom on May 27, 2016 1:15:55 GMT
It would make sense to be more structured not only for safety reasons but your current system can't be efficient for car pick up! I currently have a kindergartner and I would not be happy with your system. I do like our current car pick up system: There is a long driveway that is two cars wide, so we have two lines of cars going at once. We all have yellow papers displayed on the dash with the name of our kid and the grade. As we drive to the front of the school, a teacher stands in the middle of the cars and calls out the kids' names into a walkie talkie and indicating "curb side" or "cross walk". Kids wait in the cafeteria with their class until their name is called. The PE teacher stands at the front of the line and tells cars when they can drive forward and we have a safety patrol made up of older kids who open the doors for the cars and hold the hands of younger students. My daughter always comes out holding the hand of someone on the safety patrol. It is safe and quick, we are usually back home within ten minutes of me leaving our house and that is with a large number of car riders (no bus service available in our district if you live too close to the school). I don't know how our school does school or daycare bus pickup because it is on the side of the school. Maybe it's because my kid is a peanut (or perhaps his mom is just a nut) but what about kids in car seats? We don't have a pickup line but we do have a drop off line and the few times I've used it (ds likes me to walk him in, I try not to complain too much bc someday he won't want me to do that) I have to park, run around and very quickly unbuckle him so he can get out, thereby holding up the line (small school, not much of an issue but still curious).
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Post by bigbundt on May 27, 2016 1:15:56 GMT
Oh and my daughter attended 3K and 4K at a private school that would have the parents park in side by side lines kind of in a circle in the parking lot and the teachers would walk their classes around until they came to their parents' car. Once the teachers had walked the circle and all kids were secured, they dropped the rope and released the cars all at the same time. The 3K, 4K and kindergarten had an earlier release time.
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Post by bigbundt on May 27, 2016 1:23:56 GMT
It would make sense to be more structured not only for safety reasons but your current system can't be efficient for car pick up! I currently have a kindergartner and I would not be happy with your system. I do like our current car pick up system: There is a long driveway that is two cars wide, so we have two lines of cars going at once. We all have yellow papers displayed on the dash with the name of our kid and the grade. As we drive to the front of the school, a teacher stands in the middle of the cars and calls out the kids' names into a walkie talkie and indicating "curb side" or "cross walk". Kids wait in the cafeteria with their class until their name is called. The PE teacher stands at the front of the line and tells cars when they can drive forward and we have a safety patrol made up of older kids who open the doors for the cars and hold the hands of younger students. My daughter always comes out holding the hand of someone on the safety patrol. It is safe and quick, we are usually back home within ten minutes of me leaving our house and that is with a large number of car riders (no bus service available in our district if you live too close to the school). I don't know how our school does school or daycare bus pickup because it is on the side of the school. Maybe it's because my kid is a peanut (or perhaps his mom is just a nut) but what about kids in car seats? We don't have a pickup line but we do have a drop off line and the few times I've used it (ds likes me to walk him in, I try not to complain too much bc someday he won't want me to do that) I have to park, run around and very quickly unbuckle him so he can get out, thereby holding up the line (small school, not much of an issue but still curious). I also have a peanut, she was in a five point convertible car seat until a few months ago. We taught her how to unbuckle herself and she did so as soon as we turned into the school driveway from the road. Safety patrol was there to open the door for her. At the end of the day, she was able to get herself buckled in and I just reached around and tightened the straps and she adjusted the chest clip. They release cars a few at a time so there is enough downtime to get her buckled in. There are some parents who get out and put their kids in car seats and we just wait. At her old school in 4K, there was a smaller parking lot to the side that I was able to pull into so that I could get out and unbuckle her and then get back into car line. That worked pretty well too.
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Post by bigbundt on May 27, 2016 1:25:28 GMT
Doh, I hit quote instead of edit.
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Post by Belia on May 27, 2016 1:38:52 GMT
The school that my oldest attends is the free-for-all approach. There are no buses for anyone. The bell rings... the doors open.... kids stream out.
No car line, no supervision (outside the school doors, anyway), nothing. The kids just figure out where they're supposed to go and get themselves there.
After reading car line horror stories on 2peas, I was shocked and thought this was CRAZY. Still do, actually, but it seems to work. Thankfully I have a somewhat risk-averse, obedient kid with a good head on his shoulders, so I don't worry about him being goofy.
I don't know if kindy kids are included in the madness- we only have half day kindy, so my son didn't start this school until 1st grade. I assume they are, though.
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Post by ntsf on May 27, 2016 1:51:49 GMT
in my experience, you go into yard or something to pick up k students...the day care kids go in a mob with staff from the day care. I even pick up a 1st grader in the yard.
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Post by gorgeouskid on May 27, 2016 2:10:58 GMT
All of the schools at which I've taught, and my child's own school, released kinder students directly to their parents or to the after school program from the kinder class doorstep. No bus riders at my school.
At my school, first-third kids are walked to the outside gate and released after eye contact with parent or pickup person is made. Fourth through sixth kids are allowed to walk out the gate to parents or walk home. Only after school kids may play on the yard after school, and that's only after everyone else is released and off campus.
My son's elementary school had first through fifth graders release from the classroom to parents. Only a few kids walked home unsupervised. Also, no bus riders at my son's school either. There was loosely supervised free play on the yard at his school until 5:30 daily for kids third through fifth grade. Kinder through second had supervised activity (STAR program) after school.
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Post by AussieMeg on May 27, 2016 2:19:30 GMT
At my kids' school there are no special rules for Prep (Kindergarten) kids. There is a drive-through for parents to pick up kids, but most parents seem to park their car and walk in to pick up the younger kids. The rule for all children through to Year 6 is that if a child hasn't been picked up by 4pm (school finished at 3:30pm) then the child has to go to the on site after care and the parents would be charged for a session. Kids are not allowed to play on the play equipment before or after school as there are no teachers supervising.
It's not common for kids here to catch the bus to primary school. We seem to have smaller schools and more of them, so most kids would live within walking distance of their school, or at least a short drive. For example, there are 5 primary schools within walking distance of my house, all 5 of them are between 1.3 to 2.7 kilometres away.
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kate
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Post by kate on May 27, 2016 2:19:42 GMT
Our school dismisses K kids directly from the teacher's hand to the caregiver's hand. Very few kids are picked up in cars. At my kid's school, half the block is lined with double-parked SUV's with drivers (not the parents) at dismissal for the younger kids.
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Country Ham
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Post by Country Ham on May 27, 2016 2:29:32 GMT
Kindergarten is the first year of school so no signing out etc. They follow the same exact after school routine as grades 1 through 8. Bus riders are walked to their designated waiting area and when their bus number is called they are walked as a group to the bus with all the other elementary kids on that bus. Pick ups are walked to the gym and sit in an assigned spot till their names are called.
What you are describing to me sounds more like a Pre K routine where they are not in school for as long as K-8 kids. our PreK kids are not allowed on buses and must be signed in and out of the classroom by designated caretakers/parents.
ETA: all early outs must be signed out whether you are a K student or an 8th grader though.
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Post by myshelly on May 27, 2016 3:01:12 GMT
At our elementary schools the district policy is
Day care kids are dismissed to the gym 10 minutes before school is out. The PE teacher and aides put them in their appropriate vans.
Students walk outside with their teachers and sit on the ground criss cross applesauce. There are 3 separate entrances to the building so there are separate car drives for dismissal. K and 1 are at the east door, 2 and 3 in the main door, and 4 and 5 at the west door. As each car pulls up there is a sign with a child's name and the name of the teacher. That child stands up, that teacher walks him to his car, the teacher opens the door, talks to/verifies the adult in the car, child gets in, teacher closes door. If someone other than the parent is picking up on a specific day, that person must have the child's sign and the parent must email the teacher.
Children under grade 4 are not permitted to walk or bike ride without an accompanying adult. Children in grades 4 and 5 may walk or bike home if their parent indicates they are walkers/bikers at the beginning of the year.
Any child left after 20 minutes after dismissal is taken to the principal. At 4:30 (dismissal is at 3:00),the principal can call the police and CPS if any child has not been picked up.
There is no school bus service here.
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Post by myshelly on May 27, 2016 3:04:27 GMT
It would make sense to be more structured not only for safety reasons but your current system can't be efficient for car pick up! I currently have a kindergartner and I would not be happy with your system. I do like our current car pick up system: There is a long driveway that is two cars wide, so we have two lines of cars going at once. We all have yellow papers displayed on the dash with the name of our kid and the grade. As we drive to the front of the school, a teacher stands in the middle of the cars and calls out the kids' names into a walkie talkie and indicating "curb side" or "cross walk". Kids wait in the cafeteria with their class until their name is called. The PE teacher stands at the front of the line and tells cars when they can drive forward and we have a safety patrol made up of older kids who open the doors for the cars and hold the hands of younger students. My daughter always comes out holding the hand of someone on the safety patrol. It is safe and quick, we are usually back home within ten minutes of me leaving our house and that is with a large number of car riders (no bus service available in our district if you live too close to the school). I don't know how our school does school or daycare bus pickup because it is on the side of the school. Maybe it's because my kid is a peanut (or perhaps his mom is just a nut) but what about kids in car seats? We don't have a pickup line but we do have a drop off line and the few times I've used it (ds likes me to walk him in, I try not to complain too much bc someday he won't want me to do that) I have to park, run around and very quickly unbuckle him so he can get out, thereby holding up the line (small school, not much of an issue but still curious). I have three kids still in car seats. Do you mean to tell me your elementary school ages child still cannot buckle and unbuckle himself? That seems...very odd.
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Post by crazy4scraps on May 27, 2016 3:14:26 GMT
Where my kid goes, they have on-site before and after school care for those that register for it. Those kids are escorted to the after care area and are checked in. There are also walkers, carpoolers and kids like my DD who take the school bus home. I'm not sure what the walkers do, but the kindergarten bus riders are assigned to a couple of 5th-6th graders that are on their bus to escort their line to their bus at the back of the school. Kindergarten kids are not allowed to get off the bus at their stop unless a parent is there to collect them or they have an older sibling also on the same bus. If there is no parent at the stop, the child is taken back to school and a parent is called to come get them from the school.
The carpool is set up so that each grade is assigned to one specific area of the line. The child's name is posted in the passenger side window, the parent drives through the line to their child's designated pickup area where the kids are waiting with a para. Then a 5th-6th grade police patrol student opens the door and buckles the kid in (ETA: for the kindergarten kids, most are in boosters) so you can drive right off after pickup. After the first few weeks of chaos, their system actually goes rather smoothly. The worst part is sitting in the line of cars for 30+ minutes if you end up at the end of the line.
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Post by crazy4scraps on May 27, 2016 3:28:31 GMT
Maybe it's because my kid is a peanut (or perhaps his mom is just a nut) but what about kids in car seats? We don't have a pickup line but we do have a drop off line and the few times I've used it (ds likes me to walk him in, I try not to complain too much bc someday he won't want me to do that) I have to park, run around and very quickly unbuckle him so he can get out, thereby holding up the line (small school, not much of an issue but still curious). I have three kids still in car seats. Do you mean to tell me your elementary school ages child still cannot buckle and unbuckle himself? That seems...very odd. Some of those seats are a beast, I won't judge. My kid is in a booster now and even DH can't always get the thing buckled right. She can unbuckle herself. When she was in a regular five point harness car seat in Pre-K, I would have to get out and go around to buckle her in myself when she was in the carpool because she couldn't pull the lower strap that tightened the shoulder straps tight enough without help.
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Post by myshelly on May 27, 2016 4:46:14 GMT
I have three kids still in car seats. Do you mean to tell me your elementary school ages child still cannot buckle and unbuckle himself? That seems...very odd. Some of those seats are a beast, I won't judge. My kid is in a booster now and even DH can't always get the thing buckled right. She can unbuckle herself. When she was in a regular five point harness car seat in Pre-K, I would have to get out and go around to buckle her in myself when she was in the carpool because she couldn't pull the lower strap that tightened the shoulder straps tight enough without help. My kids could do their own 5 pt harnesses.
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Country Ham
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Post by Country Ham on May 27, 2016 5:13:24 GMT
Maybe it's because my kid is a peanut (or perhaps his mom is just a nut) but what about kids in car seats? We don't have a pickup line but we do have a drop off line and the few times I've used it (ds likes me to walk him in, I try not to complain too much bc someday he won't want me to do that) I have to park, run around and very quickly unbuckle him so he can get out, thereby holding up the line (small school, not much of an issue but still curious). I also have a peanut, she was in a five point convertible car seat until a few months ago. We taught her how to unbuckle herself and she did so as soon as we turned into the school driveway from the road. Safety patrol was there to open the door for her. At the end of the day, she was able to get herself buckled in and I just reached around and tightened the straps and she adjusted the chest clip. They release cars a few at a time so there is enough downtime to get her buckled in. There are some parents who get out and put their kids in car seats and we just wait. At her old school in 4K, there was a smaller parking lot to the side that I was able to pull into so that I could get out and unbuckle her and then get back into car line. That worked pretty well too. Parents are not really "allowed" to get out of their cars in the pickup lane here. There 6 spots, teacher has a walkier talkie "billy smith number 1" "mary and jane smith number 2" and so on. The kids come out of the gym and are met by a teacher that goes to the spot with each kid. Each of the 6 spots has a teacher. Then 6 cars move forward. The teacher opens the car doors and in jumps the kid. If anything is required like help with a carseat either the teacher does it or the parent is instructed to move their car over to the side and do it then they can continue on out the parking lot.
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paigepea
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Post by paigepea on May 27, 2016 5:32:55 GMT
I think it should be ok depending on how the kids get to the parents. Is there outside supervision making sure th kids are safe while getting to their parents.
We did K at the same school for both kids but the rules have changed since we did it.
For my girls, they had to be released to a parent or guardian or other parent in the school (play date) and were picked up at the classroom. When my little dd was in K my older dd could pick her up and bring her outside. But we have security at the door who doesn't let kids out unless he sees where the parent is parked.
Now, the school has built an underground parkade so there is an indoor drive thru where we can meet our kids. It is supervised and younger kids are escorted to their car. So now they allow K kids to walk to the drive thru from class by themselves. But the parents have to ok it with the teacher.
P.
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Post by katiejane on May 27, 2016 6:50:01 GMT
We don't have school buses as most people walk or drive to collect their kids. There isn't a drive through either. You park, get out and wait in the playground. In my kids primary school (4-11 yrs old), All children are released from their classroom doors that face the playground. The kids are released individually to parents/carers, or if you have informed the school they walk home, or go with another parent for a playdate. The afterschool care children are collected from the classroom and are taken to the office where the walking bus staff are waiting.
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johnnysmom
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Post by johnnysmom on May 27, 2016 10:10:20 GMT
Maybe it's because my kid is a peanut (or perhaps his mom is just a nut) but what about kids in car seats? We don't have a pickup line but we do have a drop off line and the few times I've used it (ds likes me to walk him in, I try not to complain too much bc someday he won't want me to do that) I have to park, run around and very quickly unbuckle him so he can get out, thereby holding up the line (small school, not much of an issue but still curious). I have three kids still in car seats. Do you mean to tell me your elementary school ages child still cannot buckle and unbuckle himself? That seems...very odd. Technically he's pre-k so there's that. But honestly I've never told him he could try so that's on me, I'll have to ask him to try. though I'm not sure he has the finger strength to push the button, that sucker is a hard to push.
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Post by myshelly on May 27, 2016 10:59:51 GMT
I have three kids still in car seats. Do you mean to tell me your elementary school ages child still cannot buckle and unbuckle himself? That seems...very odd. Technically he's pre-k so there's that. But honestly I've never told him he could try so that's on me, I'll have to ask him to try. though I'm not sure he has the finger strength to push the button, that sucker is a hard to push. At that age they should all still be in a car seat, so it seems more likely he's the only one who can't do it than that he's the only one still in a seat. In answer to your how would that work here question, it's a written rule that parents cannot get out of the car in the drop off/pick up line. Additionally, it wouldn't physically be possible for you to get out of the driver's side with the way our lane is set up. As I said earlier, a teacher walks your child to the car, the teacher opens the back passenger door, child gets in, teacher closes door, you drive away. You would have to park and walk over to your child's class, get him, and walk him back to your car at our school. There would be a full scale riot if you tried to slow down the pick up lane like that.
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