Families, please take a few minutes to review the following. Over the years, I've come to learn that there are two things that will upset parents more than anything else:

• Receiving the call about a severe weather day (automatically, 50% of the families are upset)
• Navigating the pick-up line when 1 car makes a mistake and holds things up.

I'm mostly kidding, but to help everyone out, I have a few tips, suggestions and reminders.

Here's the handy guide that I'll be referencing.

Tips/Suggestions:

• Take a deep breath before pulling into the lot in the afternoon and give yourself an extra 15 minutes of cushion during these first few days. Keep in mind, 100% of our students are car riders. I promise you, we have a great system in place (ask any of the returning families), but please be patient with each other and with us these first few days while our new families learn the process. 
• We have two color tags: 
• Blue Tags (elementary students who do not have an older sibling), and
• Black Tags (middle and high school students, along with their younger elementary siblings).
• We run two dismissal times:  
• 2:35 - 2:50 (Blue Tags)
• 3:00 - 3:20 (Black Tags)
• When to arrive to our campus:
• Blue Tags CAN start to arrive at 1:00 pm (yes, we have families who arrive that early)
• Black Tags CAN NOT arrive until 2:50 pm (trust me, if you arrive any earlier than this, you will cause a significant back-up)
• How to arrive:
• Blue Tags when you arrive, please try to remain in the right lane (marked with a blue lion) and you'll remain here until a staff member directs you to the other lane.
•  Black Tags when you arrive (no earlier than 2:50 pm), stay in the left lane (black lions) until a staff members directs you to the other lane. 
• For Black Tags arriving before 3:00 pm, stay in the left lane and stop at the black stop sign (on the map) which is on the far side of the retention pond. You'll stay here until a staff member either moves you forward, or starts merging you with either lane.
• Stay In Your Lane:
• Please stay in your lane. We utilize both lanes for dismissal (which merges into 1 lane in front of our building). If a staff member moves you into a lane, please stay in that lane until you pick up your child. Even though it might be tempting when you see the other lane moving forward and your lane is not, please do not shift lanes. Every car is entered into a dismissal app and already assigned a number 1 - 12. This is done while you're around the retention pond. So if you shift lanes, not only will you prolong dismissal because our groups of 12 are messed up, but your child will not be at your cone waiting for you. 
• Parking Tags
• Each family is issued two tags. If you need additional tags, please see Ms. Robinson on Monday at Meet the Teacher, or email Ms. Robinson about purchasing an additional tag. 
• Please have your tags facing outwards because as you enter the campus, we input your number into our dismissal system, which then is sent to our classrooms. 
• If you forgot your tag (which we hope isn't the case), or if someone picks up your child and does not have your tag (even though they know the tag number), please have your drivers license ready (and be prepared to wait a few minutes until we can verify you with our front office. Even if we see you each day and know you, we'll still verify with the front office). The team in the parking lot is not aware of every family's custody situations (which can change overnight), so don't get upset with them if they ask for your ID.
• First Day Procedures - Independence Day
• Kindergarten families, please be on the lookout for an email from your child's teacher about the first day. 
• 1st - 9th Grade Families, our parking lot is not large enough to handle the influx of families walking their children in on the first day. Additionally, there are safety risks associated with having so many adults in the building when the building is filled with children. Because of this, we're asking all families to follow our normal drop-off procedures. We will have plenty of staff who will be outside and inside to assist anyone who needs assistance in carrying in their items, or locating their classrooms.  
• In the Mornings
• In the mornings, please enter and get to the right lane as soon as you can (unless we have a staff member move you). We merge down into 1 lane for drop-off and we really want to avoid someone speeding around and cutting everyone off.
• As you pull around to the front of the school, pull as far down as you can. This lets us get as many cars unloading at one time as possible. Even if you have a middle or high school student, pull as far as you can, then let your student exit. Please do not let them stay in the car for you to drop them off by the side of the building. 
• Tardies:
• For the first week (W - F), we'll be a little more flexible with our 8:00 am start times. However, starting on 8/15, all the adults will go inside at 8:00 am and you will need to park and sign your child in at the office. 
• For Middle and High School families, if you arrive at/after 8:00 am, you will need to sign your child in. However, if you arrive at 7:58 am, and your child arrives to his/her class and sits down after 8:00 am, s/he will be marked tardy.  , 
• Few more Reminders
• Our campus is tobacco free, which includes the car line too.  Please do not smoke (or vape) in the car rider line.
• Please avoid being on your cell phones, especially when you are pulling around the front of the school. We have a lot of kids and adults outside and we do not need you to be distracted and either run up on a curb or hit anyone. 
• Lastly, we greatly appreciate everyone's patience and flexibility during the first few days. It always takes longer on the first day, but it will get better. If we need to make any tweaks to the process, we will send out an all call/email Wednesday evening.