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HIGHCROFT DRIVE ELEMENTARY
ARRIVAL AND DISMISSAL PROCEDURES
The following procedures will be followed consistently to ensure the safety of all students. All students will be taught these procedures at the beginning of school. Please notify your child’s teacher of the usual dismissal method for your child. Changes in the dismissal procedure must be sent in writing to the teacher as verbal messages may be confused by children.
Arrival and Dismissal Time
Students may arrive between 8:45 and 9:10. There is no supervision of students before 8:45 so students playing on the playground or left in the front lobby are unsupervised. Children arriving after 9:15 must come to the office, with a parent, to sign in and receive a tardy slip. Most students are dismissed at 3:45 with a short delay for some groups to ease hallway congestion. Students will not be called from the office between 3:30-3:45 p.m. unless the child has a dental or medical appointment. Please give your appointment card to the receptionist. Please send a written request to the principal if you have special circumstances that require an exception to these procedures. All visitors must enter through the main door to check in. This includes arrival and dismissal times.
Bike Riders
Riding bikes to school is a privilege for Grades 4 & 5. Third grade students may begin biking to school in April. Students who ride a bike or walk home should do so immediately after school. Students are not allowed to remain on campus playing in the field or on the playground.
Bus Riders
Since busing is the safest means of transportation, we encourage all qualifying students to ride the bus. Please see the schedule for the stop nearest your home. Students are only allowed to ride their assigned bus. Transportation will no longer approve for students to ride home with a friend on another bus, per Panther Creek Transportation. If you have questions about busing, please call the Transportation Department at 919-805-3030.
Students on the 300 & 500 hallways will enter school through the door directly behind the media center. Students in classrooms on the 400 hallway will walk through the cafeteria to the main hallway. At dismissal, buses arriving are listed on the TV for students to walk to the bus loop. There will be staff to assist students.
Carpool Procedures
Carpool drivers will queue in a single line from the main entrance off Highcroft Drive (second entrance from Green Hope School Road). Drive slowly as all cars will proceed through the crosswalk for students who walk home. Drivers are not to enter the bus loop at any time. All parents of carpool students must obtain a carpool number to hang from the rearview mirror. These will be available at Meet the Teacher Open House in August or at the front office anytime.
Carpool students will sit quietly and listen for their number to be called. Drivers should pull fully into the designated position along the front of the school for quick loading. Carpool takes approximately 15 minutes. If parents must come into school, please pick up your child first via carpool, then park in a designated parking space and enter the school for your appointment. Please refrain from cell phone use as you drive through carpool.
Daycare Vans
Private daycare vans will drop students off in the bus loop area in the mornings. Students going to rooms on the front hallways (300 or 500) will enter school through the door directly behind the media center. Students in classrooms on the 400 hallway will walk through the cafeteria to the main hallway. Students who go to private daycare in the afternoon are called to the bus loop when the daycare van arrives. Please notify the daycare van if your student will not be riding home in the afternoon so that they don’t make an unnecessary trip.
Messages
Please make every effort to tell your child how to get home each day, prior to sending the child to school. If there is a change in transportation, send a written note or e-mail to your child’s teacher. Emergency messages can be delivered to your child by calling the office before 3:00 p.m.
Parking
Parents must park in designated visitor parking at the front of the school if you wish to come in school. At dismissal, parents should pick up their carpool students prior to parking and coming into school. Cars are not allowed to park in the fire lane except during carpool arrival and dismissal.
Walkers
There is no supervision of students before 8:45. Students should plan their departure to arrive on campus just prior to 8:45 or an adult should accompany them. To be dismissed as a walker, students must walk to and from home, not to the park. Students who are eligible for bus service do not live within the walking zone of the school so these students should not be walkers. Students who go to a car must use carpool. Walkers may exit at the end of the hallway closest to their home. A staff member will stop cars before children walk through the crosswalk across the carpool line. Parents who are walking with children in the carpool area are asked to wait below the steps near Highcroft Drive to ease congestion at the crosswalk and allow full visual view by carpool drivers. Please do not walk or bring pets on school property. Please remind your child to walk straight home each afternoon or plan to meet your child at school at 3:45. Students in Kindergarten and 1st grade should have a responsible adult meet them.