Drop off lane for kindergarten

[Deleted]

I am fascinated by this idea.
How long do you normally sit in this drop off line?
are there teachers ferrying the kids in the school?
Do they do this for pick up too? How do they organize which kid belongs to what car?
I have seen it on TV, but it just seems like such a long line and seems odd for smaller kids to just let them out on the sidewalk. But our kids start school as young as 3.75.

[6fsn]

We don't have a pick line. Adults sign out their kid then go wait in the gym. Kids come in and go to the adult. You leave.

[jeaniebueller]

In the morning, cars pull up, kids get out and go to their class. After school, kids are lined up per grade and you pull up

[karinothing]

DH's cousin goes to Catholic school, but at their school the older kids have younger kid buddies they are responsible for at the curb. They get them and escort them to class. It is kind of cute

[cajunmom]

There are always several teachers helping kids into cars. At the beginning of the school year it only takes a week or so before the teachers recognize what kids belong to what cars. People will start lining up ~30 minutes before the end of school but once the kids are out there it moves pretty quickly.

There are kids that young at our schools, too.

It really isn't fascinating.

[oliviapope]

At our school there are drop offs for everyone. We literally drive in the car pool lane, stop right outside the classroom door, and my son's teacher unbuckled him, chats about anything, and he walks right into the classroom. Same thing for pick up (preK-kinder)

When they move to first grade, same thing but kid gets out himself and walks right into classroom door. His teachers are there to make certain all is safe, and discuss any concerns. For pick up teacher walks to the car and opens door for him.

The whole process takes less time than parking and getting them on my own.

[Deleted]

I find it interesting too!

Here, if your kid doesn't come in on the bus (which is the main method here still) you have to park, get out and walk your kid to the actual classroom. After the kids get used to it the front door is sufficient.

At the end of the day the little kids have older kid bus buddies and the teacher lines them up by correct bus. If you're not getting on the bus you actually have to come to the door of the classroom and check your kid out.

Our school is sort of set up across a busy street with the school on one side and parking lot on the other. When I first started working there we had a bit of a pick up lane but it was a major traffic jam, people weren't paying attention, kids were almost getting hit and we were holding up traffic for busses and half the rest of the town. It's been better since.

[lishie]

Jul 8, 2015 7:00:59 GMT -5 @justdairy said:

Here, if your kid doesn't come in on the bus (which is the main method here still) you have to park, get out and walk your kid to the actual classroom. After the kids get used to it the front door is sufficient.

At the end of the day the little kids have older kid bus buddies and the teacher lines them up by correct bus. If you're not getting on the bus you actually have to come to the door of the classroom and check your kid out.

This is how our school works too.

I've only ever seen my friends in the south complaining about being in a car pool line. I don't think they're common in my area.

[meltoine]

We still go in to drop off in the morning because preK have to be signed in (state requirement) but we have a pick up line in the afternoon. There are not enough parking spaces for every parent, so this is the only way it can work. Plus I imagine trying to navigate backing out of a parking space with little kids all over the parking lot is horrible.

Our school had three lines in different areas of the parking lot and the kids are corralled by grade level. If you have more than one kid, the olders all go to the youngest's pick up spot. It's pretty efficient, except for the people in giant pick up trucks who can't manage to maneuver their cars through the line properly and end up hitting other people.

[holly116]

We have a drop off line for preschool but it's only 20 or so kids. Nbd at all.

There are several private schools in the area and you only have busing to the one in your neighborhood. So if you choose to send your kid to another one, you're driving. It's one of the main reasons I'm not sending my kids to their preschool school after preschool. It's only a few miles away but like hell am I signing up for more sitting in line if I can avoid it. Luckily the school a mile away is great but I hear that everyone drives their kids if the weather is anything but perfect.

[WillabyWallabyWu]

My school is unique in the sense that we only have preschool and kindergarten in my building (public school with a "centralized" kindergarten concept). Because of this we have almost 300 students who are 3-6 years old. We do a drop off line where three staff members open the car doors and help unbuckle the kiddos. The kids then go into the gym door and filter to their classrooms from there. After school the car pickup kids all wait in the gym and the parents have to come sign them out each day.

[frlcb]

We have no buses so the whole school (3 year old through 8th grade) does car pool. In the morning you pull up, a 4th or 5th grader opens the door, the kids get out and walk to class. In the afternoon you hold up your personal number for your family, they call your kid out, and a 4th or 5th grader opens the door and the kids climb in. If you have to help buckle you pull into a space further up.

[penguingrrl]

Our current district has drop off only, no pick up line. The wait is pretty short. You pull up, kid leaves the car and walks into the school, parent drives away. There are a few teachers to point kids in the right direction. It starts in K, so kids are old enough to be somewhat independent.

Our old district had a pick up line. Which was glorious in winter. You had a tag hanging from your mirror with a number on it. One teacher stood a distance away and shouted the car numbers, another teacher called the kids based on number. The kids got in the car and you pulled away. Some people got on line an hour before pick up to wait and be early. I figured out that the line took about ten minutes, so I arrived 8-10 minutes after school got out and basically drove right up.

[muppetinma]

In the mornings, cars line up. While in line, you unbuckle your child from whatever restraint system they have. When you get to the front of the school, there's room for about five or six cars to drop off at once. A teacher opens the car door, gets the kid and their stuff out, then sends them to the main door. Somebody stands there to make sure they get in. Once inside, there are a few teachers to help walk the younger kids to class. The school has 400 kids and no buses, but it works quickly and efficiently.

In the afternoons, a teacher has a radio and reads off the carpool numbers while the cars are lined up. By the time you get to the front of the line, a teacher has gone and gotten your kid. They help the kid back into the car. Then there's a place to pull up, get out, and buckle the kid in if you need to. Again, it goes pretty quickly.

And apparently, I'm the carpool cochair next year, whatever that means.

ETA - Kids of any age can carpool, from two-six.  A lot of the younger kids have older siblings that walk them to class.  By the end of the year, even the tiniest kids can walk to class on their own.  

[runblondie26]

The way it works for us is there's a line of teacher's aides and middle school "safety" volunteers who line up at the curb. You pull up, and they open the car door and help the kid out. Then they escort kid the 20 feet to the building door, where the teacher is waitng to line them all up. Once drop of time is complete, they all march to the classroom.

In the afternoon, each classroom lines up on the curb, and the teacher walks them to the car when you pull up.

It's a private school with no buses, and the system works quite well considering they have hundreds of kids that need to be dropped off and picked up.

[cinco]

Jul 8, 2015 6:03:59 GMT -5 jeaniebueller said:

In the morning, cars pull up, kids get out and go to their class. After school, kids are lined up per grade and you pull up

This is how ours works. There are a couple teachers in the morning to escort the kids inside, but they walk to class themselves. In the afternoon, each car pulls up and the teacher gets the child. We use the bus 99% of the time.

[Deleted]

We have one for drop offs in the morning. Yes there are aids who stand outside to make sure the kids get to the sidewalk and don't get hit by a car (typically three cars will let their kids out at once - someone pulls up just at ahead of the spot, someone in the middle, and someone just below the spot where the aids stand).

Pick up is different. We never do it because a.) ds is the first drop off of the day so he doesn't mind riding the bus for 10 min and more importantly b.) you have to actually park and go into the school and sign your child out of the auditorium. No time for that! Lol

[meij]

I nannied for a family that went to a school with a different pick up procedure. The parking lot (it was a Catholic school with the church so had a huge parking lot) was divided into four quadrants and each family was assigned a quadrant. The parking lot opened at 3:00 and you'd go and park somewhere in your quadrant. Parking lot closed at 3:40, any cars after that had to drive around to front of school and wait in a typical car line.

At 3:45 teachers walked the students out and they found their cars. When everyone was in cars the principal would dismiss the parking lot section by section. Then they'd dismiss the kids to the late comers car line.

It was nice because you didn't have to sit idling in a long car line and it was safe because there was never moving cars and running kids at the same time. There was time to get kids into their seats and not be all rushed.

If it was raining they did a normal car line.

[matildasun]

All of this stresses me out. I could always walk to school. We walk or bike our kids to school. We purposefully live somewhere where that is an option. I understand that drop off and pick up can be a mess and it is useful to have a way to fix that, I get that people live too far away from school or need to drive to make the morning go smoothly.

It makes me sad though that our communities and workplaces have been designed in such a way that cars are necessary. It bothers me that so many trips under a mile are driven. I am not judging anyone individually, but as a whole I am dismayed by the car culture.

[auntie]

Depends on the school.

Between DS's schools and my nieces' schools, I've seen all manner of approaches.

My niece's Country Day School has a virtual conga line of cars. Moms line up as early as 30 minutes ahead of time to get a good spot. Parents have a card on the visor with the child's name; a teacher deposits the child in the car and you drive off immediately- it's bad form to stop while they buckle up. (I once collected my niece and two friends in an emergency- they didn't know me from Adam- and they put the kids in a car with out-of-state tags without so much as blinking) You can pull into a space if the child needs help. With 200+ students, and no bussing for private school kids in Indy, dismissal can take close to 30 minutes. Stragglers are not treated kindly.

At DS's first indie school, parents parked and came into the lobby to collect kids from the gym orr drop them off. PA has bussing parity within 10 miles of the district. At DS's second school which only had 120 kids, and a lot of carpools, you line up with a card on your visor and the teachers deliver the kids to the car. Because of the small size and wait while they get multiple kids, you might get a conversation and time to buckle up.

The public schools discourage parents driving. The elementary has a car lane, but the kids have to cross in front of the buses to get to the door. You collect them from the sidewalk out front at dismissal. Same at the high school. The middle school is an older building with dedicated carport; the rules about pickup are draconian in terms of time allotted to pickup or drive off- teachers will tap your hood to get you to move on- it's like a continuous load ride at WDW- you sort of slow down and the kid hops in. They can empty a 1000 kid school in 7 minutes.

[mrslisa]

We have it for the entire school and it is amazing. Their school is large (1,400+ kids) and the parking lot is small. When you turn into the school there are two lanes. The left lane is for drop off and the right lane is for parking. The left lane loops all around the school. At the end of the loop there is enough sidewalk for about 6 cars to pull up and let out kids. There are four aides who help get the kids out and watch them. The k-2 kids walk through a gate right next to drop off to the little kid playground. The 3-5th kids walk down the sidewalk to the older kid playground. The entire school is fenced in and has cameras so there is no time they are unattended.

Drop off is any time from 7am until the first bell at 7:25am. I don't usually wait more than a couple minutes. Pick up times are staggered by grade to cut down on the volume. Sometimes I wait 15 minutes or so but it is worth it to not have to get my toddler out of the car in 100+ degree weather. I read my Kindle while I wait.

[whitepicketfence]

We don't have a drop-off/pick-up lane. I physically walk the girls to their classrooms each morning.

For preschool, since they only went until noon, the parents waited in the lobby of the school until the teacher dismissed the students one by one. I'm not sure what the protocol is for kindergarten next year yet as DD1 will now be dismissed with the rest of the school. I figure this is something they'll cover during kindergarten orientation.

[Marmee]

We have drop off pick up for all ages P-8th grade. Preschool/PreK/Kindy on the street in front of the school, the older kids in the alley behind the school. At little kid carpool you have to sign in/out your child. They walk or watch the little kids into the school if they don't have an older sibling. There are at least 6 teachers/aids just at the little kid carpool lane. Drop off the kids are in the sunken plaza & they call the kids names with a megaphone & they come up & are helped into the car (sort of like a valet). The older kids there is no sign in/out & only probably 3 teachers at the actual cars, 1 at the driveway (the help walkers cross) & a few teachers with the kids waiting. It's quite a production but man it's amazingly convenient. I mean I'm in CO with snow a lot & the idea of not having to take my baby/toddler out & walk my kids in is almost worth the tuition alone. Also we live in the city & there is no parking lot...so anyone parking/walking their kid in has to park on the street. Sometimes it's blocks away.

[Alyssa]

I went to a mini orientation at my daughter's new school back in April.  There were a couple parents in there with children who have been going to the school already and one of them brought up the drop-off lane. 

I'm paraphrasing this but she basically said, "Parents, I really want to emphasize this but please don't get out of your vehicle to help your child get in and out.  We really need to keep cars moving.  If your child requires help getting in or out of your car, we have staff here who will help them." 

This is different from her school that she just left, there you could at least get out and help your child get out.  There were no staff opening doors or touching car seats.

[penguingrrl]

Jul 8, 2015 8:43:25 GMT -5 matildasun said:

All of this stresses me out. I could always walk to school. We walk or bike our kids to school. We purposefully live somewhere where that is an option. I understand that drop off and pick up can be a mess and it is useful to have a way to fix that, I get that people live too far away from school or need to drive to make the morning go smoothly.

It makes me sad though that our communities and workplaces have been designed in such a way that cars are necessary. It bothers me that so many trips under a mile are driven. I am not judging anyone individually, but as a whole I am dismayed by the car culture.

I definitely agree with you. We drive because we're 1.5 miles from school. It's a little too far to walk to get there for 8 am (my kids have trouble being awake before 8 am, they are not morning people) but we're too close to get a bus. I often pop my toddler in the stroller and put their scooters on the stroller handles and we all walk home. 

Our middle school is a much better set up as it's smack dab in the center of our 2.5 square mile town, about a half mile from our house.I have no intention of driving them to and from there. It was the original school built in the 30s that housed K-8 for a long time. By the 60s the town had grown substantially (yay addition of commuter train line to NYC) and they needed a second school building and at that point the only large enough available lot was way on the edge of town, so only walkable to a small number of homes.

[DarcyLongfellow]

Preschool (kids ages 2.5 to 6 at the oldest (the preschool had one kindergarten class): each class had two teachers, so the assistant teachers worked the car line. There were separate car lines for each pod of 3-4 classes. The cars would pull up 3 at a time, the teachers would come to the car, unbuckle the kid, take the backpack, then walk the kid to his/her classroom door where the other teacher would take the kid. Assistant teacher would then go back to the car line to get the next kid. The classroom doors were no more than 30 steps, at most, from the carpool line. The reverse at pick up -- they walk the kid to your car and buckle her in. Every parent had a tag with the teacher's name and kid's name so everyone knew where the kid belonged and what class the kid was in.

Elementary school (where DD started at barely 5), you just pull up, the kids tumble out, and they walk themselves to class. BUT -- the school had 5th graders who were safety patrol, and their job is to open car doors if the kids can't on their own, and if the parent asks, then they will walk the kid to his or her classroom. I'd just tell the 5th grader what class. At the beginning of the year, most kindergarteners were walked to class by either an older sibling or a safety patrol kid. By the end, almost all were walking themselves. But a parent can ask a safety patrol kid to walk their kid to class at any time -- all ages, not just kindergarteners. Pick up is different -- the kids are sitting by grade level. Each parent has a tag with the kid's grade and name. There are two teachers per grade level, and they put the kids in the correct cars. They'll help with opening and closing doors, but they won't do seat belts. Before DD1 could buckle her carseat herself, I'd either just reach back and help, or we'd pull into the parking lot really quickly and I'd help her buckle up before we drove home.

[heygrey]

I am equally as fascinated by this. I grew up in a rural country school district so you either lived close enough to walk from your front door by yourself (approximately 2 families per school were this close) or you arrived by bus. The very rare family drove their child to school. There were 4 elementary schools, one middle, and one high school. None of them were close to each other. My elem. school was ~7 miles from my house. My middle and high school were ~20 miles.

[stephm0188]

Our school is K-2.

Morning is a drop off lane. You drop your kid off, they walk inside on their own. No teachers there to help, parents are not allowed to get out of the car. (if you want to get out, you have to park in the lot. No drop off lane.)

Afternoon is different. You park in the lot and wait in the lobby. The kids who are pick ups go to the gym. The secretary asks who you are there for (in theory. The woman knows everyone!), calls the kid over, and that's that.

Drop off is fine. Pick up is awful because the parking lot is a mess. I prefer that he takes the bus.

[rugbywife]

Most of our schools have kiss and rides. At every school I have worked at there is a process for getting kindie kids from the kiss and ride area to the kindie pen area. I have no idea how long it takes...I am the one opening doors and letting kids out