Arrival & Dismissal

Arrival & Dismissal

SCHOOL BEGINS AT 8:30 AND ENDS AT 2:50 (2:45 for Kindergarten).

Arrival

Kindergarten: Students should be brought to their designated arrival spots that are in front of the school between 8:25 and 8:30. 

Grades 1 – 4: Students in grades one through four will line up in their boxes in the backyard between 8:20-8:30. These are the same boxes they have been in since the first day of school for both arrival and dismissal. Parents will say goodbye to their children at the gates to the backyard (either on 1st or 2nd Street) and children will enter on their own. This is for your children’s safety. Administrators and other staff will supervise in the year and at the gates, and teachers will arrive at 8:30 and take their classes upstairs. 

Fifth grade: Students will enter the school building on their own through the front doors.  The front doors will open at 8:27. We will have staff members stationed on the stairs and in the hallways to guide them to their classrooms, where their teachers will be waiting for them.  Fifth graders should not come into the backyard.  

If you’re late: Children who arrive late, after classes have gone upstairs, should enter through the front doors into the lobby. They will need to go to the office to get late passes. 

Dismissal

Please make sure that your children’s teachers have in writing who will be picking up your children each day, and/or what after school program they will be going to. We can only dismiss children to people or programs you have designated.  

The dismissal spots are the same ones the classes have been using since the first day of school and are the same as the arrival spots: 

  • Kindergarten: Arrival and dismissal spots are in front of the school.
  • Grades 1 – 4: Children in grades one through four are dismissed through their boxes. Fourth graders who have permission to self-dismiss will be let out of the gates as their teachers are walking the class down the stairs to the yard.   
  • Fifth Graders: Children leave on their own through the front doors if they have permission to self dismiss or are brought to 2nd Street, through the door of the school closest to 7th Avenue.


If you or a caregiver are picking up your child from the back yard, you must stay along the side of the yard–along the fence on the 2nd Street side or along the mini-school on the 1st Street side. No parents or caregivers are allowed into the boxes, and this is not a time to talk to teachers. Only one adult per child is permitted in the yard. You must make eye contact with the teacher who will then send your child to you. 

Whichever gate you are entering through, it is essential that you follow the instructions the staff at the gates are giving. On 1st Street it is very important that parents not enter as classes are going into the yard. On 2nd Street we generally call only the classes that are already in the yard and ask others to wait until their class comes down. It is very important that as you enter you keep moving toward the back of the yard and not block the gate.   

No dogs or bikes are permitted in either the front or back yard or in any of the front yard dismissal areas. Strollers make dismissal much more challenging. If it is possible to not bring a stroller to dismissal, that would be extremely  helpful.  

Afterschool programs have designated meeting spots, and children will be brought to these spots at dismissal time. Older children in the main building will be sent there on their own as the class goes outside (except in the case of after schools that pickup outside). Younger children and children from the minischool will be escorted by staff.  These are the dismissal spots:

  • Kids Orbit (program meets in the school)–Lunchroom
  • CBE & Beansprouts–Auditorium
  • Mindful Sports–Outside behind minischool (near garden)
  • Gamelab–Outside, garden area
  • All other after school programs–Gym 

 

Dismissal in the backyard does take a few minutes, given the number of children. Your children will be supervised until they are picked up.  Please be patient and do not worry!  

Please be on time to pick up your children. Kindergarten pick up time is 2:45. Pick up for all other grades is 2:50. Children not picked up on time will be brought to the table areas near the garden (grades 1-4) and then to the lobby or directly to the lobby (K & 5) where they will be supervised and parents will be called.