Arrival and Dismissal Procedures

Visiting School


We welcome our guests, mentors, tutors and community supporters and look forward to your visit. During the school day, only the front door is available for entry. Please buzz the doorbell for admittance. All visitors should report first to the office. There you will sign in and receive a visitor’s badge.

Parents wishing to pick up a child early for any reason must do so before 1:45 p.m. with a previously arranged written note or a phone call. No adult will be permitted to meet a child at their classroom or in the dismissal line. School staff are accountable for the safety and supervision of the children. Other than for such emergency situations, no one will be permitted to enter the school building during the period of time between 1:45 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. unless scheduled for a meeting with school personnel. This is in order that we may dismiss students in a safe, orderly and accountable fashion.


Daily Schedule: PreK – 8


Bus arrival 7:30 a.m.
Tardy Bell 7:45 a.m.
Lunch Periods 10:00 a.m. – 12:50 p.m.
Dismissal Bell 2:15 p.m.


Traffic Flow and Visitor Parking


Morning Traffic Flow
During morning arrival, the busses pull in and park alongside the front curb of the school. There is no stopping or parking along this front curb in the morning for other vehicles. Please look carefully at the posted signs, which indicate what areas of Mears Avenue are permissible for parking. The local police do monitor our morning traffic patterns and they will ticket vehicles that are illegally parked.

Visitor Parking
During the school day, visitors will find parking alongside the driveway that leads to the back playground. Spaces marked “Visitor Parking” are designated for our guests. If those spaces are filled, please try to find parking on Mears Avenue as staff will have already taken up the spaces in the back of the building. Additionally, our students are often on the playground for recess or gym classes and vehicular traffic is restricted

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Afternoon Dismissal Traffic Flow
The busses that service Mt. Washington School are stationed in the front of school on Mears Avenue in the afternoon. Parents who pick up by car should enter the school driveway and form a circle on the back playground. Students will be delivered to this area. Walkers will exit the gym hallway door on the south side of the building.


Student Arrival and Dismissal Procedures


1. For the safety and well being of the children, students should not arrive or enter the building before 7:30 a.m. There is no supervision of students prior to this time.
2. Students should enter the building through the front door. When arriving, parents are required to drop their children off at the front door where they will be met by a school employee. For the safety of all students we require parents not to proceed beyond this point. Upon arrival at school students in kindergarten through grade 6 should sit quietly in the hallway outside their homerooms and read until 7:40 a.m. Grade 8 student will report to the cafeteria; grade 7 students should report to the music room for quiet reading also.
3. Preschool children and parents will enter and exit the preschool room by the outside stairs to their lower level classroom, located off the main playground.
4. If a child is tardy to school, a parent may escort the child to the main office in order to receive a tardy slip. Students are considered tardy at 7:45 a.m.
5. Kindergarten students are dismissed at 2:10 for busses and to the front door for walkers. All other students are dismissed at 2:15 p.m.
•Walkers are escorted to the south exit and dismissed.
•Bus riders are escorted to their busses by school personnel.
•Car riders are escorted to the safety zone on the back playground
6. Students must have a written note from parents to change dismissal plans. Our bus company does not accept any requests to ride home with friends on a different bus, or to a different stop.


Early Dismissal
If, for some reason, your child must leave school before 2:15 p.m., send a dated note to the homeroom teacher in the morning. In this note, please state the time and reason for the early dismissal. Upon arriving to pick up your child, please report to the office. You must sign out your child so the school has a written record of his/her dismissal. Students cannot be released early without a written adult signature recorded in the office. The office will not release students early based upon a telephone conversation unless an adult actually signs the student out. This rule follows state dictates, which are designed to keep your child safe.

After School Care


Students who need after school care can make arrangements with the Mt. Washington Recreation Center, located immediately behind the school. Students going to the recreation center meet in the computer lab right after dismissal at 2:15 p.m. The recreation center offers child care and after school activities from 2:15 until 6:00 p.m. You can make arrangements for your child by calling the Recreation Center at 232-4762.


Yellow Bus Service


Busses arrive in the morning and afternoon alongside the front curb. The assignment of bus routes is done by pupil transportation at the Education Center. You may contact the pupil transportation office by calling 363-0330. Riding the bus is considered a privilege and students are subject to disciplinary action for misbehavior while riding the bus.

Revised 8.23.2007