The How's and Why's of Dismissal

I hope you had a wonderful week.  Our week was short but busy!  I completed a reading assessment for each of the students in my class.  This assessment will help me match texts to your child’s reading skill/level.  I would like to take the time in this post to  let you know about our dismissal process in first  grade at CES.  Children in school get home in a variety of ways.  Some ride the bus, some go to a daycare, some are picked up by someone, and others walk.  In order to help this process run smoothly and to ensure that each child gets home in the way that the parents have intended we have a check in system that we use in first grade.  Obviously the classroom teacher cannot take all of their bus riders, walkers, car riders, and daycare kids out at the same time everyday.  Therefore, each teacher in first grade is responsible for some form of transportation.  We have three teachers taking out bus riders and two teachers taking out walkers, car riders, and day care kids.  Shortly before dismissal, the students in first grade are sent to their assigned dismissal classroom.  That teacher then checks off each child as they arrive in their classroom.  We ensure that every child is where they need to be before we exit the building.  Then, once we get to the buses, the students are checked off as they get on their bus.  This ensures for a second time that the students got to where they needed to be at the end of the day.  The students that go out front as walkers, car riders, and that go to a daycare stay in their line order.  As the teacher makes their way to your child she will ask him/her do you see who you go home with.  In addition, we make sure that we see you too.  If your child see’s their ride, we check them off.  If they don’t they wait until they do and they let us know.  This way we know how every child gets home daily and we know that they are going home in the way that you intended.  If you did not send us a note or let us know who can pick your kid up and someone different comes than we have expected we will call you to make sure that it is okay if your child goes home with whomever has come to get them.  We will not send your child home with someone we do not have permission to send them home with.  I want to thank all of our parents for being so understanding with this process.  I understand that sometimes we come out the doors and you may be standing right there and you need to wait for a little bit until we get to your child.  Please know that we do our best to ensure the safety of your child when they are in our hands at school.  If you have any questions regarding our dismissal policy, please do not hesitate to ask.  I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.  Also thank you to all the parents that do a great job of keeping me informed of any transportations changes.  I appreciate all the hard work you do as well to make sure that your child gets home in the proper manner.