ARRIVAL PROCEDURES
The Fort Garrison Elementary School doors open for children at
9:05 a.m. each morning. Supervision of students is not provided
before this time. Students arriving to school before 9:05 a.m. must
wait outside supervised by an adult. Please have your children
arrive at school no earlier than 9:05 a.m. If you need daycare
coverage for your children before school, you may consider
enrolling them in Hot Spots the private daycare facility housed
in the school cafeteria. For further information regarding HotSpots,
please call 410-484-6220.
All of our students have been provided with bus transportation with
the exception of students attending Fort Garrison on special permission
(Special permission students may have the opportunity of riding a bus
as long as they transport their child to a bus stop and there is room on
that bus). For that reason we are encouraging all families to take
advantage of the bus transportation. If parents decide to drive their
children to school they will need to park their car on Marci Drive,
Birch Hollow, or Woodvalley, past Birch Hollow, and walk their
child to the front entrance of the school. Please do not park your car
on Woodvalley in front of the school. That area is clearly marked with
"No Stopping and Standing" signs.
The driveway in the front of the building is reserved for use by buses
only. Children arriving in cars may not be dropped off in the bus loop
until after 9:30 a.m.. Students transported to school on buses begin
arriving at approximately 9:05 a.m. The buses drop off students in front
of the school building, near the front door. Staff members carefully
monitor the arrival of students transported by buses.
Parents who walk their children to school are asked to say goodbye to
their children in front of the school doors each morning. Allowing children
to walk to class independently, with the help of our safeties and staff,
will enhance the children’s confidence and independence. This independent
arrival also enables teachers to focus their attention on your children as
soon as they arrive at the classroom door.
The instructional day at Fort Garrison Elementary School begins when
the children arrive in their classrooms, no later than 9:20 a.m. A homeroom
period has been planned to provide for an instructional period at the
beginning of every school day from 9:05-10:00 a.m. Teachers will be
preparing the children for a successful school day as soon as they enter
their classrooms. Children arriving after 9:20 a.m. will be marked tardy.
Students arriving late to class on a consistent basis will be unable to
fully benefit from this important transitional period.
DISMISSAL PROCEDURES
The instructional day at Fort Garrison Elementary School ends at
approximately 4:05 p.m., following afternoon announcements. All
students will be dismissed as either bus riders or walkers beginning
at 4:05 p.m . Bus riders will remain in their classrooms until their bus
arrives and then they will be called to the lobby for dismissal. Safeties
and staff members will monitor their movement through the halls. The
Department of Transportation will not permit children to ride on buses to
which they are not assigned on a daily basis. If you decide not to take
advantage of the bus transportation, you may meet your child at the
designated area outside the building following the 4:05 p.m.
announcements, (typically their classroom door). Your child’s teacher
will let you know the specific pick up place for afternoon dismissal at
the beginning of the year. Parents who choose to pick up their child
instead of taking advantage of the bus transportation will need to park
on Marci Drive, Birch Hollow, or Woodvalley, past Birch Hollow.
Parents may not park in either staff parking lot. Parents are not permitted
to greet their children in the front lobby after school. The safe and orderly
dismissal of the children is a priority at our school.
Our instructional day continues until 4:05 p.m. each day, therefore, parent
s are discouraged from picking up their student prior to the official end
of the school day. In the event that you have an occasional early
appointment that requires your child to leave school prior to 4:05 p.m.
the parents will need to report to the office, request that their children
be pulled from class, and sign their children out in the
Early Dismissal log book housed in the school office. Parents are
requested to notify the school or teacher in written form (no emails)
if their children need to be dismissed before 4:05 p.m. Frequent classroom interruptions interfere with the children’s end-of-the-day
transition activities.
Parents are asked to assist with dismissal procedures by making certain
that children are clear about dismissal plans before they enter school
each morning. Last minute changes in plans are often confusing to
children. All changes in transportation plans must be put in writing
and sent to the children’s teachers. Emails cannot be used to notify the
school about change in dismissal. Adjustments in transportation will not
be made without written approval from parents. End of the day phone
calls to the office to change your children’s dismissal plans create many
problems for the school. When numerous calls are made to the office
near the end of the school day, it is difficult for the office to honor these
requests. These calls should be limited to emergencies only. Again,
to ensure that your children arrive home safely, take time to carefully
plan dismissal arrangements and communicate them clearly to your
children and to the school prior to the start of the school day.
Arrival and dismissal times at Fort Garrison are busy times. We are
asking your help to ensure that all of our students arrive safely at school
in the morning and at home in the afternoon. The school parking lots and
roads in the surrounding neighborhood were not designed to
accommodate a large number of cars. It is strongly recommended that
bus riders ride home on their assigned buses. Once again, your assistance
and cooperation is greatly appreciated as we work together to ensure the
safety of the Fort Garrison Elementary School community.
Please review these arrival and dismissal procedures with your children.
The procedures have been designed to ensure the safety of all students
at our school. Your patience, courtesy, and willingness to work with
the school will assist us in well-organized and safe dismissals. Please
contact the front office if you have any questions or concerns regarding these procedures.
VISITORS
All parents and other visitors entering the school must report to the
office and sign in. Anyone who has an appointment to meet with a
teacher or visit another area of the school will be given a "visitor"
badge. Staff members, volunteers, and substitutes will also be given
badges. Anyone in the school building without a badge should
expect to be approached and questioned. These guidelines are
designed to assist us in providing a safe and orderly school
environment. Fort Garrison strongly encourages parent
involvement and participation in the school and our program. These
measures are intended to ensure the safety and security of the
school community, not to limit parent involvement in our school.
Staff members have requested that parents not visit classrooms in
the morning after 8:55 a.m. Students begin working on transitional
tasks upon arrival in the homerooms each morning, and teachers are
needed to assist them in their morning activities. If a parent needs to
speak with a teacher, it is important that the parent leave a note with
one of the secretaries, and the message will be delivered to the teacher.
Our teachers’ first priority must be to their students.