Greetings, GreenMount Community,
At
our staff meeting on Friday we discussed some important issues that involve you,
and I am writing to remind you of a couple of policies we have in place.
We all know what
it is like to be late, especially on those mornings when we have “weather
events”. These times become especially
difficult for some of our staff members, a full 27 percent of whom travel from
points as far north as the Pennsylvania line (that’s dedication!). The other fact is that we have 13 parking
spaces on our small lot and we have a staff of 16, including our part-time
folks. You have also recently received
an email from me asking everyone, including staff, not to park on the grass as its
condition is preventing us from using the field for recess and PE. The question is, where can the parents park
in the morning? We ask that parents not
park in the spaces provided for our staff or the handicap spot and instead follow
our procedures for dropping off students either at Miles Avenue or by the
flagpole, which has been designated as a drop-off area (no parking there). If you have business in the school in the
morning, we ask that you park on the street.
I know how difficult this is sometimes, but teachers need to get to
their classrooms as soon as possible to greet their students, and when they
have to search for a place to park away from the school, this can cause them to
be late for that morning meeting.
The second issue
involves afternoon pick-up. In our
Family Handbook it is clearly stated that if parents pick up their children
after 3:30 p.m. (or after 12:15 p.m. on Fridays), there will be a charge of $20
for any part of an hour after those times.
To this point, we have not enforced this policy because we have just
tried to accommodate situations that arise not through negligence, but because of
things that just happen. Unfortunately,
we have had enough families take advantage of this kindness that now we must
enforce the rule in order to have compliance with it. Please understand that our main concern is
safety of the children and the welfare of the school. There have been occasions when we have not had
the people power to supervise a child left after dismissal time as well as
perhaps we would like. This may be
because of a staff meeting or parent meetings, or other appointments that
cannot wait until a parent arrives to collect his or her child. That child may
have to sit outside a classroom where teachers are meeting, or in the lobby, supervised
by whoever may be in the office. If we
find ourselves in a situation where a child is not “properly supervised”, even
though we are doing the best we can, and something happens to that child, we
could become liable for any injuries that might occur. You can imagine the worst-case scenario and
the effect that could have on the future of our school.
I know that
there are times when your lateness is unavoidable. My advice in those cases is that you contact
another parent to pick up your child.
For the great majority of parents, we have a rule in place that any GMS
parent may pick up any GMS student.
Thank you for your attention to these matters.
Bad news isn’t wine; it doesn’t improve with
age! – Colin Powell
Cheers,
Steve
