Dear Parents,
Safety is our top priority at The Vanguard School’s campuses, so I want to bring up two areas of concern regarding the safety of students: pick-up/drop-off time, and students being unsupervised off-campus.
Carpool time can often be a hectic, hurried, and distracted time for drivers dropping off or picking up students as well as for the students themselves who are preoccupied with thoughts of school, friends, family, etc. Given this dangerous combination of hurried drivers and distracted small pedestrians all in a tight space, we have spent a lot of effort creating procedures to make carpool time as safe and efficient as possible. Please review the instructions for how to safely and properly participate in our carpool lines. Please remember:
- Our carpool line is staffed primarily by volunteers who do this work to keep all kids safe. Please be kind and courteous to them at all times, and follow their instructions as they enforce school rules designed for the safety of our students.
- Please be courteous to all fellow carpool line members. We are not in a race and nearly everyone has somewhere to get to after dropping off their children.
- If you drive your children to school, please use the carpool line versus dropping them off on the street. Traffic parked on the street dropping off students impairs the proper flow of traffic attempting to move past the school. This is also particularly dangerous when students have to cross a street and then the carpool line to get to school.
Related to student pick-up is the issue of students going off-campus or between campuses to be picked up. Aside from all traffic-related issues, this is a concern because of some of the hazards of the neighborhood and those that go along with students being unsupervised. Please note that the areas between campuses are not patrolled, supervised, or protected in any way by Vanguard School staff and this neighborhood is not always safe. While we recognize that many students walk between the campuses, please encourage your child to walk along the sidewalk (versus cutting across the alley and church parking lot) and to walk in a group or with a friend. Also, please emphasize that the area between schools is not as safe as when they are in the school building or on campus.
In listing these concerns, I am asking for your help and cooperation to mitigate them. The dangers noted above can only be avoided if each member of our school community drops students off with patience and respect, and by alerting your children for the need to be alert and aware when using the carpool line or between campuses.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
Sincerely,
Colin T. Mullaney
Executive Director
The Vanguard School
