Safety and Security are our First Priority!
A New PES Security System. Over the summer a new entryway security system was installed for the main entrance to Pittsfield Elementary School. The security system allows our staff to secure the building during the school day, keeping the front door locked so that no-one can enter without being screened by the office. When visitors approach the office between hours of 8:00 until 4:00, the doors will be locked. Visitors press a buzzer, are greeted by the receptionist in the front office, and after being cleared, are buzzed into the building.
A New PES Dismissal Routine. Last spring PES successfully piloted a more efficient dismissal process for the end of the school day. We received overwhelmingly positive feedback from parents and staff. We plan to keep the new dismissal routine in place for the 2012-13 school year. The new dismissal plan encourages walking and also makes car pick-up more convenient for parents by opening up the main loop to personal vehicles at 2:25.
Under the new dismissal plan, dismissal takes less time, and the building is more secure. Dismissing children to cars means that many parents no longer have to wait in the school lobby, since car pick-up is much more convenient. Parents who wish to park and enter the lobby may still do so; they will need to park in the kindergarten loop and come to the front office and get buzzed in.
Options for Student Dismissal
Leaving on Foot or Bicycle
At 2:30 sharp, bikers and walkers are called down from classrooms and will exit out the main doors, either moving toward the high school or down Bow Street towards Tilton Hill Road. Duty staff members are outside supervising students as they leave the building.
Leaving by Car
At 2:25 a staff member directs drivers of passenger vehicles to drive past the big, red signs at the entrance to the loop. Cars line up on the back side of the loop. Drivers are greeted by a staff person, who checks with the drivers to see which child or children they are picking up and to ensure that each driver is authorized to pick up the child. The greeter communicates by walkie-talkie with staff members in the office and the cafeteria, where students will be waiting for pick up.
At 2:30 students being picked up by cars are dismissed to the cafeteria. Staff members in the cafeteria dismiss children whose parents have checked in and whose rides are waiting to leave the school by the cafeteria; staff members have children walk on the sidewalk to the waiting vehicles. Children are carefully supervised inside and outside the building.
All passenger vehicle need to exit the loop via Winsunvale Street; vehicles will not be permitted to pass the buses and return to Tilton Hill Road via Bow Street.
Kindergarteners leaving by Car
Afternoon kindergartners may be picked up in the small loop by the playground. Note: If a kindergartener has an older sibling who is being picked up by car, parents can make arrangements with the front office for the kindergartener to be walked to the cafeteria by a fifth- or sixth-grade helper, and the kindergartener and older sibling will be delivered to the waiting vehicle in the front loop.
Leaving by Bus
The time of the bus dismissal is unchanged. At 2:35, or when busses are assembled outside, bus riders are escorted down or up the ramps in the lobby and out the front door by their teachers.
Being Met by a Parent
Parents still have the option of coming to the school to pick up their child at the end of the day. They can park in the kindergarten loop, walk to the main office, be checked in through the security system by the office staff, and wait in the lobby or outside under the portico to pick up their children at the entrance to the cafeteria.