Thursday, April 29, 2010

Parking/Buses

04/28/2010

Dear Preschool Families,

We have recently had several incidents with people passing school buses and parking in no parking zones. We would like to take this opportunity to share once again the procedure to be followed when picking and dropping your child off at preschool.

Parking
Fire lanes need to be clear at all times. Only buses are allowed to park in front of the building in the fire lanes. We ask that you don’t block them so we can load and unload the buses. You can park in the fire lane after the front entrance to the preschool. You can also park across the street after the orange cones. When parking and walking your child to his/her teacher, we ask that you please have complete control of your child. Pick up and drop off are busy times and we want to ensure that all our friends are safe at all times. We also ask that you avoid parking on the corner by the administration entrance of the building. It is difficult to see as you come around the corner and it has the potential to be a dangerous situation. When parking, the best bet is to park at the bottom of the hill and walk your child/children to their teacher. As people get use to the routine things will go much more quickly and smoothly.

Buses
When the red lights are flashing on the buses or the vans you can not pass them for any reason. If you pass a school bus or van with red flashing lights, it is a $200 fine for the first offense. The second offense is a fine and suspension of your license. The third offense is a permanent loss of your license. We know it takes us a few minutes to load and unload the buses; this is done to ensure the safety of all children. Please be patient with us. Your patience will ensure that all students are safe at all times. It should be noted that periodically the Burlington Police Departments Safety Officer comes to watch the pick up and drop off and is very generous when handing out fines.

The state of Massachusetts has a new mandatory booster seat law. It is important that all children are safely secured in the back seat of the car in a booster seat. We have attached the new law for your information. Again we ask that you keep your child safe in their booster seat until you drop them off. Nobody plans for an accident that is why they are called accidents.

We understand that parking can be frustrating and difficult but if everyone follows the guidelines it will ensure everyone’s safety and a smoother pick up and drop off.

Thanks You,


Louise D’Amato
Director of Burlington Integrated Preschool