Student Drop-Off, Pick-Up & Parking
The safety of our children is of the utmost importance to us all. It is with this in mind that we strongly urge all parents to read the following very carefully, and as many times as is necessary to fully understand these drop-off, pick-up, and parking procedures.
There is a 5 MPH speed limit on all church and school grounds.
Any time that a student walks across any part of any school parking lot, that student must be in physical contact (holding hands) with an adult. The majority of parent-vehicles at Our Savior’s are S.U.V.s and mini-vans, which have an average rear window height of four feet. This is well above the heads of the majority of our students, which makes these students invisible to rear-view mirrors. Drivers backing out of parking spaces cannot be expected to see what cannot be seen; therefore, parents must ensure that no student ever be allowed to walk behind a parked vehicle unescorted.
DO NOT use a cell phone while in your car driving, parking, or sitting in the pick-up or drop-off line. Please turn off all sound equipment in your vehicle, and roll down at least one window so that you can hear the verbal commands of staff members and traffic volunteers at all times.
Morning Drop-Off
Morning Drop-Off is the same for rainy days as it is for normal days.
When dropping off elementary students, pull in to the main parking lot via the right-side lane as you enter, and then pull up next to the playground gate. Please follow the directions of traffic volunteers. Form one drop-off line only in the morning. Do not stop your vehicle to unload passengers to the left of other vehicles or in the center area of the parking lot. Have your passengers exit your vehicle from the right side doors only. Do not get out of your car. Volunteers will escort your children. If you have passengers that require your personal assistance to exit a vehicle, or you have items that need to be unloaded from your trunk, then you need to find a legal parking space and park there before exiting your car and assisting your passengers. If you do park your car to unload students, you must hold their hands and walk them around the outside perimeter of the traffic lanes until you reach the inside of the playground gate. In the case of an emergency which does require you to exit your vehicle while in the drop-off lane, be sure to turn off the engine and set the parking brake... and it had better be a real emergency! DO NOT drop off students in Fire Lanes or the back parking lot.
We ask that elementary parents that do choose to park on campus during drop-off to please leave prior to 8:30 AM so that there is parking space available for preschool parents who are required to park and sign their children in and out of class each day.
Afternoon Pick-Up
Afternoon pick-up is the same as morning drop-off, with the exception of there being two pick-up lanes in the afternoon. When picking up students, pull all the way up to and just past the playground gate. Do not exit your vehicle. Teachers will escort your child and his or her belongings to your car. If a child has items that require your assistance, please park in a legal parking spot and then walk over to the waiting area to collect your child and his or her belongings. Be sure to hold your child’s hand and travel around the outer perimeter of the traffic lanes when returning to your car.
If you are at the front of either pick-up line and your child is not ready for loading, please pull out of line and either park your car legally, or you may reenter the line at the parking lot entrance. When you are waiting in line at the parking lot enterance, please be polite and allow vehicles that are returning to the line to reenter.
If you have the need to talk with your child’s teacher, please do not attempt to do so while in the pick-up line. If an issue cannot wait for a phone call, an Email, or another day, then please park your vehicle, walk over to the student waiting area and wait until that teacher has finished loading all students. Every minute you distract a teacher from escorting students is a minute all the parents in line have to wait.
Rainy Day Pick-Up
If the weather is questionable, look for the Rainy Day Pick-Up sign to be posted as you enter the driveway. If the Rainy Day Pick-Up sign is posted, then continue to the right “counterclockwise” around to the back parking lot behind the chapel. Stop and wait in your car at the yellow gate at the entrance to the faculty parking lot. Do not ever open this gate on your own or advance beyond this gate before 2:45 PM (1:45 PM Thursdays) or without staff direction. At 2:45 PM (1:45 PM Thursdays) a staff member will come out to open the yellow gate and direct traffic to the red traffic baracade at the near corner of the 300 building. When you arrive at the 300 building, stop and form one line at the red traffic barricade. Under no circumstance should a parent ever move the red traffic barricade, or proceed past the red traffic barricade. If the red traffic baracade has been blown to the side, blown over, or is missing, do not proceed beyond the near corner of the 300 building without staff direction. Why? Because kindergarten and first grade pick-up begins at 2:45 PM (1:45 PM Thursdays) while upper grades are still in session until 3:00 PM (2:00 PM Thursdays). OSLS staff has to make sure that all upper grade students are back in their classrooms before the traffic barricade can be removed by a staff member. Once the campus is deemed clear and safe, a staff member will allow the first car to proceed along the firelane to other pickup points.
Once you commit to the back driveway on rainy day pick-up, you are in line and must stay in line until the line flows around to the front parking lot. You may not pull out of line or pass other vehicles at any point in line for any reason.
There is no parking along the pickup route or on the school playground during rainy day pickup. If you are picking up a 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th grade student and you arrive at his or her pickup point before 3:00 PM (2:00 PM Thursdays) you will be required to continue around to the front parking lot where you can park or return to the pickup line.
On rainy days, grades 3, 4 & 5 pick up at the near corner of the 300 building at the red traffic barricade. Grades 1A, 1B & 2A pick up at the far corner of the 300 building. Grades K1, K2, and 2B pick up behind K2 on the kickball diamond, next to the PTF shed. On rainy Wednesdays only, 4th Grade Computer Group #2 will pick-up at the bottom of the ramp at at the Computer Lab. Do not pass other vehicles stopped at any pickup point even if you are going directly to the second, third or fourth pick-up locations. Please stop at all pickup locations as a safety measure incase a child darts in to traffic lanes, even if you have no students to pick up at that location.
Rainy Day Pick-Up procedures require that parents picking up their children drive across areas that are normally void of any vehicles during regular school hours. As a result, children may not be expecting to come across moving vehicles and may be caught off guard. Because of this, every parent picking up a child on rainy days must drive with caution above and beyond the norm. On these days, and every day, please don’t rush, don’t use cell phones, and don’t make any poor decisions while driving on campus. The staff, the students and their parents thank you.
Daycare Pick-Up
When picking up students after school from daycare, or any other after school activity, DO NOT pull up to the playground gate and park. This is a Fire Lane, and you will be blocking it. Instead, you must park your vehicle in a legal parking space in either parking lot, and then pick up your child following the proper procedures. For daycare, the proper procedure is to make verbal contact with the daycare director, and then sign the logout sheet. If your student is in Study Hall, DO NOT go to study hall to collect your child. Your child will be summoned to come to the daycare checkout area.
Parking
Whenever you do park your vehicle on campus during the day, or at night for special events, please park in a legally designated parking spot. Legal parking spots are marked with white lines on BOTH sides. DO NOT create parking where it was not intended. Additional parking is available on the dirt area adjacent to the school entrance. When parking on the dirt, please park in an order that maximizes space, and that does not block other vehicles in.
During school and daycare hours [Mon - Fri, 7:00 AM - 6:00 PM], DO NOT park or drive on the school playground. The only exception to this would be for Rainy Day Pick-Up. The school playground is available for parking Monday thru Friday after 6:00 PM for Special School Events only, and all day on weekends for church events. DO NOT park or drive on the school playground at anytime Monday thru Friday if there are no Special School Events scheduled, as the church may have youth group activities planned.
The back parking lot between the Sanctuary and the 300 Building [past the yellow gate] is for School Faculty ONLY [Mon - Fri, 7:00 AM - 3:00 PM]. This is for the Safety of students who use this corridor during the day. DO NOT ENTER this parking lot for ANY reason during school hours, even if the gate is open. "Any Reason" includes parking, drop off, and especially turn-arounds. The only exception to this would be for Rainy Day Pick-Up.
DO NOT park or STOP within a “Fire Lane.” This includes parking in front of the playground gate at any time other than normal pick-up or drop-off. This also includes pulling to the end of the back parking lot [at the 300 Bldg.] and unloading students at the red barricade. The only exception to this would be sitting in your vehicle waiting for Rainy Day Pick-Up to commence.
Please observe all Handicap Parking zones. You must display a California State Handicap placard or vehicle license plate in order to park in any Handicap zone. No exceptions.
Each school year, Our Savior’’s PTF auctions off three parking spaces for three families. These parking spots are marked with a sign carrying the school logo and the name of the family that the spot is reserved for. Please DO NOT park in these spots at any time, day or night, if you are not the designated user. These spots are open to all on Saturdays and Sundays.
We thank you for your cooperation and your efforts to help keep our children safe.