The arrival of the 2022-23 school year offers up the first big test at Iola Elementary School: safely and efficiently depositing 500 or so students each day at a single building.
With classes set to begin Wednesday, school officials announced pickup and dropoff procedures at the start and conclusion of each school day.
“We know it will take some time to adjust and to make it run smoothly, but we know that with everyone’s patience and understanding we will be able to get a good routine down,” the school announced via its Facebook page Saturday.
Dropoffs
Students being dropped off in the morning, or students who walk to school, will be allowed to enter the building through the main entrance doors on the west side of the building starting at 7:30 a.m. Students will not be allowed to enter prior to 7:30.
Once inside, students eating breakfast will go to the cafeteria; all others will go to the gymnasium to meet with their respective classmates.
Vehicles will enter the school parking lot off of Kentucky Street using the south entrance.
After dropping off the students, vehicles will need to exit the parking lot through the north exit, having made a counter-clockwise path through the parking lot.
Buses will utilize a separate drop-off lane on the south side of the building.
Pickup will done in the same manner. Parents will enter from the south entrance lane and pick up their children in front of the school.
The students will be gathered with their classmates. Those in pre-kindergarten line up farthest to the south. Each subsequent grade level will follow in order to the north.
Families with multiple students will allow older siblings to congregate with the youngest sibling in the family so they can all be picked up at once.
There will be one lane for pickup. Once you’ve loaded your children, parents are directed to pull out around the vehicle in front of them and head to the north exit.
Of note, parents and or guardians will not be allowed to exit their vehicles while picking up their child. If a student needs help getting in the vehicle, the parent will need to park in the lot and get their child from the teacher.
Parents needing to visit with their child’s teacher should first set up a meeting, preferably through email.
School dismissal is at 3:29 p.m. every day except for Wednesdays, which has early dismissal at 2:40. There will be no early dismissal on the first day of school.
THE DISTRICT also will shuttle students to the elementary school from any of the three old elementary school sites, Iola Middle School and Iola High School.
