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Transportation

Transportation Information for Welcome Elementary
 
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*The following information is an excerpt from our Student Handbook*
 
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE PROCEDURES

TARDY POLICY

School begins promptly at 8:00 am and ends at 2:35 pm.   If your child is tardy to school you must walk him/her in the building and sign them in before they may proceed to their classroom. Being tardy for school causes inconveniences and establishes poor life habits. It is imperative that children be in school on time to receive the full benefit of the instructional day.  It is important that as adults we aid our children in setting life long habits of being on time and ready for their day at school. Being tardy interrupts the instructional time for all the students in the classroom and therefore, we must all take responsibility for maintaining the flow of the school day. If excessive tardies occur, we will involve our school social worker to assist in ensuring all students receive full benefits of their education.


In accordance with the North Carolina Compulsory Attendance Law, G.S.115C-378, A parent/legal guardian of a student under sixteen years of age is  held accountable for their child’s attendance. The law also specifies attendance must be maintained for the entire school day unless a valid reason for the exception exists.  Local school board policy requires excessive tardy notification to be given to parents. If tardies continue, appropriate disciplinary action may be taken. At Welcome Elementary School, students with ten or more tardies will be referred to the school social worker and truancy court coordinator for violation of the compulsory attendance law.

EARLY DEPARTURES

If there is a need to pick up your child from school early, please follow the listed guidelines:

**To be counted present for the day, students must be in class 3 hours and 15 minutes.**
  1. Please send a note to notify the teacher of the early dismissal.
  2. Report to the office.
  3. Someone from the office will send for your child(ren) upon your arrival.  Students will not be called out of class to wait in the office for parents.
  4. Be prepared to show photo identification.
  5. Sign the student out of school and state the reason for the early dismissal on the form provided in the office.  This is for the safety and protection of your child(ren) should they need to be located at a later time. This also ensures that children only leave school with designated persons.
  6. Only the persons listed on the student’s profile form will be allowed to pick the child up, so please keep this form updated. We will not release students to individuals that are not on the student’s profile form.
  7. Transportation changes must be in writing from the parent/guardian. Transportation changes by phone will only be accepted in emergency situations.

These regulations are to protect our students, to be certain he/she leaves with those individuals you have given us permission to release them to, and to ensure that we know their location.  We are required by law to keep these records for reporting attendance to the State Department of Public Instruction. NEVER take a student from the bus area or car rider area.  

           AFTERNOON PROCEDURES

School dismisses at 2:35 pm.  Students cannot check out after 2:15 pm.  Please check out prior to 2:15 or wait in the car rider line. Students will load cars and buses in an orderly manner. WE RESPECTFULLY REQUEST THAT ALL PARENTS REMAIN IN THEIR VEHICLES WHILE WAITING FOR THEIR CHILDREN TO ALLOW FOR A SAFE AND ORDERLY DISMISSAL PROCESS. Parking along the side of the road is prohibited.  We request that Welcome Elementary Families respect the residents’ property adjoining our school campus by not parking along their property lines or throwing trash on their lawns. Cars leaving and going right on Center Church Road will exit on Cranford Street and cars turning left on Center Church Road will exit by Pickett Drive.


Car rider students will wait for their name to be called from the attendant on duty and will enter their car with staff assistance.  Please have the name tags ready to show the attendant on duty, refrain from cell phone use while moving in the line, and pull closely to the car in front of you.

MORNING PROCEDURES

    Cars bringing students to school in the mornings should enter the school campus in the back from Center Church Road.  Traffic coming in will enter by Pickett Drive and leave on Cranford Street.  Students should exit their vehicle when the line of traffic comes to a complete stop.  Do not wait for the car door to be opened by an adult.  All students should exit on the right side. Please limit cell phone use while you are in the car rider line to ensure the best traffic flow and student safety.  A traffic flow map will be sent home at the beginning of the year and will also be available in the office for car rider parents.

Visitors needing to enter the building between 7:30 am and 8:00 am should park in the back parking lot and walk to the front entrance.  Students may not be dropped off in the front bus lot. Students that arrive after 8:00 am should be escorted into the building by an adult and signed in.  After 8:00 am, there are no adults on duty outside. The preceding policy of walking students inside should be followed for the safety of our students.

 
 

TRANSPORTATION CHANGES

Car rider transportation changes can be made by writing a note to your child’s teacher, by fax (336)731-2799, or email by 1:00 pm to [email protected] . Please include date, first and last name of your child, teacher’s name, any changes to be made, and your signature.  ONLY EMERGENCY CHANGES can be made by calling our school. Examples of EMERGENCIES include: car broken down, at hospital….etc.

BUS TRANSPORTATION CHANGES

It is district policy that students are only allowed to be transported to and from the address listed on Davidson County Schools Transportation Request form. Students are not allowed to ride the bus home with friends or to another address that is not on the regular assigned bus route.

If students need to begin riding the school bus, and are not currently assigned to a route, a change of address, or moves to another school within Davidson County Schools, a Davidson County Schools Transportation Request form must be filled out by the parent/guardian. It will take up to 10 days to be approved by the district office. Parents/Guardians must arrange transportation until the change is approved by the Davidson County Transportation Department.

If parents/legal guardians wish to request a change of location to a current assigned bus stop, they must come to the office and complete a Davidson County Schools Bus Stop Investigation Form. Parents must allow 1-2 weeks for processing and investigation. Please also note that a request for investigation does not mean there will be a change.


Pre-K through 3rd Bus Stop Guidelines

Parents and/or legal guardian must be at the designated afternoon (PM) bus stop to receive their Pre-K-3rd grade student(s).  If there is no parent at the afternoon stop, the student(s) will be transported to the next school on the bus route. NOTE: This could be an Elementary, Middle, or High School.


Consequences: If a parent and/or legal guardian is not at the designated Pre-K-3rd grade bus stop, the following actions will be taken by the Assistant Principal at the elementary school:
  • First Time Offense: A warning letter will be sent to the parent/legal guardian.  This letter will inform you that the next offense will be an automatic 1-day suspension off the afternoon (PM) bus privilege for the student(s) involved.
  • Second Offense: The parent/legal guardian will be informed that the afternoon (PM) bus privileges will be suspended for 1-day for the student(s) involved. This suspension will be the next school day.  Additionally, the parent(s)/guardian will be informed that the next offense will result in a mandatory scheduled conference at the school with a member of the school administration and an automatic 1-day suspension for the student(s) involved.
  • Third Offense: There will be a mandatory conference scheduled as soon as possible with members of the school administration and the parent(s)/guardian(s) to discuss future bus privileges of the student(s). Beginning with the third offense, school administrators may increase the number of days that afternoon (PM) bus privileges are suspended for the student(s) involved at their discretion.