Holton Families: We Need Your Help with Arrival & Dismissal Safety

Holton Families: We Need Your Help with Arrival & Dismissal Safety

As we settle into our school-year routines, I want to ask for everyone’s help with a few traffic and safety concerns we are seeing during morning arrival and afternoon dismissal.

First, we need your help keeping our rear gravel lot available for families who truly need to park and walk their children to the school doors. If you are simply dropping your child off in the morning, please use our designated car line rather than parking in the gravel lot.

We have recently been more vigilant about restricting vehicles from entering the front parking lot between 7:30–8:00 AM, when the front of the school needs to remain clear for buses and student arrival. As a result, we have seen a significant increase in vehicles using the rear gravel lot.

The gravel lot should not serve as an alternative drop-off area or a way to bypass the car line. Increased traffic in and out of this lot also means more vehicles moving through an area where families and children are walking, creating an additional safety concern.

Our morning car line is functioning well! If you are driving your child to school and do not need to park and walk them to the doors, please use the designated car line at the rear of the building. Staff are outside beginning at 7:30 AM to help students exit vehicles safely and keep traffic moving. Staying in the car line helps us reduce vehicle and pedestrian traffic around the building.

Our goal is simple: every Lion, family member, staff member, and neighbor should be able to arrive and leave Holton safely each day. With hundreds of staff and students arriving and leaving in a short period, we all need to follow the same procedures and be especially patient and attentive.

We also need everyone’s help with a few important safety reminders:

Please slow down. Students and families walk and bike to school from multiple directions. A few saved seconds are never worth putting someone at risk.

Watch our crosswalks carefully, especially at Monticello and Laburnum. Drivers turning onto Laburnum should come to a complete stop and check carefully for pedestrians before turning.

Do not pass vehicles in the car loop. The rear loop is a single-lane drop-off and pickup area. Please remain behind the vehicle in front of you until you can safely exit.

During afternoon dismissal, please approach the car line from the north on Monticello. Vehicles coming from Laburnum should not turn into the line ahead of families who are already waiting.

Please do not park on Monticello during dismissal from 2:30–3:00 PM. Keeping this area clear is important for traffic flow and, more importantly, for the visibility and safety of our walkers and bikers.

Most of our families follow these procedures every day, and we appreciate your patience and cooperation. We ask everyone to help us tighten up the areas where we see safety concerns before an accident occurs.

Please remember that arrival and dismissal are not times to prioritize convenience over safety. A little patience, an extra minute in the car line, and increased awareness behind the wheel can make a tremendous difference.

Thank you for helping us look out for Every Lion, Every Day. 🦁💜💛