RE: Car Circle Woes!

[Ramsdell Walker]

 

Dear PPA Families,

 

We need your help! We have 32 more families this year than last. That means we have at least 20 more cars to get through car circle. Although we have asked parents to follow staff directions, often they are ignored or even worse, yelled at. We have a staff of excellent teachers, but they are not traffic officers…we do the best we can. Here’s how you can help.

 

• Have your car tag in the window before you pull into the parking lot so we know where to direct you.
• Do NOT allow your child to exit your vehicle unless you are in the unloading zone! We have had several children darting between cars. These are lives we are talking about and they can not be replaced!
• If you park, please understand you will be blocked in until car circle thins out…car circle takes precedence and backing out in traffic forces it to stop causing backups on Belcher Road.
• If you feel you must park at McDonald’s or CVS, please use the crosswalks.
• If walking with your small child, please hold their hand; they can dart in front of a car quickly and without notice.
• Don’t cross in the crosswalk until instructed by a staff member (if one is present). Unlike a regular crosswalk, pedestrians need to stop; we need to move the cars off Belcher Rd.
• Staff instructions take precedence over a stop sign, etc.
• Put your car in ‘Park’ and stay off the cell phone. We had a staff member hit the other day when a car lurched forward. Had it been a small child…
• Yelling at staff members will NOT be tolerated. In your summer packet was excerpts of our policies manual which included a civility clause. In other words, you signed a document that stated you understand our civility clause. Yelling at a staff member and being indignant or belligerent can result in your being banned from our campus. (More importantly, you are setting a bad example for children.)

 

Finally, we would like to put together a parent focus group to help solve some of our car circle issues. We will meet Tuesday evening at 6:30 in the Primary cafeteria. This is going to be a time when parents can meet to discuss possible solutions and put together a task force to see if we can get the city of Largo to place signage or give permission for us to block off our campus from through traffic. This will not be a gripe session, so please do not attend if that is your intent.

 

For those of you that follow our instructions we would like to thank you! It is parents like you that make our job easier.

 

Sincerely,

Mrs. Walker and Mr. Ramsdell