Arrival & Dismissal

Arrival & Dismissal Plan

Principal: Dr. Cynthia E. Farmer
Instructional Director: Dr. LaTonya Williams

Transportation Coordinator: Brian Cuvo, Assistant Principal (301-805-1000, ext. 61174)

Traffic Safety

Student Arrival

To ensure the safety of students and foster independence, parents are encouraged to drop their children off within the circle. Parents must remain in their vehicles during drop off. Do not get out of your car for any reason. If you need assistance in getting your child out of your vehicle, please raise your hand and a staff member will be there to assist you. Please do not drive into the circle in front of the school while buses are present. When you bring your child to school, there will be adults directing traffic. Please follow their directions.

No students may arrive at school until 9:15am, unless they are a Safety Patrol, a member of the Morning Show crew, a designated before school club, a PGCPS Bus Rider, or are enrolled in Champions Before and After Care, or will have breakfast at school. This includes those students who ride bikes, are walkers, and who are dropped off. There is no adult supervision outside before 9:10am, which will be for Bus Riders who are dropped off only.

Students who are having breakfast may arrive at 9:10am. If students are buying breakfast, they will report to the Multipurpose Room. Breakfast will be from 9:10am-9:28am.

Adult supervision for all other students will begin at 9:15am. Parents in the car line must wait until 9:15am and will be directed by a staff member to enter the traffic circle. If a student rides their bike to school, they will need to walk their bike to the front of the building once they are on school property.

During arrival, the parking lot will be closed to parents, unless they are dropping off a member of the safety patrol. A video demonstrating arrival procedures will be sent out prior to the beginning of the school year.

For student safety, our school doors are locked at all times. When students are dropped off at 9:15am, they will be directed inside the school building and report directly to their classrooms. It is highly encouraged that students arrive at 9:15am so they have time to get to their classrooms, unpack, and prepare for the school day. Instruction begins promptly at 9:30am. Students are considered tardy after 9:30am. Once school doors are closed, parents must come into the school building and sign their child in. If late, parents may not drop off students without signing them in. The child will be given a late pass. Be sure your child arrives at school on time.

Student Dismissal

Safety patrols will be dismissed at 3:30pm. Afternoon announcements will begin at 3:32pm. At 3:35pm, Whitehall Elementary School will begin the dismissal process. The following order will be used for dismissal:

1. Champions (Grades K and 1)- A member of the Champions staff will pick students up from their classrooms.
2. Van Riders - An assigned staff member will monitor the students as they exit the building and go to their vans.
3. Bus Riders - Buses will be called in the order in which they If there is a late bus, they will wait in their classrooms until the conclusion of dismissal.
4. Parent Pickup (Kindergarten & 1st Grade) - Kindergarten and 1st Grade students will exit from their one of the exterior Kindergarten The door that your child will exit from will be shared at the beginning of the school year. There will be cones with teacher names placed there.
5. Walkers (Grades 2-5) - Students in grades 2-5 will be dismissed as walkers, and will make their way to the front of the building and exit the building to walk home. This will be done on a rolling basis with each grade being called separately.
6. All remaining students- Grades 2-5 If there is a late bus, these students will be called to the back of the Multipurpose Room.

The traffic circle will be CLOSED to cars for dismissal. The traffic circle will only be utilized by PGCPS buses and van riders by aftercare providers. Parents who are picking up their child will need to park on the street and walk up to the school to get their child. Please do not block our Whitehall neighbors' driveways. The designated pick-up point for Grades K and 1 will be at the exterior doors of one of the Kindergarten classrooms. During the first week of school, your child's teachers will let you know which classroom they will dismiss from. Due to cars parked in the parking lot and buses/vans leaving school property, if a student rides a bike home they will need to walk their bike off of school property before they begin riding their bike.

Kindergarten and 1st grade students may not walk home by themselves. Students in Grades K-1 must be picked up by a parent or someone on their emergency contact. Kindergarten and 1st grade teachers will release students to their parents from the exterior Kindergarten classrooms. Your child's teacher will communicate with you as to which door dismissal will take place for your child's class. A child's parent will check in with the assigned staff member and state who they are picking up. Students may not be picked up by a Lyft, Uber, or taxi unless a parent/legal guardian is in the car.

If there is a late bus or private van, students will wait in a designated location inside the school building. A staff member will be assigned to wait with students. If it is 4:00pm and the late bus has not yet arrived, an administrator will wait with students. Students waiting for late buses and vans will wait in the back of the multipurpose room.

If a student has not been picked up by the end of dismissal, they will be escorted into the main office where they will call their parents or legal guardians. Students will wait in the main lobby until their ride has arrived. Parents must come into the building, present identification, and sign out your child. Repeated instances of late pick up can result in consequences aligned with the PGCPS Code of Conduct for Families, Volunteers, and Visitors. This can include a call to the Department of Social Services and/or the Bowie Police Department. Whitehall understands that occasionally, there will be circumstances that are beyond your control that will cause you to be late. In these situations, we kindly ask that you contact the school with an estimated time of arrival.

If a student will take a dismissal route that is not part of their regular dismissal, a written note must be brought to the school or an email sent to the teacher and office staff. This will be given to their child’s teacher, who will notify the main office. If this includes going on a PGCPS school bus, a copy of the written note will be made and given to the bus driver. An email request is acceptable. Whitehall Elementary School will not be able to honor a change in dismissal request that is made over the telephone.  

In the event of severe inclement weather, the dismissal process may change. In this event, a notification will be sent out via robotext that the traffic circle will be open. If it is a light or moderate rain, Whitehall will have its normal dismissal process. If a message is not sent, Whitehall will have its normal dismissal.

During a severe inclement weather dismissal, Kindergarten and 1st grade walkers will meet their parents at the back door of the K classrooms they are normally dismissed from. For car riders, a staff member will be working the car line to gather student names to be sent out for pickup. For this reason, it is important that you have a sign on your passenger-side dashboard with your child’s first and last name, homeroom teacher & grade written or typed in large, bold type, easy to see from someone standing on the sidewalk. Continue to communicate with the school (teacher, office, etc.) in advance if your child will change from a walker to a car rider due to severe inclement weather.

Early Dismissal*

In order for a student to be dismissed early, the following steps must be adhered to:

1. All early dismissals must take place before 3:10pm. No early dismissals will take place after 3:10pm.
2. The person picking up the student must present a valid photo If this person does not present a valid photo ID, the student will not be released. No exceptions will be granted.
3. One of the main office secretaries will look at the photo ID as well as the Emergency Contact Form. If a person picking up a student is not on the Emergency Contact Form, a student will not be released to If a parent wishes to authorize someone to pick up their child, they must come up to the school and update their Emergency Contact Form.
4. Once identification has been verified, the person picking up the student will sign them out on the Early Departure Log. One of the front office secretaries will verify the person's identification.

Afterschool Clubs/Activities/Sports*

If there is an afterschool club or activity, an announcement will be made as part of the afternoon announcements. Included in this announcement will be the location of where the activity will take place. Once walkers and car riders have been dismissed, students participating in an authorized after school activity should report to the activity location. Activity sponsors will provide a list of participants to administration to verify who is authorized to stay for after school activities.