Maintaining Distance During Arrival and Dismissal

January 18, 2022

4 min read

Keep students, staff, and families safe at the beginning and the end of the school day

Schools should implement distancing measures to reduce potential exposure to COVID-19. With physical distancing measures in place, schools needed to reimagine arrival and dismissal so students are not walking in close proximity with their classmates and to prevent congregating of students, staff, and families. Here are the ways that schools have reconfigured arrival and dismissal to make sure they are safe for students, families, and staff.

Minimize Opportunities to Congregate

Students and families should maintain a six feet distance. Look at areas where students and families congregate during these times and come up with a plan to keep students, families, and staff distanced. .

Students not allowed in the building until right before school starts. Uxbridge students aren’t allowed to enter the building until 7:20. Students who drive or who take the bus wait in their vehicle until then. There are designated areas where students who walk and those dropped off early can wait while physically distanced. In previous years, students were able to come into the building as early as 6:30 a.m. However, Rubin said they simply couldn’t have kids in the building for an hour before school opens. He did note that he will monitor how arrival goes the first few weeks and he may be able to let students in earlier.
Remove places of high congregation. Resurgence Hall eliminated one entry way as a place that students enter and exit because families congregated during arrival and dismissal in years past to promote distancing.

Designate Entrance and Exit Points for Students

Assign entry ways based on transportation. Before COVID-19, students entered Uxbridge High School through the central entrance. They increased the entryways to three in order to reduce density. Students enter and exit the school based on their mode of transportation now (bus, walkers, drop-off)

Determine entrances for cohorts. In addition to their staggered drop-off and pick-up times, Mission Grammar is utilizing cohorted doors for entry and dismissal. They increased the number of entry points from one for each of their two buildings to six total with the possibility of going up to ten. Each entry way has an administrator assigned to their door that completes the health screening.

Leverage Technology Solutions to Facilitate Distancing

Use QR codes for contactless late check-in and early dismissal. Uxbridge High School starts at 7:30 a.m. and students who arrive on time head straight to their classroom. For those who arrive late, they scan a QR code with their own device (the school has a 1:1 iPad program). The QR code takes them to a Google Form students enter their name and the form captures the time. The front office staff checks the spreadsheet and logs their attendance. Students who have a free period and/or have reached the age of majority scan another QR code if they leave campus early and this is documented in a Google Sheet.

Use a technology solution to support dismissal. Resurgence Hall uses an online program called PikMyKid for dismissal. Operations coordinators who support dismissal put into a mobile app which student’s ride or family member has arrived. The teacher is projecting the program onto the classroom wall, and a student’s name pops up when their ride or family member has arrived. The teacher dismisses the student and staggers students if necessary to make sure students maintain distance.

Stagger Dismissal to Make Sure Students Maintain a Safe Distance

In previous years, the bell rang and Uxbridge students would all leave at the same time. Right before the bell rang, some students would hang out in a cluster by the door. Now students are dismissed based on the mode of transportation. Students remain by their desk and wait until their mode of transportation is announced over the PA system. For example, students await for their bus to be called over the PA system in order to be dismissed.

Develop Plans for Inclement Weather

Some arrival and dismissal procedures will need to be modified in the case of inclement weather. For example, instead of standing outside in designated areas before school starts, students at Uxbridge High School will go to the cafeteria. Their cafeteria can house around 140 students while maintaining physical distance.