This issue of the Chronicle has a safety theme. We are hearing about, and experiencing, an almost daily barrage of information about people and situations that threaten the safety of our children.

The school has procedures in place that can go a long way in keeping our students safe. However, their effectiveness depends on the people involved in carrying them out.
For example, it is district policy that all outside doors are to remain locked 24 hours a day, with the exception of the main entrance. The three remaining doors are not to be used for public access. Staff and students are frequently reminded that they are not to open those doors for someone wanting to enter the building at those points. But it makes it very hard for them to carry out that expectation when parents come to those doors expecting to be let in, and even become angry when they are reminded that they are to use the main entrance.

Another example is the sign-in book at our reception desk. District policy says that no person can move beyond the front desk without the approval of the principal. We have chosen to address that policy with a community-friendly process: we ask all visitors to the building to sign in and put on a visitor’s badge. However, we often see parents walk through the front door and almost morph into the walls so they won’t be seen by the office staff as they move toward classroom areas. Some even do this while pulling their young children along with them.

We want to keep your children safe. Please remember that there are very few (if any) parents who are known by every staff member. This means that you and every other parent are strangers to most of our staff and students and, therefore, may be questioned about your presence on our campus if there is no visitor or volunteer badge being worn.

We will do our best to keep your children safe while they’re with us at school, and will be increasing our level of diligence in watching for breaches in our procedures. Remember that even one person not cooperating with our procedures can become the “weakest link” in our efforts toward our goal of keeping students safe. It does indeed “take a village”!

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The following students have completed the winter reading program at the Highlands Ranch Library. We are very proud of these students and want to celebrate their reading success!

Readers are encouraged to submit items for this column. Often we at school do not know the accomplishments of students outside school. Please include your phone number so we can reach you if we need more information.
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Coyote Creek Website
According to Herrick Forsyth, Coyote Creek’s Webmaster, our website has had several international “hits” recently:

CCE’s Dismissal Procedures
One aspect of Coyote Creek’s safety program is the way in which students are dismissed at the end of the school day. That time of day is filled with students, parents, and younger siblings bustling about in the hallways, and it’s a challenge to keep track of students.

Coyote Creek is served by one general school bus, one Special Needs bus, and several daycare vans. We also have a huge number of personal vehicles moving in and around three sides of our campus. We have bus riders, walkers, and students meeting various members of their families and family friends for rides home. Whew!

Our plan calls for the general bus students to meet in the library when the dismissal bell rings, to be escorted to the bus by a staff member. That piece is well in place. All other students are to exit the building according to the pod in which they “live”; red pod students are to use Door #2 (by the kindergarten playground), yellow pod students are to use Door #3 (opening onto Westridge), and blue pod students are to exit through Door #4 (by the cafeteria).

These pieces are generally working, but we often find children who are confused as to whether they are going to be picked up, or are to ride the bus, or walk, or go to DayCamp. It is becoming common for our office staff to be trying to reach parents to come and pick up their children, even 45 minutes after dismissal.

It will be very helpful, as we attempt to keep children safe, for parents to be on time picking up their children and, if the pick-up routine for the family is going to be different than normal, making sure that their child knows exactly where s/he is supposed to go when dismissed from school.

Thanks for your help with our dismissal safety!

Lost & Found
Check our Lost and Found barrels near Door #4 (by the cafeteria). There are many lunch boxes and miscellaneous coats and jackets to be found there!

Field Trips

April 13
5th & 6th ACD Paramount Theatre
April 14
3 A & D Colorado History Museum
April 19
6 A & D Denver Art Museum
April 22
Kindergarten Greg & Steve
April 25
3 A,B & D
Adams County Park
May 18
6 B & C Denver Art Museum
May 25
K A, B2, C Teikyo Loretta Height

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