Olivia had a half day at school on Thursday (yesterday) so since I was off I got the chance to do the "on time" pick up. I knew when I pulled up to the school and saw all the the parents in their cars in certain areas that this was not going to be easy. We have Olivia set to go right into the "aftercare" program as we both work and cannot pick her up on time. We just have to pick her up before 6:00pm and all we do is park, walk in the door, sign in and then go to her classroom and get her.
Well, the "on time" pick up is a huge process. As I said before, I pulled up to the school to see that the primary parking lot was completely full of cars of waiting parents and the secondary lot was completely full of cars with waiting parents. So I had to park down the street and walk up to the school. Olivia school is heavily secured with all of the doors locked from the outside and parents have to be buzzed in at the front and sign in. So I decided to wait out in the front of the school for my kid to come out. At 12:30pm the first bell rings and a whole slew of kids come out and are moved by the staff to the cars in the primary lot until 12:40pm. At that time the cars are allowed to start and the parking lot clears. At 12:45pm the second bell rings and a whole second slew of kids come out and are held at the cones by the staff and the Kindergarteners were brought out and held in a separate area. After the primary parking lot cleared of cars the staff waved in the cars from the secondary lot to the primary lot and it filled and the cars were turned off. As soon as the staff verified that all cars were turned off the second group of kids were released to the parents and the lot cleared. A third bell rang at 1:00pm and another group of kids came out and walked off the campus.
The whole time this is going on I'm thinking that this is "nuts" and I'm trying to figure out where my kid is. She didn't come out in the first group. OK. She didn't come out in the second group. OK. And she didn't come out in the third group. HMMM! I have to ask someone. I spied one of Olivia's teachers who was working the process of getting all of the kids to their parents cars so I went up to her and asked where Olivia was. "Hi! I'm Tom Allen. I'm Olivia's father. Is my kid still inside?" At this question she replied, "Olivia's is in aftercare right?" I said "Yes." She replied "Did you send in a note notifying us that you were picking her up on time today?" I said "No, I did not and that's probably why she didn't come out of the school." And I laughed. Her teacher told me that she would go in and bring her out to me. She brought her out and I picked her up and threw her up in the air a little and caught her and then we walked down the street to my car.
Daddy did it wrong!
Since Olivia is in "aftercare" it was not explained to us what the "on time" pick up process involves. There are three groups of kids: Car Pool 1, Cap Pool 2 and The Walkers.
I was supposed to send in a note explaining that I would be picking up Olivia and at that point she would have been flagged for Car Pool 2. All Kindergarteners are in Car Pool 2 or The Walkers (with parent). And I should have known to park in the secondary lot and wait to be waved in.
If this sounds very complicated then you really should have seen the process. Amazing! I'll know better next time when I have to do an "on time" pick up! LOL
On a small note, Olivia had a great second week of soccer practice which we went to at 4:30pm and they learned how to pass the ball to one another. She did very well. It's so cute seeing these small kids learn organized sports! :-)
Tom Allen
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