So That’s How Carpool Works…

A large number of students on the Blake Hopkins Campus are carpool everyday, but do we really know all the work, effort and time it takes just to get you in the car? In this article I take a deep dive into all of the perspectives of the pick up process.

In Blake’s Early Learning Center, pickup works a little differently than the UE and Middle School. For ELC carpool pickup there’s still a circle and line but parents can skip the main line and get in the left lane and take a left. The line is shorter and most parents walk to pickup their kids.

Meet the interviewees

Kristen Slaggert, ELC kindergarten parent

Ms. Alison Winter, Kindergarten teacher

Ms. Beth Daniel, UE 5th grade teacher

Ginny Schmidt, UE 5th Grade Parent

Tom Doar, MS 7th Grade Parent

Ms. Kayla Nussbaum, MS English teacher

Ms. Tracey Souvignier, MS 6th grade PE teacher

Q: What is one thing that you think works really well about Blake’s carpool system?

Kristen: The pick up and drop off line works pretty well for the ELC. Probably in part because there are not as many people.

Ms. Winter: I think the ELC has a different carpool system than the Upper Elementary and Middle School. We have less students so our carpool dismissal works very well and is efficient.We use a walkie talkie system and students get sent out from either the gym (1st Grade), Lunchroom (K), or their classroom (PreK). Parents can pick students up inside as well.

Ms. Daniel: Having the students in the classroom until their name is displayed on the whiteboard is so much more efficient than what it used to be.

Ginny: I think the signage they give us and how things are color coded for the teachers really helps delineate which students need to be called.

Tom: I’ve never picked up anyone’s kids by mistake… Kidding! Anthony, Arthur and Dre, or the yellow vest club are great!

Ms. Nussbaum: I think that when families have the color-coded signs in their car windows it makes it easy for the outside callers to know whether it is a Middle School student car, an Upper Elementary student car, or both!

Ms. Souvignier: I like how parents have their student’s name visible so that we can use our walkie talkies to alert students inside to come on out!

Q: Do you think that there is anything, from your perspective, that could run smoother?

Kristen: It is hard to get in and out of the ELC parking lot. In particular, once the carpool line starts to fill up you can’t turn in because the line hasn’t started. So you have to get there early enough to get ahead of the line.

Ms. Daniel: From my perspective, as a teacher, it is efficient in the classroom, but for parents, the line is too long unless you get there way before school is out. Oftentimes, parents park their car in the parking lot and walk up to pick up their children because the line is too long to wait in, or they come later, after the line is gone.

Ginny: Selfishly, I wish there was a different way to incorporate cars from the ELC pickup into the UE and middle school pick up. As a parent of only a UE student it can be frustrating to have all of the ELC cars go to the front of the line to pick up their UE students.

Tom: Opening trunks in the middle of the pickup line instead of pulling over to open the trunk afterward. I’m not saying those students should be expelled, but I’m not not saying it either.

Ms. Nussbaum: Some families don’t have their color-coded signs or have made their own signs in random colors. This makes it difficult for the outside callers to know who is getting picked up. Another thing that is challenging is that some Middle School students don’t hear their name when it is called and it takes them time to walk out to their car. This can hold up the line.

Q: What do you do while you’re waiting in the carpool line?

Kristen: I look at my phone or talk on my phone.

Ginny: I usually read a book or listen to a podcast. There are times when I have to take a work meeting while I am waiting.

Tom: Make work calls, listen to podcasts, do the crossword puzzle.

Q: What time do you usually have all kids out of your classroom?

Ms. Winter: I normally try to have my kids downstairs at our carpool zone by 3:10.

Ms. Daniel: The students are usually out of my classroom at 3:40 PM when they have any students that are left in the classroom at the end of carpool to go to the front entrance if they haven’t been called yet. (I usually have one student left until the “all call” time.)

Q: What time do you arrive and what time are your kids in the car?

Kristen: On average I arrive at 3:05 and the kids are in the car at 3:25.

Ginny: I try to get to the carpool line by 3:05 because then I can usually get a head of where the ELC cars merge in so I don’t have to wait even longer for them. In those instances, my kid is in the car by 3:30. If I don’t get to the carpool until 3:10 I will have to wait until at least 3:40 or 3:45 to get my kid.

Tom: By 3:30, if I get to the line early enough.

Q: At what time do you think most carpool students have left?

Ms. Nussbaum: We call carpool until 3:45. I don’t know how long students stay after that before heading to our after school study hall program upstairs.

Q: What is one thing that you would like to tell the students that get picked up in carpool?

Ms. Souvignier: Be nice to your parents/guardians when you get in the car- If they ask how your day was make sure to give them an answer even if you’re tired. And, maybe even ask how their day was.

Q: What is one thing that you would like to tell the parents that pick up their kids in carpool?

Ms. Souvignier: Continue to make sure that their child’s name is visible so that we can communicate that on the walkie talkie and continue to pull all the way up in the carpool line instead of stopping right in front of the front entrance.

Q: What is one thing you think about in the dead of winter standing out there?

Ms. Souvignier: I actually enjoy the winter and the fresh air! I usually think about what I’m going to make for dinner that night!

Q: Anything else you’d like to say?

Kristen: My recommendation is that Blake adds an entrance between the track and the baseball fields to get to the ELC parking lot.

“If anyone in Mr. Libert’s class wanted to create an app to help with drop off and pickup, there is definitely a market for it.” -Tom Doar