August 1, 2021
Dear Parents,
We are very excited about beginning the new school year on Tuesday morning! Our doors will open at 7:30 a.m. for student arrival. Due to the milestone years of preschool – 1st grade, the district is allowing parents of students in K3, K4, K5 and 1st grade to walk in your child for the first day of school. This will be the same procedure as last year with all parents being asked to take a quick picture and head right back out for exit. No one should remain in the classroom longer than a couple of minutes for this drop-off. We are allowing this to honor this special milestone, but ask everyone to make a quick goodbye and exit to allow for all parents of students in this classes to be able to do the same. This is such a special year for these students as this marks their beginning in public school. All other students will either be unloaded in the front arrival loop or walked to the entrance by the parents. We have fun things planned to welcome all our students including a visit from Batson, the East End mascot and a special visit during the day from Beasley, the City of Easley mascot. Beginning with the second day of school, all students will follow the same plan of drop-off in the front arrival loop or parents walking them to the front entrance. We will have extra adult supervision throughout the school hallways to assist students in getting to their classrooms on these opening days of school. We are welcoming and cheering them all on to a super first day of school!
Breakfast and lunch are again free for all students this year. Students who wish to eat breakfast in the classroom are to arrive no later than 7:45 a.m. each morning to place their order. The breakfast items will be delivered to the classroom by our lunchroom staff. Students have a choice of 4 lunches each day. There are two hot menus, a yogurt plate and a grilled cheese sandwich. You can locate our menu on the district website and EEE website. There is an individual menu for each school. Please be sure to check for East End’s!
Dismissal begins at 2:15 p.m. for bus riders, 2:20 for gate dismissed students and day cares and 2:25 for car riders. Our dismissal is returning to a time this year closer to our dismissal times in previous years. We need this extra time for our day and are excited about what this offers for our students this year.
A car tag is required for all students at the gate and the front dismissal loop and the bus loop for preschool, K4 and K5 dismissal each day. This measure is to ensure your child’s safety. If you haven’t picked-up a car tag, please come by the school tomorrow, Monday, August 2nd to get one in order to be prepared for the first day. Students will be called to the dismissal areas via Google Docs. Their car tags will be entered to note if they are to report to the gate, front dismissal or the kindergarten loop dismissal loop. We will have a person on duty at each of these locations with a device for entering your numbers as you arrive. Please be sure you have your EEE car tags with you so that your child can be called through our system. For the front arrival loop and the kindergarten loop, parents will be asked to pull down to cones that will correspond to the location your child and child’s teacher have been informed for the dismissal. Students will receive a color cone assignment from the display on the PolyVision Board in the classroom. As students exit the building, they will go directly to the colored cone to meet their parents. So, it is important for all parents in the car loop to pull to the cone color given to them as they arrive. That is where you will meet your child in the car loop. We have made additional improvements from last year’s dismissal and believe this will be even better this year. We thank you in advance for your cooperation. The gate dismissal will be from 2:20 – 2:25. Those arriving after 2:25 will be asked to use the kindergarten loop for K3-K5 students and to the front dismissal lane for 1st – 5th grade.
Some extra details about our kindergarten dismissal should be of assistance to each of you. Parents/guardians are asked to enter off South C Street onto Woodland Circle and enter the bus loop for kindergarten dismissal. Students will also be called to this loop via the display of the car tag as cars arrive through the PolyVision system, as well. Our biggest back log of traffic every year is for parents/guardians who use this dismissal loop and line-up to wait prior our buses and day cares arriving. Officer Cheeks will be assisting us as we ensure that the bus loop and Woodland Circle has no cars in line waiting until buses and day cares have picked-up. Parents using this loop are asked to not arrive until 2:25 p.m.to arrive at the school. This will allow our buses and day care vans to be loaded and enroute to their destinations without disruption and delays due to vehicles blocking them on Woodland Circle. All kindergarten students are dismissed only from the kindergarten loop. Older siblings and those who ride home with kindergarteners will dismiss from the kindergarten loop, as well. Parents who pick-up their children in the kindergarten/bus loop will also receive a color designation for the poles in the dismissal loop to pull down to for meeting their children. Students will meet their parents or guardians at these colors. (Teachers and assistants from each of the classrooms along with additional faculty members in the hallways and at the dismissal loop will be assisting our students to get to the correct colored pole designated to meet their parents.)
Our office will close at 2:00 daily to prepare for dismissal. Any child who needs to be picked-up for early dismissal for a doctor’s appointment or other excused early dismissal should be picked-up no later than 1:45 p.m. Early dismissals to allow families to avoid the protocols will not be allowed as we need everyone’s cooperation for our daily dismissal. Visitors to the front door are not allowed as we begin our dismissal. The front office will open for possible questions and entrance at 2:45 p.m.
We are very pleased to share that with our contract tracing last school year, no COVID was spread in our school. We plan to follow all protocols outlined for our school. Our priority taking care of our students to ensure their well-being as COVID protocols still remain. There are changes this year that we believe will make for a great year. Please be sure to refer to the information shared from our district leadership about our reopening plan. You should have received this in an e-mail from Mr. Darian Byrd, Director of Communications and Virtual Learning. Lots of very important information is contained in his e-mail today. If you did not receive it, please respond by e-mail to TammyDay@pickens.k12.sc.us I will forward the e-mail to you. As we open school for at least the first three weeks through August 24th (we will confirm updates once our year has started,) we are not able to admit visitors or volunteers in the building, other than K3, K4, K5 and 1st grade parents on the very first day to walk their child to the classroom door.
Our goal is to finish the front loop dismissal and the kindergarten dismissal by 2:40 p.m. daily. We cannot do this without your cooperation. If you have any questions, please call the school. This year’s dismissal will be at least forty minutes of time span across the day, but we hope each individual dismissal is less than 20 minutes total. Our faculty will be working hard each day to make this work. Your cooperation in arriving at the times noted for your child’s dismissal will be greatly appreciated. We anticipate a delay on the first days of school as our families learn the routines. In advance, thank you for your cooperation. We are doing all of these measures to protect your child.
Students not picked-up by 2:40 p.m. can enroll in the school’s Homework Center for supervision through 4:00 p.m. daily. The information for our EEE HWC was shared last week. If you have any questions, please call the office.
Please refer to the maps and diagrams about arrival and dismissal. We are looking forward to an amazing year. Our faculty is so very excited to welcome everyone back to our first day of school. Please remember that the first few days of school result in delays with arrivals and dismissal as everyone learns the new procedures.
We know that dismissal on the first day of school is always longer than what becomes our regular routine. However, with the help of everyone, we know our procedures will ensure the safety and well-being of all our precious students. We appreciate your cooperation.
Last school year, we initiated many new activities throughout the day and year for our students to make it a great year, despite the protocols. The restrictions this year should be much easier and we plan to do even more things to make this a great year for our students. We are very hopeful about field trip opportunities as well as the start of our after school clubs and activities once school begins. Please be on the lookout for information after our first three weeks of setting practice and protocols. We are very excited! This is going to be a great year! In advance, thanks for all your help!
If you have any questions, please call the school at 397-1700. We will be glad to assist.
Tammy Day, principal
#EastEndHasCharacter!
#ATraditionOfExcellenceSince1950!
These links should assist you with arrival and dismissal: