Principal Roy shared some updates about drop-off and pick-up at John Marshall:

Morning Drop-Off

Dropoff is available starting at 8:35am: please drive slowly into QAE Staff Parking off NE 68th street. Enter at west end and exit at east end. This is a goodbye and go exit, so drivers remain in cars and students exit out the car door closest to the building to ensure safety for all. A staff member will be there to greet students and keep the line flowing smoothly starting at 8:35am. Please drop off single file to ensure student safety and allow SPS staff to park.

To walk your child into the building, enter using the center doors at the front of John Marshall. Walking families, please stay out of the staff parking lot; this is for drop off only. Please walk with your child through the building to the playground; invite your child to show you hallway expectations so that they can practice what is expected in our building. Staff supervision on the playground starts at 8:35am, so please remain with your child until that time.

After School Pick-Up

To pick up your child from the cafeteria, park on a side street and enter through front doors (use center doors) and wait in cafeteria.

To pick up without coming into John Marshall, wait along NE 68th Street in the School Bus Zone. This zone is for parents and taxis and drivers must remain in their cars. Staff member will walk them to NE 68th Street. This is new! We are trying this thanks to parent feedback. We welcome additional feedback on this!

Bus Tips

We've heard about some of the adventures that our families have had with buses to John Marshall during the first week of school. With our temporary location in Ravenna, many families who didn't previously ride the bus are experiencing it for the first time.

Here are a few tips that we've heard from veteran bus-riding families and from Janine and SPS:

Check the SPS Delayed Bus Page
The district maintains a page with update information about late buses. See the page here...

Talk to other parents on the QAE Community Discussions Group
If you're on Facebook, join the QAE Community Discussions Group. It's a community forum where parents are sharing updates on buses.

Be patient
We've heard from parents that there are often delays during the first week of school that get better as the SPS transportation department finalizes routes and hires additional drivers.

Problems or questions?
Contact the SPS Transportation Department.

As we plan for next year’s move to John Marshall, Principal Roy has been working with SPS to plan for our transportation needs. Here are her recent updates:


SPS can provide both route pick up/drop off and central-location pick up/drop off.

• To assist SPS, PTSA Facilities Director Mark Meuter and I will work with PTSA to design a survey for QAE parents to identify transportation needs for next year.  If there are any volunteers to help us craft a survey, please contact Mark Meuter at facilities1@qaeptsa.org 
  
• There will be both route pick up (as there is now) and central location pick up.  We will work with SPS Transportation to identify possible sites for central location pick up, such as Queen Anne Community Center and Little Howe Park.  This means that families inside and outside the GeoZone will have the option of coming to a central location for pick up/drop off on Queen Anne hill.
  
• Once SPS has QAE survey information and the April database for next year’s registration is available, then SPS will be able to plan routes and inform families in the spring.
  
• If there is a desire for central location pick up, we will need to have parents sign up to supervise the drop off/pick-up site on a regular basis to make this work for all of our families.

Also:

• PTSA and I will work with SPS to coordinate possible bussing for PTSA-organized Enrichment Programs.
• As anticipated, KidsCo families will pick up students at John Marshall next year.
• In September, we need to be prepared for minor adjustments to route pick up/drop off locations and time revisions as needed in the first few weeks of September.  Anticipating this will be important as we establish safe, dependable routes for students.  Thanks to all QAE families for your collaborative support in planning our transportation to John Marshall together.

Here's Janine's note on the potential strike is below. Our PTSA President started a thread about how our community can help each other on the QAE Community Discussion Facebook Group.

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This morning, Seattle Public Schools (SPS) notified all bus-riding families that the union representing First Student school bus drivers has called for a second school bus strike starting Thursday, Feb. 1st. Unlike the one-day strike in November, this strike has no pre-determined end date. Schools will operate normally during a strike, regardless of length.  SPS will use district website to share information on a regular basis. (See the Bus Service Update story online for updates and FAQ on the homepage.) 

QAE staff and our PTSA community want to help impacted families any way we can. QAE’s Bus Strike Response Plan:
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1. For our bus-riding families, thank you in advance for trying to make alternate transportation arrangements.  (Reminder:  if students are being picked up by a family member or friend who is not already in the SPS Source Information System as an alternate contact, please send a note with your child.) 
2. If you are not a bus-riding family but would like to volunteer to help, please:
   1. Reach out to your child’s friends to arrange car-pooling or play-dates for the days ahead;
   2. QAE families can look to 'QAE Community Discussions' on Facebook to volunteer or ask for assistance.
3. If bus-riding families are unable to make alternate transportation arrangements by Thursday morning, please email Jennifer Connolly - jaconnolly@seattleschools.org.  Please include your name, your child’s name, your address and your contact info.  If you are able to make arrangements during the day on Thursday, please update Jennifer.
4. Make sure your contact information is up to date so you can be reached quickly.

If you have any questions, email me at jbroy@seattleschools.org.


Thank you to our entire community for working together to help our bus-riding families!


Janine Roy
Principal
Queen Anne Elementary

Principal Roy sent this note out to QAE families today:
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Dear QAE families:

Based on today's Seattle Times article:  https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/seattle-school-bus-drivers-to-strike-wednesday/, there is the possibility of a bus strike which may impact QAE's bus students starting tomorrow.  For those families who may need to drop students off before 7:35 am, additional morning supervision will be in place starting at 7 am in QAE's cafeteria and will be in place daily for the duration of this strike.  Students who need to be dropped off before 7:35 am should go to the cafeteria, and then they will be supervised on the playground as usual starting at 7:35 am.  

Please email me if you have questions, as I want to do everything possible to support our impacted QAE families.

Janine Roy, QAE Principal
jbroy@seattleschools.org  

During the June 6th Building Renovation Meeting  we heard very consistent feedback from our neighbors and community QAE parents have NOT always been kind, safe or fair to our children, ourselves and our neighbors. We were reminded of some basic SAFETY and RESPECT procedures that you should remember when dropping off and picking up your children at school.  Please help us model good safety behaviors for our children and be good neighbors.

1) Crossing Boston St at the intersection of Bigelow.  There is a signed cross walk at Boston and 4th Ave N to use for our safety and our children.  Our neighbors have witnessed a number of situations where distracted or hurried drivers do not pay attention when driving through this area and it is further challenged by the slope of the street giving drivers some blind spots.  They reminded us that we should all be careful and safe when crossing streets.

2) Crossing the any street mid-block.  Please don't play frogger across the busy street.      

3) Parking - please respect our neighbors driveways, fire hydrants, crosswalks and stop signs.  The below is the Seattle Department of Transportations Parking Regulations in regards to How Close Can you Park?  Parking illegally, even for a couple of minutes, is unfair and unsafe to those that are sharing the roads.

Information for enrolled families about the upcoming school year is posted on our website, and will continue to be updated / expanded over the coming days.