Student Safety During Drop-offs and Pick-ups

Hello again, Chester Ronning School Community.

Time continues to roll along and it is amazing that we are already at the end of January. Half of the school year has passed and the January 31 semester break is providing a long weekend before classes resume on Tuesday, February 1st.

You have received the communications about absence rates at our school but lots of learning is happening, nevertheless! Our entire staff is working very hard to keep students focused on essential learning outcomes and to support students who are unable to attend in-person classes. If you have any questions or if you need additional support, please don't hesitate to contact your child's teacher and/or the school office at (780) 672-5588.

There have been lots of questions about the progress of the replacement school and when we can be expected to finally move over to the new building. Yesterday, an update was posted to our website, which can be viewed HERE. Hopefully we have experienced our final postponement and we will be able to welcome students into the new building after the spring break, on April 4, 2022!

And now, the main purpose for this blog post...

It has been somewhat understandable, as parents were looking for the closest possible drop-off for students during the stretch of extremely cold weather that we went through to kick-off the New Year, but I am noticing additional congestion in our parking lot that is creating safety concerns. Our current parking lot is not well-designed and often becomes extremely busy and inefficient, especially during the morning drop-off times, and I am hopeful that we can work together to make it safer for our students and our community members who we share the alley with.

Going back to the previous school year, we have communicated that the rear parking lot is intended for families that have students in Kindergarten and Grade 1 and that we would prefer to have families with only older students to drop off on 43rd Avenue, in front of the school. This information is available in more detail and including diagrams on our website by visiting the Re-Entry 2021 page (https://cronning.brsd.ab.ca/re-entry-2020) and then clicking the button labelled CRS - Entering and Exiting the Building.  By sticking to this plan, you can help us reduce the amount of traffic in the parking lot, which will make it safer for students to cross the alley and the parking lot and hopefully much faster for parents to get in and out!

Here are a few key and additional points:

• Families with students in Kindergarten and Grade 1 are encouraged to drop-off and pick-up in the parking lot on the north-east side of the school
• Families who only have older students (Gr. 2-5) should use 43rd Avenue or the adjacent cul-de-sacs for drop-offs and pick-ups 
• Please drive with extreme caution, and watch for pedestrians, especially from 8:20-8:40 am and 3:00-3:20 pm
  • Children are not always as aware of their surroundings as they should be and can be difficult to see behind and between vehicles, dumpsters, etc.
• Students should cross at safe and expected locations
  • We have supervision at the crosswalk in front of the school on 43rd avenue
  • Starting on February 1st, we will move our supervision in the back parking lot to the steps near the green dumpster and support students crossing the alley at that location
  • The 43rd avenue sidewalk that crosses the alleyway is another relatively safe location for students to cross
• When using the back parking lot, please be courteous of the residents who share the alley and try to avoid blocking their parking stalls as some of them are trying to get to work in the morning, as well
• Gr. 4 and 5 classes line up on the front (south) lawn before school, while K-Gr. 3 classes are continuing to muster on the tarmac on the north side of the building

Thank you for your help in keeping our students safe!

Sincerely,

Reid Lansing