Parking Lot/Student Driver Notice: Grade 11 and 12 Students
Dear Parents,
This is a notice to inform you of two important pieces of information regarding our student drivers. While we understand that you may not all have a student driver in your home yet, it could be happening soon, so now is a good time to connect regarding our current procedures for student drivers.
We are asking you to partner with us in helping us to manage our student drivers and parking, as we work to meet the needs of everyone in our community safely and efficiently.
- Driving: Student drivers are also required to fill out a Student Driver Permit Request Form. As a part of that, they agree to the following guidelines:
- Students shall make certain that all safe-driving regulations are followed.
- Students shall make certain that their behavior is in agreement with school standards.
- Caution must be taken if entering and leaving the school zone area is needed.
- It is very important to follow the flow of traffic and slow speeds.
- The student is expected to drive responsibly on and off the school grounds, thereby, setting an example for their peers and younger students
- Parking: As our community grows, the need to have parking available for our parents and staff has also increased. This is especially important for our families with younger children to ensure that these children are able to safely get to their classrooms from their vehicles in the morning and back to their vehicles in the afternoon during pick up. The younger students are not as easily able to be dropped off and picked up in the drive-thru lane and many of the parents need a place to park their vehicles to do this safely. From the start of this school year, we have asked the following of our student drivers:
- We ask all student drivers to park along 122 Ave and walk in through the forest or along 204b and walk up along the sidewalks. This reminder is in our daily announcements.
- While most of our students have willingly served our community in this way, with our recent Grade 11 drivers getting access to vehicles and parking their own vehicles, we have noticed quite a few students parking in the lot, taking up space that is needed for these parents to safely drop off and pick up their children at the start and end of the day. When we address this with them, some have reacted in a way that is not in line with our student driver form mandates, pushing back or reacting in a disrespectful manner toward the staff member connecting with them.
- Please connect with your student driver and remind him/her that we ask them to park on street parking to keep our lot open and free for staff and parents.
Unfortunately, we have recently had to discuss violations of both our parking procedures and safe-driving regulations with several students. This includes transporting more than the law-mandated number of passengers (outside of family members), as well as driving above the posted limits in the neighbourhood, and continuing to park in the staff/parent lot after repeated requests to move the student vehicle.
- Again, we ask that you partner with us by connecting with your student driver and asking him/her to follow the protocols set forth.
- Further violations after this notice will result in an email sent home and may lead to the school revoking the student’s driving permission form.
Thank you for your support in helping us keep everyone safe.
Sincerely,
Stacy Sowerby
Acting Assistant Principal