Getting ready for back to school safely with PickUp Patrol

August is here, which means it’s back to school season once again! While an exciting time, back to school can also be stressful for school staff, parents, and students alike. With a new school year can come disorganization, learning curves, new routines, and fresh challenges. All of this can impact school staff and families’ time, learning outcomes, and most importantly, safety.
Let PickUp Patrol help make this school year startup a breeze!

Be Prepared

If you want to start the school year strong, you need to be prepared! There are many tasks to accomplish before that first day. Don’t leave dismissal management to the last minute. It’s crucial that dismissal plans are organized and set before that very first day. PickUp Patrol includes a step by step guide to help you get started for the new school year.

Accurate Dismissal Plans

Knowing how each student is to be dismissed is an essential back to school step. Other schools gather this information from Google forms, paper registration forms, or open house nights. While they get the job done, these options are not very secure, can be time consuming, and are always last minute.

PickUp Patrol schools can upload their default dismissal information from their student information system or have parents directly submit this information to PickUp Patrol. Having your students’ default plans ready and available frees up your time during the first week of school and assures that every student gets to their after school destination safely.

Does your bus company provide bus numbers at the last minute? That’s fine too. PickUp Patrol’s support team can help you quickly reassign students to their correct bus as soon as you receive your bus lists.

Pre-Set Cutoff & Notification Times 

Speaking of last minute, parents making last-minute changes can be a big challenge during dismissal. As you know, plan changes that come in the last 20 minutes of the day can wreak havoc in the office — notifying teachers, locating students who have already left their rooms, and missing messages…

With PickUp Patrol, schools set cutoff times for parents to submit plan changes. This means that all parents must submit plan changes by a specific time – say 2:00 PM – so that their students’ teachers can be notified in advance. An automated cutoff time helps your staff enforce the rules and keeps your outside dismissal staff from having to make on the fly decisions about authorizing a change. When a change is made in PickUp Patrol, they can be assured that the change is allowed. 

If there is an unexpected change or emergency, the office can override and enter plan changes after the cutoff time. But our schools find that the automated cutoff time results in a big reduction in end of day changes.  

Once the cut off time has passed, teachers receive their daily dismissal notification. This notification lists students with a change for the day along with the rest of their students' regular dismissal plans. This allows teachers to be aware of how their students are to be dismissed before the bell rings, reducing end-of-day stress and enhancing safety.

Improved Parent Communications 

It's not only the school preparing for back to school season – parents are also busy getting ready. They have long lists including shopping for school supplies and scheduling after school care, activities, and transportation plans. 

An organized dismissal system gives anxious parents confidence that their child’s safety is a top priority, and with PickUp Patrol, you have plenty of resources to help them get going. PickUp Patrol’s parent guide includes back to school information, a how-to video, and parent FAQ. The built in registration process helps parents easily set up student dismissal plans for the year.

And to take one more task off your plate, we’ve ensured PickUp Patrol family resources are available in Spanish and Portuguese.

Have an amazing year!

PickUp Patrol’s team wishes you all – school staff, students, and parents alike – an amazing school year! We look forward to helping you manage the most stressful parts of the school day so that you can fill the rest with learning, growing, and succeeding.

As always, we will be here to support you every step of the way. If you are interested in making your school days easier and safer, you can learn more at our website — www.pickuppatrol.net