Arrival and Dismissal Procedures

2023-2024 Arrival Procedures:

The school day at Mary Branch begins promptly at 7:35 am. Doors will open at 7:00 am each morning.

To ensure safe arrival of all students the following procedures will be followed:
Car riders should be dropped off in the driveway at the front of the building in the lane closest to the building. Please drive along the driveway where a school staff member can assist your child in getting out of the vehicle. Please do not drop your child off in the front parking areas! Doing so means they must cross traffic and creates an unsafe environment.  The back driveway are for buses and staff parking only.

Walkers will enter through the front of the building and bus riders will be dropped off at the back of the building.

All students in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade will walk directly to the cafeteria to pick up breakfast and will then head to their classroom to eat. All students in Pre-K, Kindergarten, and 1st grade will go directly to their classroom for breakfast.

Students arriving to school prior to 7:00 a.m. will be unsupervised. For your child's safety, please do not drop them off prior to 7:00 a.m.

Dismissal Procedures:

Learning takes place until 3:10 pm. A pattern of picking you student up early will have an impact on learning.
Please refrain from picking your student up early.
In the event of an after school appointment, students must be picked up by 2:30 pm. Unless it is an emergency, students will not be released between 2:30 pm and 3:10 pm. Approval from the office is necessary before a teacher may allow a student to leave. Anyone who wishes to remove a student from school must go to the front office.

To ensure safe dismissal of all students the following procedures will be followed:
Car riders will be released from the front of the building and are to be picked up in the front driveway in the lane closest to the building. Please drive along the driveway where a school staff member can assist your student into the vehicle. Hang-tags with your student's name on it must be displayed while picking your students up.

Walker to West Villa Park will be released from the front of the building, Walkers to the Crossing Guard will be escorted by staff to the crossing guard area and dismissed, and buses/daycare vans will be released from the cafeteria.

For safety and security purposes, Branch does not allow parents/guardians to walk up for dismissal.

Students should be picked up no later than 3:35 pm each day.
Plans for dismissal transportation should be made ahead of time.
For the protection of your child, if if you need to change your child's transportation you will need to send signed, written notice by fax, email or in person by 2:00 pm that day. Without written notice, the student will have to follow their usual transportation routine.  Last minute transportation changes will be made in emergency situations only at the approval of administration.

Should you have any questions, please contact the front office at  979-209-2900.