Drivers beware: School starts today

Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
GETTING READY — Daphna Harris, a kindergarten teacher at Houlton Elementary School, puts the finishing touches on a bulletin board outside her classroom Tuesday morning as she gears up for the return of students today.
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — The sounds of class bells ringing returns today as two area school districts open their doors for the 2010-11 school year.
    And with the return to school, area motorists are urged to use caution, as school busses will be canvassing the streets picking up students in the early morning hours.
    SAD 29 (Houlton, Littleton, Monticello and Hammond) and SAD 70 (Hodgdon, Linneus, New Limerick, Ludlow, Cary Plantation, Amity and Haynesville) both open their doors Aug. 25, signaling the end of summer vacation. Both school districts start earlier than fellow school systems in Southern Aroostook, Katahdin and Danforth due to the harvest recess.
    SAD 29 breaks for the harvest recess Sept. 27-Oct. 1. An additional week is available for high school students who are working during harvest from Oct. 4-8. In SAD 70, all students will be on break from Oct. 4-8.
    SAD 29 will once again employ additional safeguards with its bussing procedures for pre-kindergarten to third grade students. Last winter, the district introduced a new policy for transporting its younger students to ensure greater safety when dropping students off at the end of the school day.
    According to the district’s web site, the policy was created due to “incidences regarding young students and transportation home.”
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
BOOK REVIEW — SAD 29 Literacy Coach Sarah Estabrook, right, and first grade teacher Brenda Sewell review some books for the classroom Tuesday as the school gears up for the return of students.
    “The policy is a way to firm up delivery of students to their homes,” Wellington School Principal Nancy Wright said. “Before, the bus driver was the last one to see a student get off the bus.”
    The new safeguards for dropping off pre-K to third grade students requires a parent or child care provider to be present when their child is dropped off, or to wave to the bus driver signifying they are home. If a bus driver does not see anyone at the home, that student will be brought back to the school and the parent will have to come to the school to get their child.
    If parents have bus-related issues, they must contact the school principal, not the bus driver. Any changes to normal bus routines must be phoned in to Wellington School before 1:40 p.m. or Houlton Elementary School by 2 p.m.
    If the pre-K-third grade student has an older sibling on the bus, the younger child may be discharged from the bus to the sibling’s care, unless parents wish otherwise.
    Parents are also asked to develop an Emergency Plan to be reviewed with their children in the event they come home and no one is present.
    In the morning, students should be prepared for their bus 10 minutes in advance of its usual arrival time. The school bus will pause at each stop on its route and look for signs of students waiting. During cold weather, students may place their backpacks on the sidewalk or end of the driveway to indicate they are waiting inside. Drivers will not wait for students who do not appear ready to load the bus.
    “One of the big things we worry about is if a student does not give their teacher a note in the morning about a change in their schedule, that is where problems arise,” Wright said. “If parents feel their child does not have the responsibility to give their teacher a note, call the school and check. Parents are encouraged to call the school if they have any questions.”