Dear Families,

I wanted to reconnect with all our families and stress the importance of student safety during arrival and dismissal. I am asking for your help to ensure all our students and families are always safe. School arrival and dismissal are very busy times during our school day. Many things are occurring at once, and we have many rules and procedures in place for very specific reasons. I kindly request all adults serve as models for our students and help contribute to a safe school zone. It is important we are safety partners and hold our students to high expectations.

General Safety Guidelines

• When arriving to Stratford Landing, ALL visitors must first report to the main office. It is imperative that we strictly adhere to our Visitor Check-In procedures in Fairfax County Public Schools.  Office staff are expected to have ALL visitors sign-in and show identification and verify that the visitor has permission to be on school campus and/or in contact with the student. We appreciate your cooperation. For more detailed information, visit our parent handbook.

• During arrival and dismissal, students and families should not walk across the bus lane; please use sidewalks and crosswalks; follow directions of staff members and patrols, please.

• Families are strongly discouraged from crossing Riverside Rd at the corner of Old Stage Rd - We request all families use the crosswalk across Riverside Rd and say hello to our terrific crossing guard, Ms. Sherry Mull.

• Students should never cross at Riverside Rd and Old Stage Rd unaccompanied by an adult.

• Please always remind your child about the importance of walking, not running, on school grounds during crowded student arrival and dismissal times.

Kiss and Ride Reminders

• Please only pass other cars in line if directed by a staff member. Otherwise, please remain in line.

• Students should only be dropped off via our kiss and ride line; drop offs in front of our building during student arrival are not permitted; this can interfere with our buses; dropping students off early (other than safety patrols) is not permitted; Stratford Landing staff are not present outside prior to 8:50 am.

• Practice very safe speeds; be cautious and continuously on the lookout for other children and adults.

• We’d like our kiss and ride pick up and drop off to be a cell phone free zone, please. This is a great way to model appropriate cell phone use for your child while driving.

• Only drop your child off if a staff member is present, please.

Safety Conversations To Have With Your Child

• Provide a safe space for your child to share and ask them for honesty
• Suggested Questions:
  • How can you help if you see something unsafe happening?
  • Are you safe at school? Tell me about a time you were unsafe.
  • Do you follow all the safety rules?
  • Is there a safety rule you don’t like to follow? Why?
  • What is one thing you can do to be a safer student?

Thank you, together we can make Stratford Landing a safer school for our students.