Cerritos Info and Welcome Guide - Arrival & Dismissal

Arrival Procedures

Students may arrive to school in many ways:

1) Park & Walk to Entrance - Parents or caretakers can park their vehicle in the visitor parking lot. This is the large, main lot located in front of Cerritos and Altadena. Please walk across the dedicated supervised crosswalk. A Cerritos staff member will be serving as crossing guard at the crosswalk in order to ensure the safety of our students. Parents may then walk their child to their assigned entrance.

Please note:

Parking is not allowed in the bus drop off/staff parking lot. These parking spots are reserved for employees. The bus lane is reserved only for bus drop off.
Please escort your child across the crosswalk to ensure that he/she safely navigates the parking lot.

2) Drive-through Drop Off – In the visitor parking lot, there is a designated drop off lane (stay right) in which parents have their child exit the vehicle without having to park. When using the drive-through drop off, the child should only exit the vehicle once the vehicle has passed the crosswalk and entered the “Drop Off Zone” (see green shaded area on map on next page). Please be sure to pull all the way forward in the “Drop Off Zone” in order to maximize the number of vehicles concurrently dropping off (usually 6-7 cars can be in the “Drop Off Zone” at one time).

Please note:

If choosing this option, please be sure that your child is ready to exit the vehicle when you enter the “Drop Off Zone”. Please have backpacks, lunches, water bottles and coats ready.
Please have your child exit on the right hand side of your vehicle to ensure his/her safety.
The “Drop Off Zone” is the only permitted place to do a drive-through drop off. Parents are not allowed to drop off their child at any other location in the parking lot for safety reasons. If you are unable to use the drop off lane, then please plan to park and walk your child to the gate.

3) Walk, Scooter, Bike – Students are welcome to walk, scooter, or ride their bikes to school. If your children need to cross Desert Foothills Parkway, please remind them to cross at one of the two crosswalks. The crosswalks are staffed by Crossing Guards before and after school. Once instructed by the crossing guard, the student should walk the bike/scooter across the crosswalk. Students are expected to walk their bikes on the sidewalk leading to the bike compound. There is a bike compound next to the entrance gate where the child may store the bike/scooter during school hours. All bikes/scooters must be locked while in the compound. Cerritos cannot be held responsible for lost, stolen or damaged property. After school begins, the bike lot will be locked for security purposes.

4) Bus – When the school bus arrives at Cerritos, it enters the Bus Drop Off/Staff Parking Lot. Students exit the bus and walk to the playground gate to find their line. To determine if your child is eligible to ride the bus to school, the pick-up and drop-off times, bus stop locations, as well as your child’s bus number, you can go to Transportation Website.

Morning Arrival Information

Students may be dropped off for school between the hours of 7:00-7:30 a.m. There is no adult supervision prior to 7:00 a.m.; please do not drop off your student before that time. The playground is open for students from 7:00 - 7:25 a.m. Students will enter through the playground gate prior to 7:25 a.m. The entrances will close at 7:25 a.m. Students who arrive after 7:25 a.m. are considered tardy and will enter the office to sign in, receive their paper tardy pass and head to class.

Late Arrival

For safety purposes, if your student arrives at school after the gates close, parents must walk their child in to the office for a tardy pass. The student will be issued a tardy pass which will allow the child access to their classroom. If your child will be more than 5 minutes late, please be sure to call the Cerritos attendance line at 480-541-2201 to notify the school. The Cerritos Administration also sets goals for all students to be on time and celebrates these daily accomplishments in fun ways!

Dismissal Procedures

School dismisses at 2:15 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Wednesday dismisses at 12:15 p.m.

Transportation Plans

Please make sure your teacher is aware of your child’s typical transportation plan for after school. The classroom teacher will ensure that students follow the transportation plan. Typically, children will go to one of the following: Kyrene Kids Club, ride home on a bus, attend an after-school enrichment program, or go to parent pick-up. If you need to change your child’s transportation plan for a given day, please be sure to communicate it the change by calling the front office and to your teacher either via a note sent in with your child, an email to your teacher, or a phone call. If a child’s transportation plan changes during the day, please call the office no later than 1:45 p.m. with the change. The office will ensure the change gets communicated to the classroom teacher.

Drive-Through Pick-Up Process:

Please use the designated lane in the shared parking lot with Altadena unless you are parking in visitor spots. Create a card with your child's first and last name(s) and grade(s). Place the card on the passenger side visor or hold it up as you go through the pick-up line. All cars will be stopped at the crosswalk near the Cerritos front office. Near the crosswalk, school staff will begin calling the names of 6 children over the radio to line up under the student ramada. After all 6 children are lined up under the ramada a school staff member will release 6 cars into the loading zone. When all 6 cars are loaded, they all exit the loading zone and proceed to exit the parking. The next group of 6 enters.

Bus Procedures

Please be aware that Kyrene School District policy does not allow a bus driver to drop off a kindergarten student at a bus stop without a designated parent, guardian, or caretaker present to take the child home. Kindergarten students who are not met at the bus stop will be returned to the office at Cerritos. Parents/legal guardian will be contacted to pick-up the child. If your child leaves an item on the school bus the bus driver will turn in the lost item to the Kyrene District Transportation Office at 8700 S. Kyrene Road, Tempe, AZ 85284.

Parent Park & Walk Up Process:

If you wish to walk up to pick up your child we ask that you wait on the grass area near the new preschool playground to help us to maintain social distancing as much as possible. We will check with you for the student name and grade and radio for your child while you wait for them in the grass area. Please note that we have a limited number of parking spaces available for parents to park at this time of day and many of the parking spots are blocked to assist the flow of traffic. Please use designated crosswalks to move between the parent waiting area and the parking area.

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