Lyons Farm Elementary

General: The maximum safe speed on campus is 10 miles per hour. Please observe this speed limit for the safety of people on foot, bicycle, or in another vehicle. Because staff are not required to be on campus before 7:15 AM, families are strongly encouraged NOT to arrive on campus until 7:00 AM unless they are enrolled in the before school program. In the afternoon, please do not arrive before 1:45 PM so we can minimize the amount of vehicle idling near our students. To further reduce the number of vehicles entering our campus, we hope you will consider carpooling with another family in your neighborhood. 

Morning Transportation Operations 

Carpool drivers:  

• Students will be welcomed into the school building beginning at 7:15 AM. 
• Drivers shall make a right or left turn off Scott King Road into the westernmost driveway, travel through the staff parking lot, and then proceed to the loading area. 
• Student(s) shall unload when the vehicle comes to a complete stop in one of five designated loading spaces. School staff may assist in directing the student(s) as needed, including helping with opening and closing the car door. 
• Carpool drivers shall leave the loading area when the proceeding vehicles have unloaded and started to exit, or as directed by school staff. Ideally, all vehicles should be unloaded and released before the next group of drivers is ushered forward.
• Drivers shall then turn left and exit the school via the easternmost driveway onto Scott King Road (turning right, left, or continuing straight onto Lyon Tree Lane). 
• Families needing additional time to unload during morning operations shall park in the designated visitor parking area immediately past the loading area (i.e., families of exceptional children, families with students utilizing car seats). These carpool drivers will still follow the carpool route through the staff parking lot prior to utilizing the designated visitor parking area.  

Staff:  

• Staff members driving to school shall make a right or left turn off Scott King Road into the westernmost driveway and proceed to the staff parking lot south of the school building. There are three handicap accessible spaces in this lot. 
• Parking spaces for child nutrition staff are available in the bus parking lot.
• Staff shall exit through the easternmost driveway.
• Staff needing to leave campus early, within roughly one-hour of the dismissal bell, should park in a visitor parking space north of the school building, as close to the easternmost driveway as possible. 

Buses: Buses shall enter and exit the campus from the easternmost driveway and utilize the bus loop behind the school for unloading/loading operations. Students should be guided around the bus lot anytime there are moving vehicles. 

Visitors: Visitor parking is available in front of the school building. If you are parking your vehicle prior to 7:45 AM or between 2:00 PM and 3:00 PM, please use a parking space closer to the easternmost driveway so that the parking spaces closest to the loading zone are available for families who need extra time to unload or load their student(s). 

Walkers and Bike Riders: To ensure the safety of our students and families, we strongly discourage pedestrian and bike traffic at the beginning of this school year. View the School Opening FAQ for more information. If you have questions or concerns about how your family will travel to and from Lyons Farm Elementary, please reach out to Principal Hopkins at james_hopkins@dpsnc.net.   

Afternoon Transportation Operations 

Carpool drivers: 

• Lyons Farm Elementary will utilize an “advanced identification” loading process to maximize the organization and efficiency of the student loading process. Each family will receive a placard for display in their vehicle so that staff can easily match the student(s) to the vehicle.
• Just like in the morning, drivers shall make a right or left turn off Scott King Road into the westernmost driveway, travel through the staff parking lot, and then proceed to the loading area. 
• After 2:15 PM, staff shall begin directing student(s) to load into their vehicle once it comes to a complete stop in one of five designated loading spaces. School staff may assist in directing the student(s) as needed, including helping with opening and closing the car door. Ideally, all vehicles should be loaded and released before the next group of drivers is ushered forward.
• Carpool drivers shall leave the loading area when the proceeding vehicles have loaded and started to exit, or as directed by school staff. 
• Drivers shall then turn left and exit the school via the easternmost driveway onto Scott King Road (turning right, left, or continuing straight onto Lyon Tree Lane). 
• Families needing additional time to load during afternoon operations shall park in the designated visitor parking area immediately past the loading area (i.e., families of exceptional children, families with students utilizing car seats, or families whose student(s) is not yet near the loading area). These carpool drivers will still follow the carpool route through the staff parking lot prior to utilizing the designated visitor parking area.
• Families are fully expected to pick up their children from school by 2:40PM unless other afterschool arrangements have been made. 

Staff: Any staff member not parked in the designated visitor parking area on the north side of the school needing to leave early shall leave a minimum of 60 minutes before loading operations to avoid conflicts with carpool traffic. Alternatively, if the carpool queue has not backed up into the staff parking lot, they may coordinate with maintenance staff to open the gates between the staff parking lot and bus parking lot, allowing them to access the easternmost driveway to exit onto Scott King Road.  

Buses: Buses shall enter and exit the campus from the easternmost driveway and utilize the bus loop behind the school for unloading/loading operations. Students should be guided around the bus lot anytime there are moving vehicles. 

Visitors: Visitor parking is available in front of the school building. If you are parking your vehicle prior to 7:45 AM or between 2:00 PM and 3:00 PM, please use a parking space closer to the easternmost driveway so that the parking spaces closest to the loading zone are available for families who need extra time to unload or load their student(s).  

Walkers and Bike Riders: To ensure the safety of our students and families, we strongly discourage pedestrian and bike traffic at the beginning of the school year. View the School Opening FAQ for more information. If you have questions or concerns about how your family will travel to and from Lyons Farm Elementary, please reach out to Principal Hopkins at james_hopkins@dpsnc.net.   

Late Arrival/Early Dismissal:  

Early dismissal or late arrival will prevent students from receiving the full benefits of learning, therefore, we ask you to schedule appointments after school hours or during breaks. Please do not pick your child up prior to dismissal time of 2:15 PM unless absolutely necessary.  If early pickup cannot be avoided, please send a note to the front office receptionist, data manager, and teacher to let them know about the expected interruption in their plans for the day.  Students will not be called for early dismissal after 1:30 PM. Please note that Durham Public Schools has a Tardy Policy to address frequent tardiness.