What is the parking situation at your school?

[Anonymous]

I am a newbie parent of a two year old trying to figure out our commuting options. Many have advised me to be conservative about the distance we're willing to travel, and also the time it takes for parking and dropoff/pickup. Can folks please fill me in on how their school handles the parking and dropoff/pickup routine? Seems like there is a lot of variation. How much time does it take, the total of looking for parking, uncarseatting the kid, walking to school and dropping off, and walking back to the car? TIA!

[Anonymous]

DD goes to our neighborhood school, so we walk, but the people I see who drive tend to just park in a loading zone near the school and leave the hazards on.

Some schools have a kiss-n-ride, but I know that people are nervous about using it for super little kids.

[Anonymous]

This totally varies by school. Some establish drop-off lines, even for the youngest students, and others you find parking in the neighborhood and walk them in.

Ask at an open house, or just go observe one morning.

[Anonymous]

This is one of the main reasons we kept our lottery list short for PK3. It was basically HRCS or neighborhood (Langley)-- I just can't see suffering through all that driving and parking and yada yada for a middling charter. Especially because we have a baby too so I'd have to tote her along. No regrets!

[Anonymous]

Inspired Teaching PCS has a Kiss & Go line but it's *recommended* for K and up. Some PreK will go in with older siblings, but it's not recommended for those who cannot unbuckle and get out of the car themselves. So for younger kids or parents who wish to walk children in, there is plenty of neighborhood parking on side streets within 2 blocks.

3 year olds also need to be signed in to class or before care, so consider that parking, walking, signing, returning to car, could take 10 -20 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Breakthrough has a drop-off line. Parents stay in the car, and a staff member removes them from the car. It takes 1-2 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Inspired Teaching PCS has a Kiss & Go line but it's *recommended* for K and up. Some PreK will go in with older siblings, but it's not recommended for those who cannot unbuckle and get out of the car themselves. So for younger kids or parents who wish to walk children in, there is plenty of neighborhood parking on side streets within 2 blocks.

3 year olds also need to be signed in to class or before care, so consider that parking, walking, signing, returning to car, could take 10 -20 minutes.

OP here-- 20 minutes? Ayyyy! We live close enough to Inspired Teaching so I would be ok with that, but 20 minutes at a school that is farther away would not be doable.

[Anonymous]

At Hearst there is plenty of street parking a short walk away from the building. Of course, there are a handful of parents who insist on parking DIRECTLY across from the main entrance creating an always annoying and occasionally dangerous bottleneck. But hey, they must be very important and don't have the extra 90 second it takes to park down the street a bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Inspired Teaching PCS has a Kiss & Go line but it's *recommended* for K and up. Some PreK will go in with older siblings, but it's not recommended for those who cannot unbuckle and get out of the car themselves. So for younger kids or parents who wish to walk children in, there is plenty of neighborhood parking on side streets within 2 blocks.

3 year olds also need to be signed in to class or before care, so consider that parking, walking, signing, returning to car, could take 10 -20 minutes.

OP here-- 20 minutes? Ayyyy! We live close enough to Inspired Teaching so I would be ok with that, but 20 minutes at a school that is farther away would not be doable.

I guess it would depend on how fast your kid moves. Mine wasn't very fast at that age, so your mileage could vary. It also includes walking down the hall to the classroom, signing in, leaving things in the cubby, saying goodbye. Does anyone else think 10-20 is reasonable or way out of the ballpark?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Inspired Teaching PCS has a Kiss & Go line but it's *recommended* for K and up. Some PreK will go in with older siblings, but it's not recommended for those who cannot unbuckle and get out of the car themselves. So for younger kids or parents who wish to walk children in, there is plenty of neighborhood parking on side streets within 2 blocks.

3 year olds also need to be signed in to class or before care, so consider that parking, walking, signing, returning to car, could take 10 -20 minutes.

OP here-- 20 minutes? Ayyyy! We live close enough to Inspired Teaching so I would be ok with that, but 20 minutes at a school that is farther away would not be doable.

I guess it would depend on how fast your kid moves. Mine wasn't very fast at that age, so your mileage could vary. It also includes walking down the hall to the classroom, signing in, leaving things in the cubby, saying goodbye. Does anyone else think 10-20 is reasonable or way out of the ballpark?

I think it's reasonable. Ours is more like 10, most days, but I planned in 20 minutes in case of separation anxiety, needing to talk for a minute with the teacher or other parents, the dreaded having a bump in her sock that prevents DD from walking and causes her to fall on the floor and cry, not being able to find parking, etc. etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Inspired Teaching PCS has a Kiss & Go line but it's *recommended* for K and up. Some PreK will go in with older siblings, but it's not recommended for those who cannot unbuckle and get out of the car themselves. So for younger kids or parents who wish to walk children in, there is plenty of neighborhood parking on side streets within 2 blocks.

3 year olds also need to be signed in to class or before care, so consider that parking, walking, signing, returning to car, could take 10 -20 minutes.

OP here-- 20 minutes? Ayyyy! We live close enough to Inspired Teaching so I would be ok with that, but 20 minutes at a school that is farther away would not be doable.

Think about it this way:

You drive to school (excluding this time because I have no idea how far you live from the schools). You find a place to park your car 2 blocks from the school. You then have to get your 3yo out of the car and walk those 2 blocks (5 minutes). You get to school and walk your child to their classroom (2 minutes). You help your child sign in and get settled (5 minutes). You walk back to your car (5 minutes). That's almost 20 minutes right there. Most of the time is going to be gobbled up by tiny legs getting to school and by getting your kid into their classroom. If my experience is similar to your experience, the time it takes you to help your kid get settled will decrease as they become more comfortable at school, but for the first year at least, it'll probably still take you 10-20 minutes to drop off, even if you're in a kiss-n-ride situation (because there will be a line of other people doing the kiss-n-ride).

[Anonymous]

Find a school with a bike lane in front - you can always park there.

Signed
Swerving into the general travel lane

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Find a school with a bike lane in front - you can always park there.

Signed
Swerving into the general travel lane

Ha! Too true.

If you can figure out a way to bike your kids and the distance is reasonable, would heavily recommend.

[Anonymous]

I love when Parking Enforcement comes by during drop off / pick up.

The year Mundo Verde was in DuPont was a boom for DC.

[Anonymous]

I don't want to minimize how difficult drop off and pick up can be--I did it with two kids at a downtown location, which included adjusting to the new zone parking system that was established mid-year and wiped out all my favorite spots.

That said, just like as a parent of a 3YO you can barely remember the nighttime feedings and naptime difficulty of a newborn, by the time your kids are five (or maybe even sooner), drop off difficulty will be in the review mirror.