Dear Henderson Mill Community,

At the start of the school year, I ask our teachers to resist the urge to move directly into academics
and to invest some time in teaching classroom procedures. Teachers work with our students to
understand how we move smoothly from whole group instruction to guided small group work, how
we request things from the teacher, what signals we show when we have an idea to share. Many of
these are unique to each teacher’s classroom. At the same time, I remind our faculty that in order
to build these new behaviors, we need to recognize and reward our children’s success. Additionally,
we need to also recognize and reward when our students are being respectful, responsible, and
showing self-control.

I know that you have heard these three key expectations before. They are a part of what we do
here at HMES no matter where students are, we expect our students to be respectful, be
responsible, and show self-control. These three expectations are the heart of our Positive Behavior
Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program at HMES, and they can be applied anywhere, even the
carpool line. This is, after all, one problem area we’ve heard about recently. I am hopeful that
through some discussion about expectations, we can make a difference here as well.

In order to be respectful in the morning carpool:

• Stay in line and wait your turn.
• Always speak kindly to other adults and children.
• Park your car and escort your child to a helpful patrol if they need help carrying extra items
  to class.
• Park in a manner that allows buses and other cars to easily navigate.

In order to be responsible in the morning carpool lane:

• Never let your child off in a place where they need to cross the driveway that leads to the
  playground.
• Always let your child off on the curb side and never on the driveway side.
• Wait for an adult or 5 th grade patrol to open the car door for your child, indicating that we
  are ready to receive your child.
• Exit the driveway safely. There are two lanes as you exit, one to turn right and one to turn
  left.
• Adhere to HMES staff member directions.

In order to show self-control in the morning carpool lane:

• Never drive around another active vehicle.
• Remain in your car.
• Park in designated parking spots, up on the grass to the left of the driveway, behind the
  gym, or at one of our nearby parking areas (e.g. Bambinelli’s).
• Refrain from honking your horn.
• Keep your speed to a minimum and never put your car in reverse.

Overall, we are so thankful to those parents who came to us to share their concerns. We hope that
you too will choose to come to the school with concerns that you might have about anything, be it
morning carpool, or anything else. We are always interested in making things better and believe
that we have the best chance of doing so. Thank you for continuing to act in a positive way and
speak in a positive way about this wonderful school. There is so much to be positive about!

To Meaningful Collaboration,

Mitch
Mitch Green
Principal