In 2019, new drop off and pick up zones were implemented at Paxson and it worked well. These changes were the result of parent feedback, observations, and surveys the Safety Committee completed. It was great to see what was on the mind of many over the years come to fruition with a great volunteer group, and the partnership of MCPS and the City of Missoula!  It's great to see the increase student and family safety while also making drop off and pick up easier and more efficient, especially in the morning rush.

1. If you DRIVE your kids to school, Gerald Avenue and Hastings Avenue are drop off/pick up zones only! Do not park along the school-side curb on those streets during drop off and pick up.  Please follow the signs along the top of the fence. Pull forward and drop off or pick up your child on the curb side in the GO! Zone.  Please remain in the queue of cars as you enter and exit the drop off/ pick up area. The first three cars in the Go! Zone (located at the top of the zone) will drop off their ready-to-go students as they seat-slide to exit curbside before the driver pulls back onto the main road.  At pick up, please follow the same process as dropping off your child.
   1. From Hastings zone, please turn right on Higgins at the stop sign to keep traffic flowing.
   2. From the Gerald Drop Off zone, please go left on Hastings or straight on Gerald to reduce traffic near the Hastings drop off/pick up zone.
   3. Students will go to the nearest entrance and walk onto the playground and to their class lines. Please do not park in the bus zone on either Hastings or Higgins (the West half is still a bus zone). Here are the guidelines for drop off and pick up.
2. For those students that ride the BUS to school, the bus drop off/pick up is located on Higgins.  Moving buses to Higgins removes unsafe congestion between kids, cars and buses. Kids will be instructed to exit the bus and follow the Panther Paws down the sidewalk, and turn at the arrow into the school playground. 
   
   • Higgins Ave and the west half of Hastings Ave. are designated bus zones.  Please no parking here.
     
   • COVID procedures may change bus process, ask your teacher for updates.
   • When school is in session full-time (non-Covid): 3pm buses (K-3) will load students on Higgins Ave. 3:30pm buses (4,5) will load students on Hastings Ave, given the sporadic nature of their arrival and siblings waiting to ride later buses.
   • All small buses will always unload and load on Hastings, outside the south school doors.
3. If you BIKE to school, please note that we have moved bike racks outside the school grounds located on Evans (by the west garden wall) and on Hastings Avenue by the south entry.  This keeps with our 'walk your wheels' on the school grounds safety practice. Based on student and parent feedback, it will eliminate students playing with others bikes at recesses and eliminates unsafe play on the bike racks themselves.  And on our small playground it gives us just a bit more play space!

Safety starts with us. We want to encourage safe behaviors through awareness (and enforcement, if needed) and hopefully we, as parents/guardians, along with our students can practice safe behaviors so we avoid any injuries.  After all, in addition to being easier and efficient, most importantly we want to keep our community safe!  Please review the Safety Review tab and remind your students to remember to use crosswalks and don’t cross mid-block, or diagonally.  The old adage stands true: Stop, Look and Listen before crossing, even on bikes.  The results of our many observation surveys was that we need to improve our safety habits.  These changes only work with everyone practicing safe driving/biking/walking habits.

When the GO! zone is working, there will be more parking spots available on the immediate side streets for parents to park and walk.  We have more cross walk usage.  For all families, the Go! Zone will be available to pull up to and drop off and unsafe practices like double parking, mid-street crossing, crazy u-turns etc. are reduced.  Thank you for your efforts in making Paxson a safe place for all!

Paxson Safety Committee