Hello St. John’s families!
Our next Catholic School Advisory Council meeting will take place on Monday January 22nd from 6pm – 7:30pm in the school library. We will be discussing the following information about our school parking lot and hope you will join us!
We have an important message about the school parking lot. It is becoming extremely dangerous due to the number of parents who park their cars illegally at the beginning and end of the day. Our Administrators have spoken to numerous parents day after day about the proper use of the parking lot; however, this problem is only getting worse. Someone is going to get hurt unless parents start following the laws when it comes to parking in a parking lot.
Unless your car is parked between two yellow lines it is illegally parked. You cannot just stop your car in the middle of a parking lot and get out. You also cannot block other vehicles in the parking lot. You would not do this at the grocery store or a shopping mall and you cannot do this at school.
It is also illegal to park along the wooden fence at the back of the church. There are signs that clearly state “NO PARKING. FIRE LANE”.
Our buses cannot exit the parking lot due to the number of parents who are illegally parked at the beginning and end of the day.
If your child is a bus student, they should be riding the bus to and from school each day. This helps limit the amount of vehicle traffic coming to the school. If you still choose to drop off and pick up your child from school, please park at one of the Park & Walk locations in the neighbourhood. Please see the map below which indicates these locations.
Walking Distances & Benefits
The following walking distances have been determined by Student Transportation Services and the Waterloo Catholic DSB:
- Kindergarten to Grade 3: 0.8 kilometres
- Grade 4-8: 1.6 kilometres
These distances are not unreasonable for a child to walk to school. We know that walking has many benefits including:
- improved physical and mental health,
- mental focus,
- environmental well-being, and
- graduated independence
We are strongly encouraging families to walk with their children to school whenever possible and/ or work with neighbours to create a walking school bus.
Finally, please come to our School Council meeting on Monday January 22nd from 6pm – 7:30pm in the school library. We will be discussing our safe and active transportation concerns with all who attend. We will have a representative from Student Transportation Services with us to discuss active transportation routes to school.
We hope you can join us.
