Beginning in January 2025, we will change students' drop-off and pick-up procedures. All bus riders will be dropped off and picked up outside the Middle and High School Entrance. All car riders will be dropped off and picked up outside the NEW Grade School Entrance. The OLD Grade School entrance will no longer be used for students before or after school.
We take student safety very seriously and want to minimize the number of doors unlocked at the start of the school day. We also want to control how students leave the building and focus on ensuring the safest way to dismiss at the end of the day.
Arriving at School
The school's doors open at 7:35 am. School begins promptly at 8:00 am.
Breakfast is served from 7:35 to 8:00 am. Once students are in the building, they can eat breakfast (FREE!) in the cafeteria. Students who do not choose to eat breakfast will go to the Cougar Center (GS) and the HS Gym (MS and HS).
Beginning in January 2025, buses will drop off in front of the middle/high school (east side), and students will enter through Door A. Only buses are allowed to use the lane in front of the MS/HS past the flagpole (the previous car drop-off lane).
Students who walk to school will only enter through the main entrance of the middle/high school (Door A). Door V (the old grade school entrance) will not be unlocked in the morning. All walkers will use Door A.
Beginning in January 2025, students who ride in a car to school may be dropped off at the NEW Grade School Entrance at 7:35 a.m. The bus lane in front of the high school is ONLY for buses. Students should not be dropped off in front of the grade school on North West Avenue or Pine Street.
Leaving School
School is dismissed at 3:00 pm on days not previously announced.
Afternoon pick-ups will be at the entrance of the new Grade School entrance. If you pick up a student, drivers will form two lines in the parking lot from Chestnut Street towards the GS entrance. You must wait for your child to be sent to your vehicle as you pull up to the front of the line. To maintain a safe and orderly environment, please follow the directions of the staff directing students and traffic. Because of the tight turnaround for vehicles, parents are discouraged from picking up students with trailers or campers attached to vehicles.
For safety reasons, parents should not park at the Mason City Public Library to have students walk to their vehicles. This is a safety concern as students are challenging to see walking through parked cars, and it causes a traffic jam when cars attempt to exit from both directions.
Walkers will be dismissed from the flagpole door (GS) and the main entrance of the middle and high school. No students will be allowed to exit the OLD Grade School entrance (Door V). Parents should not park on North West Avenue or Pine Street to pick up students. This is a safety concern as students are challenging to see walking in and out of cars. Please follow the procedures for car pick-up.
Students riding buses will be picked up in the bus lane along the sidewalk on the building's front (east side).
Middle and high school students picking up grade school students will pick them up in the Atrium of the new GS entrance.
If a student is dropped off between the hours of 8:00 am and 3:00 pm, they may be dropped off outside the main entrances of either the NEW Grade School or the Middle/High School.