Welcome back to another year. I hope all of you in the Steller community had a safe and restful summer.

It is school board policy that all students that park in the school district parking lots must have a parking permit and that permit will cost $50.00 per semester. Students must pick up a Vehicle Registration and Parking form from the BPO. Please pay for the permit in the office and bring the completed form and payment receipt to me and I will issue you a permit.

There will be spot checks of the vehicles in the parking lot to make sure you have an updated car permit. If you do not have a permit a warning is issued for the first offense, a fine is issued for the second offense, and you will be towed at your expense if there is a third offense. Also if you drive to another school for activities or for classes and park in their parking area you must have a permit. Please be aware that each school has their own fine system for their parking areas. Permits from our school will be ok in other school lots.

Vehicle safety is important. Please do not speed in the driveway or parking lot. Do not overload you car with passengers as this is very dangerous for all concerned. Please make sure you drive responsibly. Our school is about responsible freedom which means just that, freedom to be responsible in all things you do and making proper choices. If proper choices are not made, those freedoms that we all cherish could and can be taken away.

We encourage all visitors to please check in at the office. This allows us to know who is in the building for security and fire purposes and helps alleviate confusion about non-permitted cars in Steller’s parking lot.

The front access drive is a Fire Lane. Click here for traffic pattern diagram. Dropping off and picking students up is fine but we cannot have anyone parking there. Any car parked in the Fire Lane (without a driver in the auto) can and will be fined or towed at the owner’s expense. There will be no warnings given out for this.

When we are having an emergency and/or drill and you are parked in the front access drive be aware of students coming out of the doors and PLEASE move your car to the parking area of the school as soon as you are able. We, as a staff, do not have the time to locate the owner of a car in a event of a real emergency. Our first concern is the safety of the students.  Your car can also block an emergency vehicle trying to get to the school in a timely manner. At these times, do not try to pick up your child at the time of the emergency or drill.  It causes too much confusion and increases risks for our students. The students will be released at the proper time after the event.

A note concerning couches in the school: We can have a maximum of 2 couches in the front lounge at any one time. When they get to the point of being a safety problem and/or just plain worn out, they are thrown away for a new donated couch. At that time, and only at that time, will we accept couches for the school. Please do not just drop them off at the front door – they must be checked by BPO or the office. If we deem them not to be in the proper condition for school use or we have no room for them we will not accept them for the school and it will be the responsibility of the owner to discard the couch. In the past we have had couches left without notice.  The cost of picking up the couches has soared and it can be very costly for the district. This rule also applies to classroom couch donations. No approval – no acceptance.

We have no openings at this time. Please wait until the 2nd week of the school year to consider donating any couches.

Safety at Steller is of high importance to the staff. A safe environment is essential to students. I would like to address a few of the safety issues.

•    One is when leaving the school for lunch or walking to a bus please stay in a group. Do not walk or wander down back alleys just because it is a short cut. These areas are danger zones and should be avoided at all costs. If anyone approaches you that you do not know, do not talk to them, run to the nearest safe place and report it at once.
•    When in school if there is a person or a student that you know that does not belong to the school, please let any staff member know right away. Do not confront them, let the staff member ask who they are and their business.

•    Riding bikes to and from school: Please do not ride bikes on the school sidewalks or parking lots – WALK THEM. Many other things are going on at the same time and an accident can happen. Remember to wear helmets at all times when riding a bike on school property.

•    Skateboards may not be ridden on school property

Thank you for your help in these matters and enjoy the rest of your summer.

Eugene, BPO