Parent Pick Up and Drop off Guidelines

To ensure the safe arrival and dismissal of our children, we encourage everyone to share the responsibility of respectfully working together to follow these pick-up and drop off procedures.

Morning Drop Off

Parents/guardians of Desert Star students should use the drop-off entrance located on Lower Buckeye Parkway.  The parent lane is located right next to the teacher gated lane leading into our back parking lot.  The parent lane comes right to the back of our cafeteria, which is the main drop off location for any student being dropped off from a vehicle.  As you pull up near the cafeteria please pull all the way forward to the end of the cafeteria lane before letting passengers out of the vehicle.  This allows the maximum number of vehicles access to the curb adjacent to the school.  This is the safest place to drop off your child/ren.  Letting children out before pulling all the way forward to the curb is unsafe and causes traffic to back up in the parent drop off lane.

From 7:20-7:30 AM (main drop off time with first bell right at 7:30 AM), an adult is on the sidewalk by the cafeteria to greet your student(s) and supervise the transition into the school, eliminating the need to get out of your car.  Before 7:20, there are two adults right inside the cafeteria to welcome the students and provide supervision.

Our campus opens for students at 7:00 AM - please not drop students off before that time.  If you need childcare before or after school, please contact our Community Education Department on-site coordinator at (623) 772-4670 or visit the before and after school care page. 

Afternoon Pick Up

The following information is for all dismissals:

The same location and procedures described above for morning drop off are followed for afternoon pick up.  At each dismissal time, there are teachers supervising students waiting to be picked up and facilitating safe transition from the student(s) to the vehicle.  Please remain in your car and in line.  As cars are filled and leave the line, the next set of cars in line will pull all the way forward allowing more cars to wait adjacent to the sidewalk, which is the safest location for students entering the vehicle. 

Please do not park or exit your car when waiting in line for your student(s) to be released to you.  Parking in the parent lane prevents the lane from being used safely and reduces the number of cars that can use the area to pick up.  This parent lane becomes very busy during peak dismissal time, with cars overflowing on Lower Buckeye Parkway.  Your attention to the procedures above will help this process run smoothly and safely for all our students.

During Drop Off and Pick Up

If parents would like to accompany their student(s) into the school in the morning, parking is available next to the community park south of the school.  Please follow all traffic and street signs if parking in the neighborhood streets.  The small front parking lot located in the front of the school is not for drop off or pick up.  The few spots available are reserved for parents attending meetings or needing to do business in the front office.  Please respect this as there are minimal spots available and by picking up and dropping off in this area you are having to cross a second crosswalk area to exit the school, putting students at risk for safe crossing and entering the school. 

Please also respect the speed limit signs at all times while in the school zone and remember that passing is illegal in this area.  We greatly appreciate Goodyear Police Department regularly patrolling this area for student and community safety.

Our goal is to provide a safe and efficient method of dropping off and picking up students at Desert Star.  We appreciate your cooperation.  Safety is our #1 concern!

If there are questions, concerns and/or observations you would like to share regarding drop off and pick-up, please feel free to contact our front office at (623) 772-4600.