Elementary Dissmissal (teachers please)?

Teachers, especially private school teachers,
How do you handle after-school dissmissal? Do the children stay in your classroom? What do you have them do?
I teach in a small private school and in Kinder/Pre-Kinder the kids get out a full 40 minutes before elementary and over an hour before high school. Right now we are trying to work out a system of what to do with the kids in the twenty minutes between elementary dismissal and high school dissmissal.
Administration doesn't want the little ones running around on the playground and cantina area, but we, the teachers don't want them in our classrooms still (they've already been in there an extra 40 minutes by this point). What does your school do?
We have after-school care at 2:45, but that's 15 minutes after high school gets out.

2013-03-06T17:30:44Z

It technically is "after school" for our kids. We stop teaching 40 minutes before the rest of elementary gets out. Some kids get picked up, but most are still at school (and in our classroom) until high school gets out an hour later.
We've suggested extending the school day, but obviously that won't happen until next year.

Most students are driven to school by parents, and a few ride public busses home.

2013-03-06T17:30:45Z

It technically is "after school" for our kids. We stop teaching 40 minutes before the rest of elementary gets out. Some kids get picked up, but most are still at school (and in our classroom) until high school gets out an hour later.
We've suggested extending the school day, but obviously that won't happen until next year.

Most students are driven to school by parents, and a few ride public busses home.

Magpie™2013-03-06T14:53:32Z

Favorite Answer

Usually there are quite a few elementary students that have to wait for their senior siblings.
This is a security issue so it depends on how strict you have to be with sign-outs.

I know of a school in the business district where it has a lot of road traffic as well as people. They get the primary children who are waiting to buddy up with at least 2 older students (mainly because 1 could be absent) who they have to be in proximity to until the seniors are dismissed.

cjvw6222013-03-06T20:28:10Z

It's dismissal. Are all of the children there, or only some whose parents don't come for them? If they are all there, you need to have a staff meeting and decide what's fair. It's not really dismissal if all the kids are there for 40 minutes. It's a longer school day. If it's a small group, then you could have a duty roster with each of you having one day for supervision. You can let them play or take a nap or watch an appropriate movie.