Faster and safer school dismissal with new app

Brookwood, Keystone and Mill Creek elementary schools have all implemented PikMyKid, an automated dismissal system that streamlines how parents pick up their kids from school. Bristol Township School District began using the PikMyKid app shortly after they welcomed students back in the Hybrid Staggered Start Model, when more students were being picked up from school by their parents instead of riding the bus.

Once a parent arrives at an elementary school, a teacher who is the car coordinator enters the child’s student ID number, which is displayed on the car’s dashboard, on an iPad. After the ID number is entered, the PikMyKid online dashboard notifies the teacher that the student’s parent arrived and dismisses the student. By the time the parent drives up to the school’s loop, the child is there and ready to go. This allows children to be dismissed incrementally and avoids crowded hallways.

“For such a big school, it definitely makes dismissal smoother and the flow is working,” said Jenny Folz, learning support teacher at Mill Creek Elementary School. “It’s great for social distancing because the kids don’t come out all at once.”

In addition to socially distancing the students, it keeps teachers and parents safe as well. Megan Repko, Title I reading specialist at Brookwood Elementary School, is the car coordinator for PikMyKid. She says that with student IDs on the cars’ dashboards, parents can keep their windows closed and do not have to come in close contact with her while she enters them on the iPad. Repko heads outside at 3:30 p.m. every afternoon and is done within 20 minutes. “It’s definitely a team effort,” said Repko. “Two teachers line up the students in the order of the cars, two teachers lead the lines outside to the cars and a security guard is outside too. It’s pretty seamless.”