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You take my kids and haul them off to a state agency because I happen to be late one day and your a$$ is getting sued regardless of whether or not you'd sent me a letter.
You will lose. Mandated reporters, which all teachers and school personnel are, are protected from being sued for reporting suspected child abuse or neglect. A legitimate case can be made for thinking not picking up your child is neglect.
The state agency is who will haul them off, not the school personnel.
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You take my kids and haul them off to a state agency because I happen to be late one day and your a$$ is getting sued regardless of whether or not you'd sent me a letter.
You missed the part about chronic offenders. Go ahead and sue, the school board likely has way deeper pockets than you.
And, as mentioned, chronic failure to pick up your kid indicates a neglect situation which schools are required to report. No exceptions.
The point isn't the once in a school year occurrence but the 4 days out of 5 every week that isn't a couple minutes because of traffic but the hour of waiting.
I think that a major point that all of you that are siding with the school and bemoaning the parents lack of responsibility are missing is that it works both ways. The parents tax dollars are what fund the schools yet the public school establishment: teachers, administrators, school boards, are very often hostile to parents who seek to influence the way the schools that they pay for operate.
You're also missing the point that school is not after care. That those schools that offer it do have set hours for it.
You apparently didn't read the posts about teachers/staff sitting for hours waiting for parents to show up. Is that what your tax money should pay for.
I think that a major point that all of you that are siding with the school and bemoaning the parents lack of responsibility are missing is that it works both ways. The parents tax dollars are what fund the schools yet the public school establishment: teachers, administrators, school boards, are very often hostile to parents who seek to influence the way the schools that they pay for operate.
I agree that the parents must be responsible for and held accountable for t heir children but the public school system must also acknowledge the obligations that they have to the families that fund it and be held accountable when they violate these obligations. I won't be holding my breath on this one though.
Actually the entire community's tax dollars fund schools, not just those with children in school. The schools have an obligation to the community as a whole, not just those who have children. I currently have no children in public school but I pay a significant chunk of money to educate the community children. I am not interested in also paying for their babysitting.
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Sounds to me like another example of penalizing everybody for the mistakes/wrongs of a few.
While I can understand teachers/staff not wanting to hang around waiting for parents, there's a huge difference between someone having a legitimate reason for running late once or twice and individuals who are simply irresponsible or think a school is a babysitting service.
If you have a school with 300 students, and only HALF have a 'once or twice a year legitimate reason' for being late, over a 180 day school year, that averages out to be over one student a day causing a teacher or administrator to stay late. Add in the students whose parents are regularly late, and you have a huge problem.
I think that a major point that all of you that are siding with the school and bemoaning the parents lack of responsibility are missing is that it works both ways. The parents tax dollars are what fund the schools yet the public school establishment: teachers, administrators, school boards, are very often hostile to parents who seek to influence the way the schools that they pay for operate.
I agree that the parents must be responsible for and held accountable for their children but the public school system must also acknowledge the obligations that it has to the families that fund it and be held accountable when they violate these obligations. I won't be holding my breath on this one though.
Public schools providing daycare services isn't something you are owed, regardless of your taxpayer status. Not providing them isn't violating anything, because those are not services you are entitled to receive from your local public school district. Want daycare? Contract with a provider. It's NOT an obligation a school district has to families.
Also, teachers (as well as community residents without children whatsoever) pay taxes to school districts, too. And are often parents. Yet, when they're stuck babysitting your kids after hours, they're having to make alternate arrangements to get their own kids picked up and cared for, as well, versus just leaving them hanging.
In regard to frivolous lawsuits ("Want to penalize me for failing to pick my kid up? I'LL SEE YOU IN COURT!"), this mentality is exactly why schools SHOULDN'T be in the business of supervising children after school hours. Too many parents looking to litigate and make a buck, and teachers don't need that risk exposure, and neither do schools. By the way, know who's ultimately paying, should you for any reason successfully win a lawsuit against a school district? You, poor, beleaguered taxpayer.
Is it any wonder why so many are choosing homeschooling these days?
I'm guessing the same parents who can't manage to so much as provide or arrange for reliable transportation for their kids are going to have a really hard time working homeschooling into their busy days.
That's right. They have an obligation to all taxpayers. All taxpayers whether or not they are parents should have an issue with the ROI we get from the public school system. We keep dumping more money into it yet are falling further behind the rest of the world.
That is a separate issue that has nothing to do with the parents who chronically neglect their children by failing to pick them up by the designated time. This is not the case for the parent who is slightly late one time. We are talking about parents who leave their children in the care of someone who is not obliged to keep them after a specific time.
I have had to wait in the parking lot of our school until well after midnight waiting for parents to pick up their children after field trips where we had the kids back by 10:30. This is in a high-crime area where shootings and other crimes happen on a daily basis. I see no reason to endanger my safety because a parent was at work/the club/asleep and didn't plan to pick up their child on time.
I am curious what the policies are at private schools. I can imagine that even when the parents are paying hefty tuition and fees, the school is unlikely to provide child care outside an existing program.
I am curious what the policies are at private schools. I can imagine that even when the parents are paying hefty tuition and fees, the school is unlikely to provide child care outside an existing program.
I was at a private school.
We fined late pickups, and in one case with an egregious repeat offender, ultimately terminated enrollment. We had strict policies for very specific reasons, given our population, and as a private facility, if policies were not complied with, we had the ability to terminate services.
I think I've made it a point to stress that I'm referring to a single instance of this happening. I have no issue with the schools doing something about parents who are chronically leaving their kids at school.
Thing is, you can't make a policy and say it only applies to "some" parents who go against it.
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However if I'm a parent who has never left my kid at school and I get a letter like this it's going to make me angry.
It shouldn't. It should be a complete nonissue, since it doesn't apply to you. Do you also get angry at student disciplinary policies you know are never going to apply to your kid?
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NO lawsuit is frivilous when the state unfringes upon the rights of a parent or a student.
You don't have a "right" to guaranteed, school-provided before-care or after-care in the event that you can't manage to arrange for appropriately timed transportation.
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Too often there are things going on in the public school system that do just this: teachers/administrators attempting to diagnose things like ADD and push meds on the family, schools not allowing parents to opt their kids out of curriculum they may feel does not conform to their family values, teachers/administrators imposing their personal political views upon the students, etc etc etc.
This set of soapboxes has nothing to do with children being left at school before or after-hours sans parental supervision, or the myriad potential issues the practice causes.
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The current state of the public education system in this nation is disturbing.
As is the state of parenting. Although "I've no doubt that there are some very fine individuals providing responsible, non-neglectful parenting."
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