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This has bothered me since my oldest was in high school, and now my youngest is in high school too.
In high school, students who get a ride from their parents to school get a warning and then eventual detention if they are late to school. Students who ride the school bus NEVER get a warning or detention for being late, because they ride the bus. So students who are dependent on a ride to get to school get punished for someone else's behavior, but students who are dependent on a bus ride to school do not get punished, no matter how late the bus is.
How is this fair???
I do not understand the logic. If it is intended to punish students who drive themselves to school and discourage them from being late, fine, but then it should be limited to students who actually drive themselves to school- not kids who catch a ride from their parents or friends. Just as the bus riders have no control over when the bus arrives and drops them off, a kid has no control over whether or not mom or Johnny get out of the house on time. It is not their responsibility.
I don't know if this is a standard policy in other schools, but I believe it is standard policy in Illinois high schools. Can someone explain the logic to me?
If you're late; you're late. Buses are forgiven because they work with the schools and if they're late, it's for a reason and doesn't occur much. If a kid is late because they are catching rides from parents or friends, then they should maybe catch the bus from now on.
The school controls the bus, The student has no control over the Bus.
If the Student Drives, or there Parent/Friend Drives them, The student can:
Leave Earlier
Take the Bus
Walk
I could see a exemption from student being late arriving by car, if some event happened that closed or restricted the road access to the school, at/near the school. But then all the buses would be late also.
The school controls the bus, The student has no control over the Bus.
If the Student Drives, or there Parent/Friend Drives them, The student can:
Leave Earlier
Take the Bus
Walk
I could see a exemption from student being late arriving by car, if some event happened that closed or restricted the road access to the school, at/near the school. But then all the buses would be late also.
The student also has no control over when mom leaves the house if she's running late, or when his friend finally gets there - s/he can't "leave earlier" if s/he's not in charge. As for walking or taking the bus, not all kids can walk and it's not always practical to take the bus. It is unfair to punish the student for the actions of others outside of his/her control, but the students who ride the bus get a pass.
If you're late; you're late. Buses are forgiven because they work with the schools and if they're late, it's for a reason and doesn't occur much. If a kid is late because they are catching rides from parents or friends, then they should maybe catch the bus from now on.
Buses around here run late all the time, and it's rarely for a "good reason." If the weather is terrible and mom is running late because of it, her kid gets punished. If the weather is terrible and the bus is running late, every kid on that bus gets a pass.
The student also has no control over when mom leaves the house if she's running late, or when his friend finally gets there - s/he can't "leave earlier" if s/he's not in charge. As for walking or taking the bus, not all kids can walk and it's not always practical to take the bus. It is unfair to punish the student for the actions of others outside of his/her control, but the students who ride the bus get a pass.
But mom has control over when they leave the house and there is always the option to ride the bus if they aren't in walking distance. If mom doesn't want her child to get in trouble then mom will alter her behavior. You don't have to wait for the friend who is late, that is a choice. The bottom line is that schools don't want to punish students for what the school has control over. By the way, in almost every state once a student enters the school bus they are considered at school for accountability purposes, to include attendance, so essentially for a bus rider to be late the bus would need to pick them up after the tardy bell.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MoonBeam33
Buses around here run late all the time, and it's rarely for a "good reason." If the weather is terrible and mom is running late because of it, her kid gets punished. If the weather is terrible and the bus is running late, every kid on that bus gets a pass.
There is no logic to it.
I have never worked for a school system that didn't enact a liberal tardy policy on days with inclement weather bad enough to create legitimate transportation problems - which is very, very rare since they try to call off school on those days.
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I agree with all of the answering posters above. Also, schools spend quite a bit to run the buses. They would prefer it if more students rode them and it would be better for the environment. In our district it costs about $50,000 a year per bus. There are often empty seats on the secondary buses because parents don't opt out in case there's a day where they want their kid to ride a bus. Schools are invested in the buses and they keep the majority of the kids on-time. If a friend/student/parent finds that they the student is chronically late for school because they just can't get there on-time by driving/riding, the bus would be the answer.
Buses around here run late all the time, and it's rarely for a "good reason." If the weather is terrible and mom is running late because of it, her kid gets punished. If the weather is terrible and the bus is running late, every kid on that bus gets a pass.
There is no logic to it.
Yes there is. Buses do get backed up sometimes, but the school knows where those kids are if they're on the bus. Why does mom have to drive the kid to school every day btw?
The student does have a choice as said. If their parent or friend is consistently late then their choice is to ride the bus or if in walking distance, walk. Blaming others for being late isn't the way to grow up. If you were consistently late for your job and said the reason was your spouse had to drop you off and always sleep late, would your boss understand?
The school controls the bus, The student has no control over the Bus.
If the Student Drives, or there Parent/Friend Drives them, The student can:
Leave Earlier
Take the Bus
Walk
I could see a exemption from student being late arriving by car, if some event happened that closed or restricted the road access to the school, at/near the school. But then all the buses would be late also.
In my area, even in the dead of winter, it is pretty rare for buses to be late on a regular basis, but if a bus is late the students are not marked tardy because
1. official "school attendance" for that day means as soon as they step on the bus so they are actually not late and
2. just imagine the nightmare in the office if all 50 or 60 or 70 students from that bus were made to wait in line to get a handwritten late slip to be admitted to class.
If a parent has a good reason to be late, such as a flat tire or something like that, if they call the school to let them know the child is not penalized.
However, often the child is late because the parent did not leave early enough or because they stopped at McDonalds or Starbucks on the way to school.
In my district, if there is road construction or an accident that is blocking traffic near school then children are not marked late even if their parents drive them and the parents are delayed because of the road construction or accident (however, that may only happen once ever few years).
If the child is late because SHOCKINGLY it is actually snowing in Wisconsin in January and the parents did not take that into consideration and leave a few minutes early, yes, the child is marked tardy.
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