[kmomteach]

Today I posted an article about students and being absent or tardy for school.
Link
Students who drive to school are responsible for gettign there on time. However we (as teachers) surely cannot hold a seven year old child responisble for being at school on time. It is the parent's job! My question is:
What should be done to parents who do not make their child go to school or who continuously get their children to school late? In extreme cases, the courts get involved. However what about moderate cases? What can or should the schools do?

Should the students be punished for continuously being late to school? (such as in having to stay after to make up work?)

[Alejandros Mommy]

First off, Alejandro is 2-3 min late for school when I drop him off, not always though. . I try to get the kids all ready in the morning but with just me at home it is hard. Trying to wake up a crabby toddler, feed and dress him is a miracle in itself at times. Not to mention my oldest has a very hard time focusing on what he has to do in the am and has to be consistently promted. He knows what he has to do in the mornings it's just he needs to be reminded at time.

It is not the school's job to tell a parent how to 'parent' their child. Nor is it their job to tell me what I can and cannot do.

I do think though that as kids get into high school that they should be accontable to a degree. Most kids in my town go by bus. When Alejandro gets to high school I will either drive him or if he buys his own car he can take himself. The HS is on the hiway 10 min away from the main town, so there is no way he's be walking to school.

[Samual]

If a student is late to one of my lessons, they are not allowed into the lesson at all, it's as simple as that, they cannot disrupt a whole lesson due to their own incompetance. Mikey has never been late for school, even when the car decided not to start, if you a parent needs more time to get ready in the morning, get up earlier, it really is that simple!

[Alejandros Mommy]

As I said before....getting a toddler up before they are ready to be awake is just asking for trouble...any parent knows that.

And as for locking students out...I pay for my kids school...any teacher did that I'd be fuming....a teacher in college did that to a bunch of us...we where lucky to even get to school due to a huge blizzard...she didn't do that again after we talked to our dean. We paid her salary after all.

[twinzplus3]

It really is not that simple Samual. I have to disagree. Although I do have to say that from the parenting side Lessly--you've described why I decided to keep hsing after twins--I'd have never made it on time in a million years.

But having been a teacher in the inner city I can say that when you raise the bar, (like refusing students who are late) all of the sudden the rush hour traffic in NYC seems to dissipate. Our school didn't lock the door on students but if a student was late too often, they were called into the principals office and the school and the parent could meet to see what could be done--bc it IS a problem.

[hennypenny]

It's really that simple, huh? Well, I'd like to tell you about all the times my (then) kindergarten daughter was late after the birth of our newborn baby. I have no family around here to help out, my fiance works during school hours, and we have no car. So we walk half an hour to school each way.
Now, it didn't matter how early I woke up at that time of my life. If my newborn son did a pooey nappy right before we walked out the door, I would stop to change it. Why? Because that is more important than my daughter getting to school on time. If he was screaming for another breastfeed right before we walked out the door, well then that was also more important to me than my daughter getting to school on time.
I did the best I could, I do value getting to school on time, and we weren't always late, BUT with a newborn in the house, I did have to prioritise. It's bad enough knowing that if we had been late too often, then it's school policy to contact department of child services. I had that worry hanging over my head those first three months of my baby's life, but what was I supposed to do? Let my baby scream and starve? Get a dreadful nappy rash? I don't think so.
I don't think people need to be punished if there's a good reason, and people should not be so quick to judge without knowing the full story. There are plenty of good reasons why kids are late to school

[Jaycobsmom620]

Originally Posted by Samual

If a student is late to one of my lessons, they are not allowed into the lesson at all, it's as simple as that, they cannot disrupt a whole lesson due to their own incompetance. Mikey has never been late for school, even when the car decided not to start, if you a parent needs more time to get ready in the morning, get up earlier, it really is that simple!

Thats a pretty bold statement. Must be nice being a perfect parent . I can tell you though it wouldnt matter if I got up at 5 every morning, my kids are not morning people and getting 2 yr old twins fed, bathed, dressed along with a 7 yr old is pretty darn tough. I get them up at least an hour an a half before school time every day and there are still days where we run a little behind.

[mcmama]

I have one left, and he is in high school. He does not have his own car, and busses are unreliable in our area. The school is 4 miles away, and up a hill. There have been times when he walked home. He is on the track team.

However, walking in the morning is just not acceptable. The way people around here drive, it is just not safe, and the paths are not always clear. So I drive him.

We leave the house usually about 20 minutes before the first bell. Sometimes earlier. To drive 4 miles.

If there is an accident, we are late.

If there is a train (there usually isn't) we are late.

If there is a garbage truck coming one way and a dumpster parked on the opposite side of the street and crazy people are weaving in and out, and the only place for me to go is into an enormous pot hole, we take it very slow. And sometimes, we are late.

Usually not very late - he gets there by the second bell, and he has been known to jump out of the car and sprint the last half mile carrying his backpack. When half the senior class shows up late because of northern NJ morning traffic, they take note of it but you can't be too punitive.

Several times the police have checkpoints set up along the way, as the school is accessible by several roads that lead to the George Washington Bridge. If they are looking for someone, we are late.

None of these roads are covered in the morning traffic reports. So you don't know if there is an accident or not, you don't know if a road is closed or not, you don't know if there is a detour or not, and of course no one is going to tell you about a checkpoint.

And heaven help us if it snows. We leave early then, but often it is not enough.

[mollymae]

This is probably going to make me unpopular and maybe its because I think maybe British school hours are different (9am - 3.30pm) but.. I have to get 5 kids ready, 3 kids to 2 different schools on foot with a 1 year old and a 3 year old and they aren't late. I know that one parent was consistently dropping her kids off late by car (she lives closer to the school than I do) and it was disrupting the whole class. The school had a word and pointed out it wasn't beneficial to her children education for them to miss the first 30 minutes of the school day. I think the only time it improve was when they were old enough to walk alone.

Ok in answer to the op no i don't think students should be punished for being occasionally late. Young ones that rely on parents? no it would be pointless. Older kids, If they are consistently late and are physically able to get it school on time then perhaps having to stay behind might remind them to organise themselves better. School is after all preparation for life and if you kept turning up late for work then I don't think your employer wouldn't be so understanding.

[twinzplus3]

Mollymae. . .school starts much earlier here. In the city, it usually begins around 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning. Secondly, as someone who lives where foot and train are options for transportation--that is a much more reliable way to get to school. I mean, you'll never hit a traffic jam or be delayed by something happening nor will your feet break down or refuse to start--which can be a real issue here. But in many places in the US, walking to school isn't an option. In the Northeast, lots of kids are bused to school--and in that case, really--how can you blame the child or the parent if the child made it to the bus?