When we’re kids, our parents usually don’t trust us to get to school on our own. For many parents, this means leaving the house pretty early to get us on our way to get an education before they head off to work. It’s not out of the ordinary for parents to walk their children to school when they’re young, it’s something that many parents do every single day. But, one Texas school think that this needs to come to an end and is implementing a strict policy to ensure the parents abide by it.
At Bear Branch Elementary School in Magnolia, Texas has issued a strict policy on dropping off and picking up students during school days. The Principal, Holly Ray, says students must either be bussed to school or be picked up/dropped off by car. When parents drive their children to school, they must stay in the pickup/dropoff line and cannot get out of the car to walk their children into school. Parents are also not allowed to drive to school, park their car and walk to school to pick up their kids early. Instead, the kids have to learn to go on their own. Ray has also taken out the bike rack and numerous other obstacles that “holds up” the car line. Several parents have reported the car line for both dropoff and pickups take over an hour.
Many parents petitioned this new rule that Ray has implemented, but, Ray has reportedly received full support from the Magnolia School District and, because of this, some teachers are quitting and parents are pulling their children out of the school entirely. Some parents argued that they live too close to the school to put their kids in the car to wait on a dropoff line and instead, feel it’s best to walk. Others enjoy the extra exercise they receive when walking their kids to school. But, Ray has ignored all issues and questions and instead, has arranged with local police to implement charges and arrests for all parents who do not abide by the school’s rules. Although no arrests have been made just yet, parents are instead transferring their kids to other schools. It seems as though the people of Facebook completely agree with this, too.
What do you think of this policy? Smart or stupid?