School administrators in Tampa,
Florida, are insisting that parents pick up their kids from the bus
stop after school lets out. And if they fail to comply, they could
receive a visit from child services.
According to the Tampa
Bay Times, district policy forbids kindergartners to walk
home and requires bus drivers to bring them back to school if their
parents don’t appear on time. The story treats child autonomy as an
obvious evil and punishable offense:
It happened about 1,600 times in the last school year: Bus
drivers in Hillsborough County arrived at the bus stops in the
afternoon with kindergarten students who had no parents or
guardians to meet them. …More than half the incidents involved repeat offenders. And they
happened most often on Mondays, Fridays or the work days before and
after a holiday. …They’ve drafted an “initial KG bus letter” that school
administrators can use as often as they like to get the message
across. If the violations continue, a second letter orders the
parent to come into the school for a meeting to try and pinpoint
the reasons.As a last resort, the district’s chief of security will get
involved. After sending out yet another letter and meeting with the
parent, the chief will determine whether the district can handle
things or child welfare officials need to get involved.
When parents merely forget to pick up their kids, that causes a
headache for school personnel. I can understand why officials want
to do something about that.
But it isn’t a crime—or shouldn’t be a crime—to
let your child walk home on his own if you live just around the
block. As Reason’s Lenore Skenazy
frequently points out, contrary to media hysteria, we do not live
in uniquely dangerous times for kids. In fact, the great outdoors
is a safer place for children than ever before in human history. On
this specific story, Skenazy
writes:
Parents who trust their kids and their communities are being
treated like criminals. And yet, the way to solve this whole
problem is so obvious: Scrap the policy and let the PARENTS decide
if their kids are ready to walk home from the bus stop.
Regardless, the worst thing the district can do for children is
sic child services on their parents.
More from Reason on the war on moms here.
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