‘We get paid $2 a minute for every minute they’re late’: Teacher says parent was charged $116 after they picked up their child an hour late

The Daily Dot ^ | Feb 10, 2023 | Cecilia Lenzen

[where's_the_Outrage?]

In the 5 years we've been picking up our child from school, we've been late once.And that's because the highway had a accident which resulted in a 30 minute delay, we called the school that we'd be late and there was no problem.

Sounds like this parent didn't even try to notify the school, so sounds fair to me: This also is not the first or second or third time they’ve been 20+ mins late without notice or communication

[Night Hides Not]

If it’s in the contract, so be it.

[TheWriterTX]

The school is not your personal babysitter.

You should be charged. That person’s time has value, too.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Have to agree.

We have never been late (fingers crossed that our streak continues) and yes, our school does charge. There are rules, it has to be more then ten minutes, it has to be the fourth time in a school year, and you have to have either not called or have called and then been more then ten minutes beyond when you said you would be there.

Because we know each other you can always call another parent and they will pick up your child along with their own and take them home. I know this is not an option in a lot of schools.

They do not do this often but there was a family that was using the school as a unpaid day care several times a month so the rules were put in place.

[Trumpet 1]

Why don’t the kids just walk across the street and wait for the parent.?

[Bigg Red]

FTA: ... after a parent picked up their child .....

^^^^^^^^^^
This insanity has got to stop. The noun “parent” is used here in the singular, yet the idiot writer chooses to use the plural possessive pronoun “their” instead of “his” or “her.”

[plain talk]

Unless I missed it it did not state where this idiocy occurred.

[HIDEK6]

Grammar in this article is terrible. I can believe it was written by an educrat.

[HIDEK6]

The faddish use of any word to avoid saying “he, his or him” makes the article unintelligible.

[SamAdams76]

Glad my children are grown up.

It seems like a hellish environment to bring up children, with teachers gloating over socking it to hard-working parents who show up late due to traffic, etc.

[ClearCase_guy]

I used to complain about conversations (often with women) in which a story would be told about Sue, Mary, Betty and Diane and the story would go something like: “She told her she was coming but then she called and said she shouldn’t wait but she was thinking it was her fault and she made her get upset.”

Hard to follow.

Now stories can involve a group of both men and women and it’s all: “They did this to them and they thought they might not go unless it upset them. And they agreed with that but they didn’t.”

Hopeless.

[DannyTN]

Late fees are common with private schools and daycare.

[ConservativeInPA]

Homeschool your children and keep them away from greedy groomer teachers.

[BookmanTheJanitor]

In the video, Evans says the director of her school handed her $116 in cash.

Well, here comes an audit...

[where's_the_Outrage?]

“It seems like a hellish environment to bring up children, with teachers gloating over socking it to hard-working parents who show up late due to traffic, etc.”

The parent has done this multiple times and did not contact the school about being late. @ $2 a minute the $116 would be assessed on 58 minutes. To me the onus is on the parent when unavoidable delays occur to contact the school. They failed to do that.

Sometimes you have to hit the mule between the eyes with a 2x4 to get their attention.

[ladyrustic]

I think late fees for late pickup are a great idea. Increases the incentive for parents to get to the school on time, but also ensures that the parent needn’t feel overly guilty if an emergency arises that makes them late to the pickup. For their part, the teachers will be more patient because they are fairly compensated for helping out in the emergency.

[TheWriterTX]

Yes. I thought the same thing. It should have been billed as income, FICA paid, and disbursed as part of her paycheck.

The school will be audited, too.

[BudgieRamone]

Thats the one time we were late to childcare pickup. and we called. Talking with some of the care providers, there are parents that show up late on the regular expecting the provider to keep their kiddos cause its just 10 minutes or so. Those parents are not well liked. I was told unofficially if im a few minutes late, not to worry, they know I work, they know my schedule, and if I am a few late because of traffic dont stress it. I have never needed it but I shave it real close.

[TheWriterTX]

I was late picking up my son only once. The doctor put me on a new medication and the side effects were horrible. It zoned me out so completely, the school reached out to my emergency contact to get my son.

When my friend entered my home, she was so worried about my condition that she called my husband to come home and stayed with me.

I went to the school the next day, explained what happened, and apologized.

Trust me, schools and daycare know who the bad actors are.

I took that stuff only once. Threw the rest of the bottle away and just dealt with the pain.

[Albion Wilde]

...conversations (often with women) in which...the story would go something like: “She told her she was coming but then she called and said she shouldn’t wait but she was thinking it was her fault and she made her get upset.”

A pet peeve of mine, as well.

You know how you can use the arrow on your cell phone camera to turn the image around so you can see yourself in order to take a selfie? The art of conversation is rather like that. There are two frames of reference.

The number of people who can understand how their words sound to others—simultaneously while speaking those words—is very small, I'm afraid. And I agree; it's a mostly female problem.