Texas School Threatens to Call Cops on Parents for Walking Children Home

In a veiled attempt to keep children safe, a policy at a Texas school is enraging parents. Bear Branch Elementary is now restricting parents and guardians from retrieving their children on foot at the end of the day. The only permissible options for children are to take the school bus home, or for parents to drive and sit in a long pick-up line (that can take as long as an hour), even if they live close by. The worst part is that the principal is threatening to call the police on anyone who disobeys this rule by trespassing on school grounds. Parents are so frustrated that they’ve actually begun to pull their children out, and put them in local private institutions.

Ironically, the Magnolia ISD Student Code of Conduct defines a “parent” as a person “having lawful control of the child.” Yet, Young told Fox 26 the district made no effort to negotiate a better policy and even hundreds of signatures on a petition made no difference to change the policy or the principal’s tactics.

Breitbart Texas spoke to community members and obtained a recent dismissal process reminder letter in which Ray threatened parents and guardians with truancy classes and even, doling out In-School Suspension (ISS), a punishment that elementary school-age children could potentially serve because their parents break the pickup rules.

In the letter, Ray [the principal] maintained the same position as in September – that the dismissal policy change was made “out of concern for student safety.” She insisted that parents who walk to school at the end of the day “…are hindering the staff’s ability to be accountable for all students’ safety.”

While no one wants to put children in danger, this particular attempt at safety seems to be causing more trouble than it is worth. One way not to deal with parents is to take measures to alienate them from the school community. It seems that Principal Ray never got that memo.