Children left for several HOURS??? If the parents do not alert the school to an emergency then the police should be called after 45mins. Waiting for several hours is unacceptable.

That’s unbelievable. How can someone leave a 5 year old to school so early, makes me so upset thinking about the irresponsibility!

My daughter preschool has same rule…she finish 3.45 and then 1$for every minute

That’s disgusting. Why are people dropping off that early and not picking up. There is out of hours care available

Dropping your 5yr old off at school at 7am in the winter ??!! Definitely not ok !!

I think it a good idea the poor kids having to wait and wait for someone to come pick them up when everyone else is gone is not really expectable

That’s fair enough for one’s that are ridiculously out of acceptable bounds but what about someone being 10min late?

I think these parents need to put their kids in after school care.

I agree with their reasoning. Surely a phone call from the parent to explain why this has happened isn’t too much too ask. As stated it’s a small number of parents who are doing this on a regular basis that are the problem. These parents need to make other arrangements or pay $60 an hour for the privilege of being able to leave their children at the school earlier than anyone else.

I would like to think that the parents in question might get a please explain letter before the fees start to bite. If it is a one parent household, sometimes it is hard to only work within school hours and people who are not making much money would be disadvantaged as well. I believe there would have to be a very good reason why these children are being left so early or so late and doubt it’s just a whim of the parent.

That’s fair. School is not child minding or child care. Parents need to make other arrangements. If this is a one-off, that can be considered but if its repeat behaviour, it’s not on. Not to mention the poor child and how they’re feeling. I think that’s more the priority here.

Sometimes life happens. But supervison is very important nonetheless

Totally agree with this decision, a 5 year old can not supervise themselfs! That’s so wrong!

If it’s past the 45 minutes most schools stay behind then great idea to charge them. At the most you’d think parents would be late a few minutes wouldn’t want my children left for too long

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  • • mom460227 replied
    • 31 Mar 2022 , 7:47 am

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  Even the 45 minutes is a long time anything could happen. Teachers aren’t going to be watching them constantly depending how many kids are waiting or some teachers might juet not even wait around

Very heartbreaking to hear of children in this position, sounds very unsafe indeed and I wish these children safety and security. I hope they school takes action to actively keep them safe. I’m not sure is fines will deter the parents? If they are acting so recklessly maybe they wouldn’t pay.

Maybe a solution would be to offer out of school hours care, as even with the extended supervision that they currently offer – It’s not early or late enough for some working parents.

This is super controversial. On the one hand I like the idea, but on the other hand I know if it happened to our family. Eg. The mother of my step kids was charged for being late (which often is the case) the school bills only end up at our house anyways. We’d end up having to front the late fees. Bitter sweet.

We have this at my childcare centre, and having spoken with staff there, I know they only do it when and if they have to with repeat offenders. Everyone understands that sometimes out of usual events happen (my train broke down half way to childcare once), but parents who are just tardy this is a justified position

Disgusting that parents leave children this young alone, we fostered for 4 years special needs, parents/families can be cruel, please protect your babies they only have you x

I’m horrified to think of kids as young as 5-6 being left at school as early as 7am by themselves!