Thought by many as utterly unfair regulation, this elementary school's new policy prohibits parents from picking up their children from school. What's worse, they may be charged with trespassing if they insist on doing so.
Bear Branch Elementary School in Magnolia has left a lot of parents feeling disconcerted when they issued the school's new pickup policy, which bars parents from entering school premises. This was implemented at the beginning of the school year to dissuade parents who live close to the school from walking their children off campus.
Fox 26 reported that the school's principal, Holly Ray, wanted the kids to take the bus regardless of the distance of their homes from the school. So even if your house is only a block away from the school, you need to take the bus.
One parent, Wendy Jarman, said, "She's threatening to arrest people." Due to the implementation of the school's new pickup policy, Jarman can no longer walk her kids to school, compelling her to pull out her kids from Bear Branch and transfer them to a private school. Jarman's house is located at the back of the school making it unreasonable for her kids to take the bus.
The only option left for parents of Bear Branch students, aside from taking the bus, is to wait in a long pickup line. Other than this, parents face the possibility of being charged with trespassing when they violate the school's absurd pickup policy.
The Epoch Times noted that some parents complain about the time they spend at the waiting line. They have to line up at 2:30 p.m. even if their child's dismissal is at 3:25 p.m. resulting to a long traffic jam. There are parents who have resorted to breaking the rules in defiance to such a coercive elementary school policy.
According to one spokesperson representing the school district, children safety was the main reason for the enactment and implementation of the school's pickup policy since the school is right next to the highway. For Bear Branch parents, however, the policy has just brought them a lot of inconvenience.
