given new, later, start time, can I drop my 4th grader at the (closed) door at 8:30?

[Anonymous]

How is it any different than kids playing on the playground after school (or is that not permitted either)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious about this-if a child is old enough to be out and responsible in public (like a 9 or 10 yo usually is)...then what exactly can MCPS do if a 10 yo is sitting outside waiting to come into the school? Its still a free country last time I checked.

A "free country" doesn't mean the school system can't restrict who is on school property at given hours. MCPS doesn't want children there before they're ready to open the doors because if something happens to them, there's not one there to help them or take responsibility for the situation. But the parents will sue anyway, costing the district a lot of money in defense. So yes, the school can tell you that your child can't be wandering the grounds before school is open for the day.

I really and And truly don't understand how the f*** people do not understand this.
I bet they would feel differently if we all started dropping our kids on their front lawn on their front property before school started.
It's a free country, isn't that one pp said?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Schools system/locality may (and probably) does have regulations about when unsupervised children are allowed on the property. If they find unsupervised children on the property, they can call the parents to come get them. If the parents refuse, they can refer the matter to the police/CPS. I don't know that the school system would actually take it that far, especially if the kids aren't making trouble, but they could.

You can search the MCPS regulations and policies here. If you find something about children on school grounds before the doors open, please post it here.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/policy/index.aspx

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious about this-if a child is old enough to be out and responsible in public (like a 9 or 10 yo usually is)...then what exactly can MCPS do if a 10 yo is sitting outside waiting to come into the school? Its still a free country last time I checked.

A "free country" doesn't mean the school system can't restrict who is on school property at given hours. MCPS doesn't want children there before they're ready to open the doors because if something happens to them, there's not one there to help them or take responsibility for the situation. But the parents will sue anyway, costing the district a lot of money in defense. So yes, the school can tell you that your child can't be wandering the grounds before school is open for the day.

Yes, the school can tell the OP that. But what if the OP (like many other parents) does it anyway? Then what?

Schools system/locality may (and probably) does have regulations about when unsupervised children are allowed on the property. If they find unsupervised children on the property, they can call the parents to come get them. If the parents refuse, they can refer the matter to the police/CPS. I don't know that the school system would actually take it that far, especially if the kids aren't making trouble, but they could.

So in your view, its totally fine for children to stand unsupervised on the sidewalk at the school boundary line, but if they cross that line, all of a sudden they are being neglected and CPS should investigate?

Where did I say that? I'm simply talking about the regulations that the school system can put on the use of its property. It's entirely possible the schools are fine with kids doing whatever they want off school property, but they don't want unsupervised kids on the school property during hours of operation because they don't want the risk of liability if kids get hurt. If the kids are wandering the neighborhood, that's clearly on the parents for permitting it, but as soon as Larla drops her kids off in front of the school 15 minutes before the doors open, you know she's going to blame the school if one falls down the steps and breaks a leg, or never makes it inside the building one morning.

MCPS has walk boundaries where they won't send buses. They plan and expect kids to be walking to school. Is that what you call "wandering the neighborhood"?

I live within the walk boundaries for our school. If I make the choice to let my children walk unsupervised to school rather than walking with a responsible adult (and at some point I will, but they're going into K and 2nd right now so it's not happening this year), that decision and any consequences that might result are on me, not the school system.

[Anonymous]

21:02 is exactly right. This is likely to be a big issue this year. I'd also venture a guess that principals have discussed it with each other and have come to the conclusion that they are going to have to be strict about it or suffer the consequences if anything happens to any kid on their school property. It all comes down to the school (principal) trying to avoid liability. I have no desire to ever be in admin and i don't blame them at all for wanting to avoid a lawsuit!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure how they plan to regulate this. Children are allowed to be unsupervised (though not supervise younger children) at age 8 in MD. MCPS allows people on school grounds during time while school is not in session. So it seems that she would be allowed to be there. It they tried to restrict her from school grounds, it seems that they would have no way to keep her from waiting just off school grounds.

They are allowed to be left alone at home, on your personal property. Not on the school property. If you don't think that the schools know that this is going to be a huge problem this year (thanks bell times), then good luck. I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of you getting phone calls from the school, and eventually CPS if you plan on making this your daily plan. Have fun!

They can be alone in public, though. School property is public, right?

No dummy, it belongs to MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

PP here, where I said private, I meant to say public. The local government gets to decide when its various pieces of property are open to the public. It can make different rules for different properties, so there's no conflict between them saying that, for instance, a public park is open at dawn, but a school property, where there are already children inside for before-care, is not open to the public during hours of operation unless those members of the public are permitted inside the school at that time. If school properties were completely open to the public all the time, would you want all the weirdos and unprosecuted sexual offenders allowed to wander the school property, look in the windows, hang out on the playgroup during recess, etc.? I'm sure you wouldn't, you like having regulations on public property when it suits you.

But MCPS doesn't say that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is it any different than kids playing on the playground after school (or is that not permitted either)?

Our elementary school does restrict kids playing on the playground while after-care is in session (i.e., when the school is in operation). They won't make a fuss if a parent is there, the kids are behaving properly and and the after-care kids aren't out, but I have seen school employees direct kids off the playground when all of those things aren't true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They can be alone in public, though. School property is public, right?

No dummy, it belongs to MCPS.

Which makes it public property. (Actually it belongs to the Board of Education, not MCPS.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:21:02 is exactly right. This is likely to be a big issue this year. I'd also venture a guess that principals have discussed it with each other and have come to the conclusion that they are going to have to be strict about it or suffer the consequences if anything happens to any kid on their school property. It all comes down to the school (principal) trying to avoid liability. I have no desire to ever be in admin and i don't blame them at all for wanting to avoid a lawsuit!

How? Besides telling (and telling, and telling, and telling) people not to do it? Are they going to shove the children off school property? Are they going to call the police to report trespassers? Are they going to call CPS to report child neglect of a 9-year-old standing in front of the school for 15 minutes before the doors open? This is a sincere question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They can be alone in public, though. School property is public, right?

No dummy, it belongs to MCPS.

Which makes it public property. (Actually it belongs to the Board of Education, not MCPS.)

You entitled ass is being deliberately stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is it any different than kids playing on the playground after school (or is that not permitted either)?

Our elementary school does restrict kids playing on the playground while after-care is in session (i.e., when the school is in operation). They won't make a fuss if a parent is there, the kids are behaving properly and and the after-care kids aren't out, but I have seen school employees direct kids off the playground when all of those things aren't true.

Really? That is sad. The school playground should be open for use by the community when school is not in session. There are so few decent non-school playgrounds in most neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:21:02 is exactly right. This is likely to be a big issue this year. I'd also venture a guess that principals have discussed it with each other and have come to the conclusion that they are going to have to be strict about it or suffer the consequences if anything happens to any kid on their school property. It all comes down to the school (principal) trying to avoid liability. I have no desire to ever be in admin and i don't blame them at all for wanting to avoid a lawsuit!

How? Besides telling (and telling, and telling, and telling) people not to do it? Are they going to shove the children off school property? Are they going to call the police to report trespassers? Are they going to call CPS to report child neglect of a 9-year-old standing in front of the school for 15 minutes before the doors open? This is a sincere question.

It sounds like they are going to direct the children to stand on the sidewalk next to the school until the children are "permitted" on school property. Which will require staff to supervise and make sure the kids aren't actually standing on school property. Whereas just letting the kids stand by the door requires no staff effort. Bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:21:02 is exactly right. This is likely to be a big issue this year. I'd also venture a guess that principals have discussed it with each other and have come to the conclusion that they are going to have to be strict about it or suffer the consequences if anything happens to any kid on their school property. It all comes down to the school (principal) trying to avoid liability. I have no desire to ever be in admin and i don't blame them at all for wanting to avoid a lawsuit!

How? Besides telling (and telling, and telling, and telling) people not to do it? Are they going to shove the children off school property? Are they going to call the police to report trespassers? Are they going to call CPS to report child neglect of a 9-year-old standing in front of the school for 15 minutes before the doors open? This is a sincere question.

Yes to CPS and yes, eventually to the police. I've seen it happen.
If you are going to completely disregard the school rules (excellent example for your pre-teens!) then expect to reap the consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is it any different than kids playing on the playground after school (or is that not permitted either)?

Our elementary school does restrict kids playing on the playground while after-care is in session (i.e., when the school is in operation). They won't make a fuss if a parent is there, the kids are behaving properly and and the after-care kids aren't out, but I have seen school employees direct kids off the playground when all of those things aren't true.

Really? That is sad. The school playground should be open for use by the community when school is not in session. There are so few decent non-school playgrounds in most neighborhoods.

It is open for use, with adult supervision.