Just like in any profession, teachers have their working hours and when the work day is over, they want to go home. But if you are a teacher of younger children you can’t always do that because parents sometimes take their time coming to pick up their kids.

So this school decided to fine unpunctual parents by charging them $2 every minute they are late. And the money goes straight to the teacher’s pocket for working overtime, according to Kristin Evan who works there.

More info: TikTok

Kristin Evans recently became an early education teacher and she had a student picked up almost an hour later than they were supposed to be

Image credits: Alexander Mils

So the school fined the late parent and the money they paid was given to the teacher as compensation for her time

Image credits: @mrs._evans

“The director of my school just walked up to me and handed me $116” 

“She said it was because one of my half-day students was picked up almost an hour late and we get paid $2 a minute for every minute that they’re late. So this parent was charged $2 a minute for being late and it goes directly to my pocket.”

Image credits: @mrs._evans

Image credits: Mike Knell (not the actual photo)

@mrs._evans This is a first and it feels weird. During my 10+ years in public education, I regularly waited 20-30 mins after school with students waiting for parent pick up. #publiceducation This late pick up policy is in my new school’s admission agreement. #privateschool ♬ original sound – Kristin Evans

Kristin Evans is a teacher who recently left public education and started a K-3 program. According to Grade Onederful Designs, “K3 is an early elementary education program which focuses on students in kindergarten through third grade. This means that students should learn to read, understand, and write about math, science and social studies.”

It seems that the school she started working at truly cares about the workers because if a parent is late to pick up their kid on time, they get fined $2 every minute they are late and all of that money goes to the teacher who has to stay after their working hours.

This school isn’t the only one which charges late parents as Holy Trinity C of E Primary hit the headlines in 2020 when they announced they will be charging those parents who are late to pick up their kids and many people in the comments of Kristin’s video shared what amounts their own schools charge.

It’s understandable that if the teacher stays longer at work, they have to be paid. And if the reason for them having to stay after working hours is the parents being late, they are the ones who have to pay. Not only it compensates the teacher, but it is a preventative measure as well.

If it works, it benefits the teacher, who can go home on time, but it also benefits the child as seeing their parents being chronically late isn’t the best example. Not only that, but according to Training Wheels Needed, being picked up last makes children feel embarrassed, they feel anxiety and it might break their trust in their parents.

Home Cleaning Family adds that parents constantly arriving late to collect their children sends a strong message to them, “A child that has a parent who is always very late picking up them or taking them places will begin to feel undervalued. They will feel forgotten and neglected. They will feel like a loser. They will feel alone, and awkward as they missed out on some of the fun (or some of practice) because they were so late getting there.”

St Dunstan’s Catholic School mentions in their statement addressing late parents that “The impact on a child of not being picked up from school on time cannot be underestimated. The child that has been left behind will feel an increasing level of anxiety and distress the longer that they are unsure of where their parents are. Clearly this is not a good thing to happen to any child.”

Image credits: Mary Taylor (not the actual photo)

So if the parents don’t really care that the teachers can’t go home on time and prepare for the next day’s activities properly because they didn’t have enough time, at least they can think about how their behavior negatively affects their child.

Training Wheels Needed gives a couple of tips on how to make sure you collect your kids on time. They include making the task the number-one priority, setting up reminders and having an emergency plan, such as a few people who could do it for you. If all fails, at least inform the teacher that you are late or your child directly to calm them down and let them know you didn’t just forget them.

Many people in the comments agreed that fining parents for being late might make them more responsible and it’s a good bonus for the teacher. But others pointed out that sometimes life happens and you are late to pick up your child.

Should the punctual parents, who had an emergency or unexpectedly got stuck in traffic because there was a car crash, be treated the same as chronically late parents who can’t manage their time?

Let us know what you think of the school’s policy and if you think that the fines are effective when it comes to preventing parents from being late.

Most people in the comments approved the school’s policy but others thought it was too strict

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