Photo: TikTok
Parents who don't pick their children up on time are being financially penalized.
By Nia Tipton — Written on Feb 17, 2023
While some schools have certain penalties and rules for parents who pick up their children late from school, it seems one school, in particular, has decided to issue fines for late child pickups.
In a TikTok video, a teacher, Kristin Evans, was shocked after being handed a wad of cash from her superior and claimed that the school she works for is cracking down on children who are picked up late by their parents/guardians.
Evans says a parent was charged $116 after they were an hour late to pick up their child.
In Evans' video, which boasts 4 million views, she explained that she had been approached by the director of the school she works for, and was handed some money unprompted.
"The director of my school just walked up to me and handed me $116," Evans said, showing the dollar bills she had just been given.
Evans claimed that the director had given her the money because one of her "half-day students" was picked up by their parents "almost an hour" past their scheduled pickup time.
"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."
In the caption of the video, Evans wrote that this is the first time in her teaching career that such a policy has been enacted at a school she works for and that she feels "weird" about the transaction.
"During my 10+ years in public education, I regularly waited 20-30 mins after school with students waiting for parent pick up," Evans wrote, adding that it was a normal occurrence working for the public school system.
"This late pick-up policy is in my new school's admission agreement," she continued, noting that she now works for a private school instead of a public one.
While Evans acknowledged that the school's new late pick-up fee is a bit strange, the parent who was charged has a history of showing up late to pick up their child, which forces Evans to stay behind with the child until they leave.
"This also is not the first or second or third time they've been 20+ mins late without notice or communication but this was the first time they were charged the late pick-up fee."
Some TikTok users praised the school for enacting a late pick-up fee for parents.
"Everyone saying it’s wrong to charge are the exact people who would be showing up late. I used to be a teacher & had the same parents late every day," one user wrote.
Another user added, "These teachers aren’t paid overtime. Would you stay an hour and a half late for free at work?"
"If school closed at 4 and a parent didn’t pick up their kid until 6, they definitely better pay and honestly what is more important than your child?" a third user questioned.
A fourth user remarked, "Totally get this; someone literally won’t be allowed to leave if you don’t come to get your child [and] they should be paid."
However, other users weren't impressed by the school's policy.
Other users pointed out that charging parents for running late, when sometimes it's not in their control, isn't a fair solution to the problem.
"Train [delays] happen in my town all day long that make me late. Sometimes a dead stop. As a struggling single mom, I couldn’t imagine..." a fifth user wrote.
Another pointed out, "That’s cool but with the average income level of my public school students it would be so wrong."
"I just don’t get why the money is due at the time of pick up. So now they have to spend extra time to go get cash to pay for being late," a follow-up commenter noted.
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Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Keep up with her on Instagram and Twitter.