# Do kids still get detention in school? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 8, 2020, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-get-detention-in-school/847613 "2020-02-08T04:21:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-get-detention-in-school/847613/41 "2020-02-10T16:08:47Z")
To answer some questions raised, my son goes to public school in a Boston suburb and uses a public bus, although they do get a reduced fare card. I don’t know the distance, but I have the impression it is a couple miles. When I was in HS, we got three free latenesses after which you got a detention. Detention was pretty much a study hall, no big deal. I still recall being called down to the vice-principal’s office because he claimed I’d been late 4 times. I protested it was only three. With great glee he picked up the pile of slips and started counting one, two, three, and then his face collapsed in great disappointment because the fourth slip wasn’t mine, but a classmate’s who had the same last name. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-get-detention-in-school/847613/42 "2020-02-10T16:20:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > No, asking for a lawsuit would be if the district routinely had class sizes 25% greater than the legally-mandated maximum, or still had racially-segregated schools in the 21st century, or had school buildings where the heat couldn’t be turned off all winter, no matter how hot the classrooms got. Putting kids on RTA buses barely blips the radar. I’ve been working in public schools for 15 years. There are a lot of lawsuits filed over things that happened on the ride to school. They may not blip your radar, but that’s because either the parents didn’t talk to the press about it or it wasn’t deemed newsworthy. The problem with having students ue public transportation is it makes schools liable for incidents they have no control over. I have a relative who was working for a company that contracted with schools to provide buses and drivers. He lost his job a year or so ago because some of the schools they contracted with dropped their contracts over the liability/control issue. But he almost immediately got hired by the district to do the same job. Only now he’s an employee of the school rather than an employee of a contractor. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > And how many of the students are more than 2.5 miles away? > > I’m sure these are the sorts of things that vary depending on where (and, probably, when) you’re talking about. In my admittedly fuzzy, unreliable memories of my own school years, the kids who rode a school bus to school were generally the exception rather than the rule. > > I was riding the city bus to and from school in high school, but would occasionally ride the bus downtown when I was much younger than that. It’s going to depend on the district, but in mine it’s the majority. The students come from more than a ten mile radius. The area within walking distance is a small percentage of the area served. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-get-detention-in-school/847613/43 "2020-02-10T16:45:41Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > I’ve been working in public schools for 15 years. There are a lot of lawsuits filed over things that happened on the ride to school. They may not blip your radar, but that’s because either the parents didn’t talk to the press about it or it wasn’t deemed newsworthy. > > The problem with having students ue public transportation is it makes schools liable for incidents they have no control over. I have a relative who was working for a company that contracted with schools to provide buses and drivers. He lost his job a year or so ago because some of the schools they contracted with dropped their contracts over the liability/control issue. But he almost immediately got hired by the district to do the same job. Only now he’s an employee of the school rather than an employee of a contractor. The fact that a district is liable for the action of it’s contractor doesn’t mean they are liable for the actions of a public transit agency that they don’t have a contract with. > [@](#): > > It’s going to depend on the district, but in mine it’s the majority. The students come from more than a ten mile radius. The area within walking distance is a small percentage of the area served. And in mine, no student must attend a school even five miles away. They don’t even have to attend the closest school - a kid could easily be the only one attending a particular school from their neighborhood. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-get-detention-in-school/847613/44 "2020-02-10T16:54:49Z")
Our district doesn’t have detention because it would interfere with too many after-school programs. Having kids miss out on enrichment programs as a form of discipline is not considered productive. In its place, we had something call ISS, which stands for In School Suspension. We had a room with an all day monitor who was assigned students who could not be in class nor have lunch with their peers. They were isolated for the day in the ISS room with assignments provided by their teachers. Unfortunately, due to complaints and political pressure, the ISS system was done away with at the beginning of the school year. In its place, they decided to extend the PBIS behavioral model to include special events for students maintaining a high level of behavioral performance. This past Friday, there was a field trip for the entire school that included all students who have thus far met the PBIS standards. Those that didn’t were left behind with teachers left behind to monitor them. Of course, a number of parents showed up in the school office demanding to know why their little darlings were so cruelly left behind. They’ll probably cave to political pressure and get rid of this as well. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-get-detention-in-school/847613/45 "2020-02-10T18:29:47Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > The fact that a district is liable for the action of it’s contractor doesn’t mean they are liable for the actions of a public transit agency that they don’t have a contract with. If the student (or parent) just decided to use public transportation instead of using the school’s transportation then no they wouldn’t be (although that wouldn’t necessarily stop the parents from filing a lawsuit that would cost the school some money even if it was thrown out.) But in that case anything that happened would be a risk that the student (or parent) willingly accepted, including being counted tardy if the bus was late. But if it’s something like this: > [@doreen](#): > > And in some states, the requirement to provide transportation can be fulfilled by providing free or reduced cost transit passes. Then the school would still be liable for getting the student to school safely. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-get-detention-in-school/847613/46 "2020-02-10T19:04:13Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > And in some states, the requirement to provide transportation can be fulfilled by providing free or reduced cost transit passes. I need to correct this. As it turns out, in my state city school districts are not required to provide transportation to students without disabilities and those that do are doing so voluntarily. > **[NYSED: Transportation Requirements](https://stateaid.nysed.gov/trans/requirement.htm)** > > Transportation Requirements Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-get-detention-in-school/847613/47 "2020-02-10T19:56:24Z")
I rode the city bus to school from 6th to 10th grade (Cleveland, 1987 to 1991). We received paper bus passes in homeroom every week. Splitting them in half and gluing them to regular paper to double the amount of tickets was high level grade-school forgery that only a few in-demand students mastered. The school was within walking distance to downtown so we relished the after-school freedom that riding public transportation afforded us. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-get-detention-in-school/847613.md?page=2)