I do wonder how it turned out, though… did they release the kid on his own? (If it’s on pages 2-3, I skipped them, sorry.)
My four year old runs around the block with his nine year old neighbors and has a great time. The five year old next door can’t even come over to our house to play for a few hours without his big sister or brother in tow. It’s ridiculous.
(Oh and by the way, said 5 year old just broke his arm, no doubt one of the things the parents are worried about — in the grocery story with his father.)
But do they let their children shamble home from school?
I’m going to come down on the other end of this. In many jurisdictions (so YMMV), the school is responsible for the child to make it home safely. Suppose Lorax is late with running errands and something happens to her child after turning that corner? The school is responsible for it.
Yes, but Lorax was pitting the fact that the school is so inflexible about allowing her to waive that responsibility, and she’s blaming helicopter parents for the fact that they are ultimately the cause of the school’s inflexibility.
Got a friend that’s a lawyer? Get them to draw you up a letter relieving the school of all responsibility as you will be acting outside of their policy AND informing them that your child will be walking.
(Point out, in your letter, that you will keep private the arrangement, not sharing it with other parents and then do exactly that. If anyone asks you about this, just smile and don’t reply, explain to your child that this is a private matter that he should not discuss with others.)
Have it notarized, delivered by registered mail, and then carry on as you wish. They can have no complaint. Stop looking to them to give you a release form and get one created for yourself.
Now the balls in their court. I doubt they’ll act upon it.
Schools are accustom to setting rules and having people follow them. If you let them, they will. Stop letting them, this is your call to make, YOU set the rule for your child.
I’d avoid pushing them into a corner, don’t make a stink, rally others to your cause, or go public. Act quietly, keeping the whole thing private and you may find they are much more willing to just let it slide, as not worth the battle as long as their ass is covered.
Good luck, and let us know how it works out!
The more “sought after” the school is the more obnoxious the helicopter parenting gets and the more ridiculous the administration gets to make the majority happy.
I was .3 miles from school but I didn’t walk alone until I was in third grade. It was 3 blocks and I got lost the first few times, my sense of direction has not improved very much. Thank god I lived in NYC and by the time I moved to the suburbs, I could get GPS installed in my car.
If my kid is anything like me. I will have to spray paint a line from his school to my house so he doesn’t get lost.
The law in our state is that you can’t leave a child alone before age 8 (not all states have such laws), so that may also be a driving factor.
btw, right now I’m pretty sure my kids (5 & 8) are somewhere in my backyard with a couple of their friends, but they may be somewhere else in the neighborhood. Don’t tell those helicopter parents!
Treating kids like this is self-perpetuating. Kids who have been treated like infants really can’t do anything for themselves. I know a 9-year-old whose mother literally follows him around all day, picking up things he’s dropped, shutting off lights and closing car doors behind him, reminding him to tinkle. The kid can hardly remember to put his pants on because he is so accustomed to having everything done for him.
Couldn’t you just say:
“I will no longer be coming to collect my child from school. He will be walking home. I will sign whatever you need. This is not up for discussion”.
FWIW I walked to and from primary school alone from about 8. It’s 1.4 miles if you use the main roads, and about half that if you cut across playing fields- which is what we did.
Doesn’t that mean they are alone? 
Man, I just wish somebody would come in with a personal anecdote about how far they walked to school as a kid.
19 miles uphill, both ways in 4 feet of snow. It give me great posture from standing tall to keep my nose above the snow.
(Said in creaky old grandma voice)Well, it was back in rural Saskatchewan. We all walked to school except for kids bussed in from the farms. In eight years of grade school, I don’t recall ever getting cancelled for weather - if it was cold (and this was an area that routinely got down to -30ºC and stayed there in winter), we were expected to dress warmly and get our asses to school.
I’m not at all surprised by the principal’s reaction.
At my son’s school, we have to pick up the K kids from the classroom. They’re not allowed to walk down the hall and out the door to greet parents at their cars.
But really, the school is probably responsible for the children until an adult can take over. It makes sense. You can ‘sign waivers’ all you want, but rarely in the education world do you really waive your right to sue.
Damn. Read four pages of a zombie thread and still didn’t find out what happened in the end. It’s like someone ripped the last page out of a library book. Grrrr.
The consent form was eventually provided, then signed and returned. Then one day while walking home from school a car ran off the road and killed the assistant principal.
What will this step do?