can my daughter's school legally refuse to release her to me between 2:15 - 2:45.?

Question

My 6 year old brought home a note from school which states that I can not pick up my child between 2:15 - 2:45 unless it is for a doctor appointment and I must give them notice that morning so that they can verify the appointment. Can the school refuse to release my child to me legally because school is not over.

The was sent home with all students. I do not pick up my child from school early but I thought If I needed to I could and I don't understand why they need to verify an doctor appointment. This is what the note says:

Students will not be check out between 2:15 and 2:45
Only students with medical appointments will be allow to check out. appointment card or note must be sent earlier in the morning and the appointment must be verified.

Answer 1

Are you just picking her up early from school one day, or are you planning on picking her up every day like that? Every day may be a problem because they don't want children missing class, but no they can NOT legally keep your child at school.

Answer 2

This is most likely because they don't want parents to pick up their child every day 15 minutes before the day ends to avoid the after school rush. (You can bet some would try if they didn't have such a rule).

I'm sure you have a special case, the school will work with you and will make an exception but this is a pretty general rule in schools... they want to make sure the kids stay for the whole day.

Now, if you were to show up at 2:30 unannounced and say that you need to bring your child home? They could not legally stop you, it is your child!

Answer 3

Hi, I used to work in public school systems. I have never heard of anything like that before. I would call a meeting with the school principle and if you don't care for their answers then I would go over their heads to the school district. You are entitle to know more about that why you can't. Legally you are the child's parent so you should be able to pick them up anytime you want.

Answer 4

My son's school does the same thing. School is over at 2:15 & there are signs saying "No check-outs after 1:45." I think with all the work of getting kids to where they're supposed to go at the end of the day (releasing bus-riders, then car-riders, then after-school program, etc) they don't want to add to the confusion and possibly lose a kid. The school wants to let everyone know ahead of time that if you need your kid a little early to come before the cut-off time. I thought nothing of it because i figured there was no use in checking him out of school less than 30 minutes early anyway.

Answer 5

My kids brought home a similar note, although nothing was mentioned about verifying with the drs office. I dont see how the drs office could give out that info to just anyone that calls, thats a violation of privacy. The school cant tell a parent they cant have their child but I feel they do this to cut down on the number of kids being signed out early.

Answer 6

No, they can't legally refuse to hand her over. That's not what they're saying, though. They're saying that they won't sign her out through the system, they will consider it truancy.

I don't think they can verify the appointment, they're just trying to dissuade people from abusing the system. But if you plan to take your child out of school early, surely it's only polite to inform the school of it in advance if at all possible? We're expected to give our kids' schools several DAYS written notice of them missing any school time unless it's an emergency.

Answer 7

No they cannot stop you. Your child is YOUR child and you have sole legal rights to her...you can take her out whenever you want for no reason at all. At the most, they could call the truancy officer who could report you to child services who would investigate how often and why you are taking her out. But one or two absences does not make illegal amounts of truancy.

They are trying to put pressure on you-and I wouldn't stand for it. Tell them that you KNOW that them refusing to release your daughter is illegal and that if they do not release her you will call the police on THEM. [Then do it if you need to.] However, if you are having this many issues with them I would consider switching schools, going to private school, or homeschooling-no one has the right to keep your child from you and anyone who gives you that many problems shouldn't have access to your child anyway.

Answer 8

My daughter's school refused to let me check her out for a dr's appointment saying that i had to have her father's verbal permission and handed me a phone to call him. We have joint custody. The administrator did this in front of other parents and teachers, I was so humiliated. She also testified in court that I came to school once this year to pick up my daughter and came into the building with no pants or underwear on, yet she admitted she did nothing (the whole thing is a lie, my ex has paid them and given them false court orders). Needless to say I don't like going to eat lunch with my daughter, overhearing people make comments about me in front of my child is worse than death.

Answer 9

Probably not. Most states require that parents have access to their children on demand, and checking with the MD is a violation of your privacy rights. Ask the Principal or Superintendent why this is being imposed and under what authority, then call State Ed.

Answer 10

My cousin's school says that too. It is because everyone is busy trying to end school for the day so by the time the child will have received the note to leave, school would almost be out.Your best bet would be going at 2:10 if you ever need to check her out. ;)