Tardy Parents Fined at Fenton

Fenton Avenue Charter School officials have begun charging parents $1 for each minute they’re late picking up their kindergarten or pre-kindergarten children, and are threatening to report repeat offenders to the county Department of Child and Family Services.

Administrators say they adopted the new get-tough policy--believed unique among public schools in California--to curb chronic tardiness by a handful of parents who sometimes pick up their children hours after dismissal.

“We felt we had a situation that was bordering on neglect in many cases and bordering on children becoming in jeopardy,” said Fenton Principal Joe Lucente, who uses the title executive director.

Children of parents who are tardy would very likely not be taken away from their families--action the county can take in cases of abuse or neglect, DCFS spokeswoman Victoria Pipkin-Lang said.

“On the surface it doesn’t sound like we would come out and pick up students who are [left there] five minutes late,” Pipkin-Lang said. “If all the nursery schools, child-care centers and [elementary] schools called if the parents are late, we would be overloaded.”

But some Los Angeles Unified School District officials worry the school’s policy is too extreme.

“As a charter school they have more leeway than district schools. Whether this allows them to react to a problem at their school in this manner is something we’re going to investigate,” said Joe Rao, administrative coordinator for charter schools in the district.

Fenton is exempt from state education laws that prohibit such fees because it is a charter school--a designation created by state lawmakers to encourage innovation and to free selected campuses from state and local rules. Such financial penalties, however, are common among private day-care centers.

While a few parents have called Fenton to complain, others say it may be the needed cure for tardy parents.

“In one way this is good because I’ve seen some teachers stand outside for a long time with the students waiting and they have other classes to go to,” Maria Fernandez said as she dropped off her 4-year-old son for school. “I think there are parents who take advantage.”

Laura Gonzalez, who arrives at the school several minutes before her daughter’s kindergarten class is dismissed, said she worries about being fined if she’s late because of an emergency.

Members of the school’s Student Community Relations Council devised the policy last month after meetings with tardy parents failed to solve the problem.

“Maybe if we are a little more assertive then the parents will be more responsible and come on time,” said Maria Delinski, a pre-kindergarten teacher.

But district official Rao said he is concerned the Fenton policy does not allow parents to defend themselves against the fines. He noted the neighborhood is dominated by low-income families.

“What happens if they can’t pay?” he said.

Most public school principals send a letter to chronically tardy parents urging them to pick up their children on time, said Yolanda Chavez, who oversees school operations for the district. Principals or teachers can call local police stations if a student is left at the campus past closing, she said.

Fenton officials say some parents failed to heed pleas to be on time. “At any one time we’d have four children waiting in the office for someone to get them,” said Irene Sumida, director of instruction at Fenton.

Sumida said one 4-year-old pre-kindergarten student waited in the school office from 2:10 until 4:30 p.m. While workers were busy doing their jobs, the girl slipped out when a door opened and waited in the school’s parking lot.

Since starting the new policy, Sumida said, more parents are arriving on time. The school has collected $16 from one father who was late, and has waived a $108 fine for a mother who was tardy two days in a row. Sumida said she spoke to the mother and worked out a plan for her children to be picked up on time.