Parents’ tardiness lands six-year-old child in detention

Parents should be the ones lecturing their children for getting detentions, not the reason for getting those detentions in the first place.

But that's just what happened at one Texas school: a kindergarten student is being punished for the (tardy) sins of her parents.

Brooke Loeffler, 6, was given a detention after her parents dropped her off late to Olympia Elementary School in San Antonio, Texas, for the third time this school year.

Brooke's mother, Erika, says the punishment is unfair and has even volunteered to "do the time" in her daughter's place.

Brad and Erika Loeffer both work full-time — and have a newborn baby with medical issues. Their repeated tardiness is not something their 6-year-old daughter has any control over, nor is it something the school has much compassion for, they claim.

"It was my responsibility to get her ready and get her to school," Brad tells KENS5. "I failed that responsibility a couple of times. It makes me sad to see my daughter upset for something she doesn’t understand."

"We tried to explain the situation to the vice principal and principal," Erika Loeffler tells ABC News. "They were very cold and not understanding of the circumstances."

Steve Lindscomb, director of public information at Judson Independent School District, says the tardy policy has been in effect for three years. The Loeffers signed off on it, fully aware of the consequences of perpetual tardiness, when they enrolled their daughter.

"Definitely since the rule was put in place about three years ago they've cut tardies down from 90-95 per cent, but that doesn't mean we don't work with each student in terms of age-appropriateness and family situation," Lindscomb says.

Lindscomb tells ABC News that while a tardy policy is in place, there's isn't an absence policy, so it might make more sense for the Loeffers to have their daughter skip a day rather than be late. The school district handbook, however, warns that legal problems could ensue if parents deliberately keep their school-aged children home from school too frequently.

Erika says she understands the tardy policy, but would prefer that punctuality be rewarded rather than tardiness so severely punished — or that parents be punished when the tardiness isn't the child's fault.

Brad insists his daughter is "a very good student."

"She never causes any trouble at school. According to her teacher, they use a color system to rate their performance of the day, and she [Brooke] always gets the top color or the one right below it," he tells ABC News. "She's very polite and shy to people she doesn't know. I don't think she has ever caused any trouble at all."

The school did exhibit some flexibility in Brooke's punishment. Instead of serving a one-hour detention after school, she is serving two half-hour lunchtime detentions.

And after much insistence from her family, the school permitted Brooke's grandmother to sit with her during one detention and her father during the other.

Does your child's school have a tardy policy? And in this case, does the punishment fit the crime?