Education is key. You've said this to your children and your parents have said it to you, yet there are some forces, whether it be parents, children, or the education system itself that make it all the more difficult for students to succeed.
Daryan Godley has gone above and beyond for her 6-year-old son to get a quality education, despite having her son's school make it difficult for her.
As the education system becomes more liable for kid's safety, many schools are enforcing rules that are raising eyebrows.
For instance, a couple of schools in Houston, Texas have started handing out identification tracking tags to students to follow their movements on school grounds. The idea here is that administrators will know if students go to class or not, but also it will serve as a way to protect kids if they are abducted while on school property.
The issue here is that the radio frequency tags only work within 100 feet of the building, so many parents are raising questions about how effective this will be for a student's safety and their overall education.
In an effort to ensure the safety of all their students, Harley W. Fisher Elementary in the Pasadena Independent School District is enforcing a new rule that has countless of parents like Godley fed up.
Godley was told that starting on January 9, she can't pick her son up from school anymore because she doesn't have a car.
The school's letter states, "We have also observed that a majority of parent walk ups have a car. Starting January 9th parent walk ups will no longer be an option."
Administrators at the school said their primary objective is to keep kids safe. Now every day, long lines of cars gather around school premises to pick up students.
To avoid parents parking across the street and running over to pick up their kid, and students running in front of cars, Pasadena ISD spokesman Art Del Barrio says this has "happened enough times that it raised a red flag that needed to be addressed."
"I'm a parent and I'd rather wait than risk having an accident with my child," Del Barrio said.
Godley lost her car because of Hurricane Harvey, and her son wasn't offered bus service, so her only option is to walk him to and from school every day. This takes almost two hours out of her day. On top of that, Godley said school administrators made her wait 45 minutes after school before handing her son over.
"I didn't understand because I didn't have a vehicle why couldn't I just walk up and get my son, so I called the secretary," Godley explained. "She said, 'If you don't have a car, I can't release your son to you.' That was absurd to me."
She said when it's raining or very cold, they'll bundle up, or sometimes she's call for a ride-hailing service.
"Sometimes I'll Uber, but if I don't have that, I'll have an umbrella and bundle up the boys as much as I can," Godley said. "His education is important."
If parents don't have a vehicle, Del Barrio said they can contact the principal to make arrangements, but Godley said all she feels is penalized by this new rule.
"It hurts my feelings because what can you do? Life happens," she said.
Godley said she hasn't seen a crossing guard or officer at the crosswalk that would fix the problem, even though the district said the school has one that comes by sometimes.
