To support DS to break school rules?

[Woffa]

My DS's secondary school has issued a written ban on sixth formers driving to school and parking in the local roads nearby (even though there are no double yellow lines etc) to avoid upsetting the residents.
The bus fare for DS is expensive and the saving helps pay for his insurance.

AIBU to support him in ignoring the ban?

I would tell my son to park a 10 minute walk from school. We are all part of society after all, no need to be a pain in the arse unnecessarily.

Actually my boy cycled a 12 mile round trip to college because of extortionate bus fares. My DD goes to a different college and drives because they have a vast car park. She also uses her car to get to work and back, so it is very useful.

Yanbu.

DH has this trouble at work. There is no car park and so he car pools and park safely and legally on residential roads.
The residents are absolutely foul and regularly hurl abuse at them. We recently had our car vandalised too.

It's not 'their' road. Your son can park where he likes as long as he's being considerate.

I think your soon needs to talk to the school about this. Surely other students are being affectedbybthis ridiculous rule, perhaps he could group together with them and speak to the head?

All schools have rules, and possible sanctions when they are broken.

It is not illegal to have shocking pink hair, but many schools would say this is against the school rules.

They have given a valid (imo) reason for opposing the rule.

If you do not like the rules, go soewhere else.

imposing, not opposing

So suppose the lad does contravene this very questionable school rule and gets caught 'breaking' it - what then? Warning? Detention? Expulsion? Would any of those sanctions be upheld if he decided to go to court? I'm struggling to understand this I'm afraid - because where does it end? The Head's a strict vegan so no students should eat at McDonalds - should that be a school rule? If a student chooses to smoke legally as an adult where does the boundary end? What if there's no school uniform? Who is policing this shit?
I live in an area that is flooded every single night of the working week by cars parked up by footballers playing nearby. It pisses me off mightily - the council put in double yellows and parking rules and for two weeks they came out every night ticketing all transgressors - four months later you never see a warden here! So I suck it up and try not to need parking between 6 - 9pm.

FarFromAnyRoad - you'd be amazed. At my (completely behind the times and now closed down) girls' independent school in the mid-2000s we had a school rule which banned us from eating outside of school in school uniform.

His tutor would discuss it with him. Depending on his response/attitude it could lead to the issuing of a Disciplinary, same as any other contravention.

It ends when he leaves that institution and its rules are no longer anything to do with him.

To equate it to football stadium parking may sound daft but it has some similarity. Round here that is dealt with with bollards, red lines and close policing - that and in other areas people suck it up. The limit is where the club and council agreed the Club would be socially/neighbourly responsible for. Something similar happens with the local University sites.

Such compromise/responsibility isn't uncommon where an institution has a legal obligation to be 'neighbourly'.

I am still not sure why this bothers some people. It is an attempt to ensure good relationships between the school and local inhabitants. If a few students have to rethink their transportation surely that is a compromise well met.

The Head's a strict vegan so no students should eat at McDonalds - should that be a school rule?

Oh how I love it when a thread goes loco!

And in my opinion OP YANBU.

They might as well impose a rule on what colour knickers the students mothers are allowed to wear. It's about as sensible and enforceable.

Schools can't simply dream up whatever rules they like and expect them to be blindly followed. Of course a lot of people will, because a lot of people are idiotic sheep, but that doesn't make it any more enforceable.

Rhonda - I totally realise that my suggestion was beyond the bounds of sanity so no need for the PA comment as if you honestly believe that I mean that! To me that hypothetical suggestion is every bit as absurd as the no parking rule - that is the point I am making!

Oh dear!

madreloco, you would have loved school in the 80's, we did have a rule about the colour of knickers.... navy blue gym knocker type things.

Do you truly espouse anarchy as a way of life? Ignoring rules because you don't see the point/like them just makes you selfish (you as in the plural noun not you personally). Social responsibility is something to be prized, surely?

And I say that on the understanding that social responsibility has absolutely bugger all to do with being PC.

Schools can't simply dream up whatever rules they like and expect them to be blindly followed.

But they are not just dreaming up a rule for no reason. I would assume this will have come about following complaints from residents, or as an effort by the school to be community minded and considerate. I

It certainly won't be just for the hell of it.

You're asking me if I espouse anarchy because I am against an arbitrary, unenforceable, meaningless rule?
Do you hurt yourself when you leap so hard?

But they are not just dreaming up a rule for no reason. I would assume this will have come about following complaints from residents, or as an effort by the school to be community minded and considerate.

Except the school has no jurisdiction regarding parking outside of school grounds and has no grounds to attempt to control same.
Seriously, what is wrong with you people? Someone says you can't do something and you just say, ok! I won't stop to think if they have any right to tell me that, any way of enforcing it, or any business telling me what I can do in this regard?

Madreloco, I don't think the rule is any of those things.

madreloco isn't coming across as any kind of anarchist to me. I think it's very healthy to question absurdity whenever and wherever you encounter it. Imagine if nobody did - life in slow motion Stepford-ville. Question and question some more - or sit back until you have no personal freedom at all (for the hyper-literal amongst us I do not mean that is going to happen a week next Tuesday so stand down and do not panic!)

No, I am asking because of your snidey 'sheep' comments.

And you seem to be missing the point that any institution can ask its members to abide by its rules. And everyone considering joining can refuse to do so if they disagree.

I have explained the specific reasoning up thread...

I am still not sure why this bothers some people. It is an attempt to ensure good relationships between the school and local inhabitants. If a few students have to rethink their transportation surely that is a compromise well met.

People have a problem with this because it can be costly. Now 6th formers do not get free transport even if they live miles away from school. Free transport ends at 16 although students cannot just leave school at 16. In the 80s we did get free transport if we lived over 3 miles away.

Cycling, if there are few cycle paths can also be dangerous in some areas.

There could be a better compromise, that is allowing students to drive to school with proof of an agreed parking space or allowing them to drive if they park over a mile away.

It is also annoying concerning how many of these compromises involve the students (and their parents) having to make all the sacrifices. They are sacrificing a legal right to park lawfully as any other driver is allowed to. Where is the support towards finding a better transport solution?

Capsium, there are still all sorts of bursaries, discounts, etc available for transport, all schools/colleges have that information readily available - I'd link you to the lengthy tome on our website, but that would not be 'the done thing'.

The cost would be accrued however the student travels, car, train, plane or bus. OP hasn't said that cycling/walking would be an option!

As I said upthread, there are probably lots of other possibilities but this is the one they have chosen.

And yes, parents and students must always compromise, the school cannot move and has to respond to the concerns of the local community.

If a student has an agreed space to park then their vehicle would not be reported, therefore not starting off any disciplinary, therefore not causing an issue! So that becomes a non issue.

More/cheaper transport would be the solution. But given the current financial climate that doesn't seem likely. And in the meantime the school has a lot of wider ranging responsibilities.

The school has plenty of grounds to control the nuisance their presence causes, and a failure to control the nuisance can put themselves at risk.

Schools absolutely have the ability to use their own disciplinary procedures for reasonable rules related to travelling to and from school, in Wales there's even a statutory basis enforcing schools to have such a policy.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/education/school-education/problems-at-school/#h-disruptive-behaviour

It is not illegal to have shocking pink hair, but many schools would say this is against the school rules.

Only if you bring your hair into school with you. They would have no right to tell an 18 y/o pupil you cannot have shocking pink hair over the summer holiday!

In this case the school are imposing rules about out of school behaviour, and imposing those rules on grown adults.

Can't you see the difference?

Seriously, what is wrong with you people? Someone says you can't do something and you just say, ok! I won't stop to think if they have any right to tell me that, any way of enforcing it, or any business telling me what I can do in this regard?

For me it just comes down to whether I have the time and inclination to make every request into a battle of wills, simply for the sake of it. If it seems a reasonable request, as this one is, I wouldn't get into a froth about it.

Massive sense of entitlement at play here. Is it really going to hurt the little darlings to park 1km or even 1 mile from the school in order to avoid being a total pain in the arse and to foster good community relations?