To think just let them out

[Mamx3x]

DS is in year 12 (sixth form) within a school. And has just received this email (all the schools emails are automatically sent to me as well as he logged in his school account to my phone once).

“Good afternoon,

Please could I remind you that your ID cards will only open the door at reception at break time and lunch time. If you need to leave the building at any other time you must see a member of the 6th form team to obtain an exit pass. Reception staff will not open the doors for you without an exit pass regardless of how much you harass them.

You should not, under any circumstances, start banging on the doors or shouting at the reception staff. Anyone who behaves in this manner will have the access permissions on their cards revoked and may face further sanctions.
To be clear, you cards will only work between
(Time) (break)

(Time) (lunch)

If you have any questions regarding this, please see me in the 6th form office.

Kind regards
(Name)”

While I certainly agree that no one should be rude to anyone I can also imagine the frustration if you had a doctors appointment or something and then the receptionist refusing to let you out likely meaning you were late. Many of these kids have part time jobs, drive ect and some are legally adults (being 18). Aibu to think that needing a pass is absolutely ridiculous and the office staff should just have let them out.

@RichardMarxisinnocent, it entirely depends on the school setup.
My school has several buildings, but the site is secure and you can only enter or leave (except through reception) with a swipe card to open certain doors and all of the gates.

@CoRhona

You should not be seeing emails to students. What if he had a personal issue? Agree with pp, massive invasion of privacy.

If he’s a child then it is his parent’s responsibility to check his emails. If he’s not a child, no-one should be asking him to provide a pass in order to leave a building.

What you seem to be saying is that it is ok for school to treat him as an under 18 and check his whereabouts but it’s not ok for his mother to do it.

When his mother reads his emails, it’s an invasion of privacy but when you prevent him from leaving a building, it isn’t deprivation of liberty? There are some impressive double standards going on here.

If the children are becoming abusive about this arrangement, it is clearly distressing them and clearly someone should look at that.

Those are the rules the school has. If you/your son don’t like it, he is not required to be there. Similarly, if my workplace have rules then I either follow them or find a new job. If the school is more restrictive than you want, find a less restrictive one. I’d rather my kids were only allowed out at break and lunch (frankly, being allowed out at lunch is plenty) and therefore more likely to be studying in between, or at least I know where they are. When they go to uni or wherever else, maybe they’ll have some good habits. That’s why I won’t send mine to college. Horses for courses.

This would drive me crazy. I remember my school locking the bike storage for a certain event, during which we were not allowed to leave. Guess what happened? Stuidents climed the fence and handed bikes to each other. The school never tried that again,

A few years after I left I saw they had put a fence around the whole premises. It was even more like a prison than it felt like when I was still going there.

I took being able to leave when something bad happened for granted. I can't believe they lock kids inside a school during the day. Sounds dystopian.

What do they plan to do during a fire?