Security

 In the district that I work in we help ride the bus.  Living in a MAJOR city means we have to be even more up on our security than other cities may be.  For the safety of our students every child leaving the school must have a transportation tag.  The bus children have tags colored to the bus that they ride, with their yellow card information on it.  The yellow card is on file at the school and tells us who we can call in case of an emergency and doubles as a list of who can pick up their child.  The kids that are picked up by their parents also have tags called "Car Rider Tags".   That are small and you just wear it to school and home.  Simple on the kids end right?  The parents/guardians of the students also have a blue card.  Their part is fairly simple.  They have a special blue card that is half a sheet of paper in size and says a little deal about safety and to show the card at the bus stop.  In large letters it has the child's name.  They flash it at the stop and we let their child off of the bus.  If you do not have the blue card we cannot release the child to you, parent or not.   The child then comes back to the school with us and we call their guardian or someone else on their card to pick them up if the guardian does not answer. I know that it may sound silly to not release a child to their parent but home situations can change overnight.  One parent may have a restraining order against another causing the childs pick up to be limited, or another situation can come up.   It sounds like it would be rare but really it is pretty common. 

Never the less there will always be someone who hates the rules.  On my very first day a father chewed me out for not knowing the parents and having to see the blue card.  I explained that it was district policy and that I have to see it.  He complained further that I should know the parents and I informed him that I didn't know all of the parents because it is my first day.   Everyday that this guy is there (which isn't every day) he harasses me about it.  You know... I dont care who you are.  I'm not losing my job because you don't want to pull the blue card out of your pocket.   If you don't have it, then tough luck.