No ride home

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Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008 | midnight

More than 10,000 times each year, Clark County School District students are left waiting at the end of a school day for the adults who have failed to pick them up.

Nearly all of the students are in elementary school, the Las Vegas Sun reported Friday, and their adult guardians fail to show up for all sorts of reasons. Employers may not allow them to leave work to pick up children from school. Cars break down. Traffic congestion can cause huge delays. And, sadly, some parents are neglectful.

A significant number of children are left at school multiple times during the year, the Sun's Emily Richmond reported, suggesting the problem is chronic for some families.

This phenomenon isn't unique to Southern Nevada, but according to the report, Clark County is one of the few large school districts in the nation that has a plan for taking care of these children. When school staff can't reach a child's guardian, a School District attendance officer takes the child to a Boys & Girls Club and leaves a notice at the child's home telling parents where the child can be picked up. If the guardian fails to pick up the child before the Boys & Girls Club closes at 7 p.m., the child is taken to a county-run shelter.

This is a solid plan that works -- as long as there are enough attendance officers to handle the load. The School District has 24, which is one officer for every 13,000 students. The national average is one officer for every 10,000 students, though Clark County officials would prefer one for every 8,000 students. However, Gov. Jim Gibbons' budget cuts likely will prevent the hiring of any additional officers.

It is heartbreaking to imagine a small child sitting in a school office, looking expectantly at the door for a parent who never comes. While the School District is doing an admirable job of dealing with this problem, it nonetheless is a shame that this situation exists at all.

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