Late parents face €5 fine at school
Mayor imposes penalty as commune is having to pay staff overtime – and they cannot get home to their own families
PARENTS will be fined €5 if they pick up their children late from school – in a bid to stop a mairie having to pay overtime to staff.
The move by the mayor of Bourogne in the Territoire-de-Belfort comes after parents were turning up late, often 15, 20 or 30minutes after the closing time.
Mayor Jean-François Roost imposed a strict 18.30 deadline with a €5 fine for each 15 minute late period. He said the rule was to save overtime bills but also to allow staff to get on with their own lives. And he told France 3 that the town was not making money: the overtime bill was more than the money the fines raised.
Other towns that have adopted the penalties have seen some results, if not a reduction in lateness at least a reduction in spending.
Since Asnières-sur-Seine in Hauts-de-Seine, Fresnes (Val-de-Marne) and Montigny-le-Bretonneux (Yvelines) started the system they have seen a reduction in lateness. Asnières saw late pick-ups fall 15% in January this year and 30% in February. In Haute-Garonne, the commune of Issus has had fines in place for some time; not because there is any particular problem but just as a preventive measure.
Photo: Robert Kalina
