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I work with kids who have trouble attending school Your daughter's story sounds soooo familiar. First, you said she is anxious and depressed. Is she in therapy? If not, start ASAP. She needs to learn some coping skills to deal with both.
Someone mentioned this being a control issue. It is for a lot of the kids I work with. The solution is to not engage in the power struggle, which can be hard. If she's old enough to be a freshman in high school she's old enough to take some responsibility for herself.
Some suggestions - 1) if she doesn't have her own alarm clock get her one. Tell her she is expected to get up in the morning and get ready. If she is willing, you could also give her a wake up call about 10 minutes after the alarm goes off. But only call her ONCE.
2) Take her phone away at bedtime the night before. She can have it back in the car on the way to school if she is ready to leave on time.
3) If she isn't ready for school when you need to leave for work, leave without her. No begging with her to get ready. No repeated warnings that you are leaving. Let her know ahead of time what time you are leaving. If she wants it, give her a 10 minute warning. Then leave without her if she's not ready. If she is late for school or ends up missing the day, LET HER FACE THE CONSEQUENCES ON HER OWN!
The bottom line is to disengage from the power struggle and let her face the consequences for her choices. This might seem harsh, but it's the only way she's going to learn to get ready. Before anyone jumps on me about being "mean", how many employers will allow a person to cruise into work whenever they want because they don't/can't be on time? Part of being a parent is to prepare kids for the world once they are on their own.
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