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Monday, April 25, 2011

When Students Don't Go To School, Parents Go To Jail

More than 400 Baltimore parents cited this year in what some call a flawed process of getting students back to school

Barbara Gaskins says she took her 15-year-old son to his bus stop every morning at 7:30, well in time for his 9 a.m. homeroom bell at Patterson Park High School. She obtained as many medical excuses as the doctor would allow when her son suffered from a series of stomach viruses. And she has taught her children that they have to "get an education to get somewhere in life."

But Gaskins was recently jailed for 10 days — one of the dozen parents of Baltimore City students to receive a sentence this year — after failing to send her child to school 103 of 130 days.

More than 400 parents have received notification this school year that they would face a District Court judge as a result of charges filed by the school system's Office of Attendance and Truancy.
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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This kid missed 103 of 130 days and this story makes the court system seem too harsh?? That is more than a stomach flu people. I think not only the parent, but the kid needs to be charged.

Anonymous said...

This needs to happen more in Wicomico County instead of sending the parents a letter that they just toss in the trash-maybe then parents will make sure there kids go to school...

Anonymous said...

when your child become a young adult it gets touchy for a parent to make the child do anything . You can't discipline them without the thought of going to jail. Your child can have you incarcerated with the stroke of dialing 3 numbers.Then you have the social worker a your door with a police officer. Since the state want a say in how we raise our children let them make them go to school. If you find a way to make them go to school they will find a way to get kicked out.Incarcerating the parent solves nothing. I would bet that this a poor household with a single parent just trying to survive.