Mom jailed for enrolling kids in wrong school district

[sb24]

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/26/mom-jailed-for-enrolling-kids-in-wrong-school-district/?hpt=Sbin

<!-- /tweet Button -->An Ohio mother is in jail after being convicted of tampering with records to enroll her children in a better school district.

Kelley Williams-Bolar, 40, of Akron, illegally registered her two daughters at her father's address in suburban Copley Township to get them into the Copley-Fairlawn school district rather than the urban Akron district, a jury decided.

The Akron City school district met only four of 26 standards on the latest Ohio Department of Education Report Card and had a 76% graduation rate. Copley-Fairlawn City Schools met 26 of 26 standards and had a 97.5% graduation rate

Summit County Common Pleas Judge Patricia Cosgrove sentenced Williams-Bolar last week to five years in prison, but suspended all but 10 days. Williams-Bolar also must serve 80 hours of community service and will be on probation for three years

.......

Williams-Bolar, a single mother, works as a teacher's aide at a high school in Akron and is just 12 credits away from earning a teaching degree at the University of Akron, according to the Beacon Journal.

Thoughts?

[jeremym480]

Re: Mom jailed for enrolling kids in wrong school district

I think that's pretty damn stupid. Especially, since the children's father lives in that district.

[Whitesox]

Re: Mom jailed for enrolling kids in wrong school district

Rules are rules.

As for the rule, I'm undecided. If the wife has custody, then the kids should be enrolled in that district, no?

[snepp]

Re: Mom jailed for enrolling kids in wrong school district

A couple thoughts....

Multiple DUI recipients receive lighter sentences.

The DA must not have enough work to do if something like this warrants going through the process of a trial.

[Buckeyes_Doc]

Re: Mom jailed for enrolling kids in wrong school district

The district almost always resolves residency cases without involving the courts, he told WJW-TV, but couldn't work out a resolution with Williams-Bolar.

That quote caught my attention. I wonder what they tried to work out with the mother. It seems like involving the courts was a last resort.

I'm not sure if I missed it in the article but it never mentioned the father having custody, and if true, then she did illegally enroll her kids in the wrong school district. She mentions that her and the children considered both homes a home, and stay at both regulary, then why do they not have joint custody? If the father had custody then this wouldn't be a problem.

[Cusefan]

Re: Mom jailed for enrolling kids in wrong school district

I understand rules are rules but she is basically going to prison for 5 years for trying to better her childrens lives.

At least they will get to go to that good school dristrict now(assuming they go to live with their father).

[sb24]

Re: Mom jailed for enrolling kids in wrong school district

I understand rules are rules but she is basically going to prison for 5 years for trying to better her childrens lives.

At least they will get to go to that good school dristrict now(assuming they go to live with their father).

Well shes only getting 10 days, but its going to destroy her chances at being a teacher in the state. Its just amazing we are trying to punish a woman for trying to give her kids the best chance. It kills me to see people get off so light for violent crimes, but we give this woman 5 years (all but 10 days suspended).

Ironic now that you point out the kids will now legally go to the school.

[Dice]

Re: Mom jailed for enrolling kids in wrong school district

I don't like the fact that they were charged with grand theft. I thought this was a public school she was trying to put her kids in? And isn't public schools free to the public? And I understand that's it's free to the residence of that district BUT the school doesn't charge tuition for non-district residents. They just simply don't allow them to attend. So how could they claim that they stole $30,000 when the service provided was free? NOW, if the school allowed non-residents to attend and have them pay tuition, then they would have a case. BUT I'm sorry, I couldn't see the Supreme Court upholding the charges of grand theft.

The fraud charge is legally valid. I can't argue that. But the woman and her father didn't go into a bank with semi-automatic weapons and robbed them of $30,000. Which, when an employer sees that on their record, that might be the first thing that comes to mind.

[daflyboys]

Re: Mom jailed for enrolling kids in wrong school district

I can buy a car wherever I want to in the state, country or world. If I want medical treatment from an expert clear across the U.S., I can get that. Should I want to purchase a rubber ducky a la Ebay from someone in Saskatchewan, that's ok too.... but I have to LIVE in the same school district where I send my kids.

I think this lady's actions speaks to what is common sense: people recognize excellence when they see it and having a school choice is no different. She simply wanted the best for her kids and because we've built a system that ties the hands of the tax payer, sometimes people will resort to other means.

Yep...that's right.... I'm pro-voucher.

[jeremym480]

Re: Mom jailed for enrolling kids in wrong school district

I can buy a car wherever I want to in the state, country or world. If I want medical treatment from an expert clear across the U.S., I can get that. Should I want to purchase a rubber ducky a la Ebay from someone in Saskatchewan, that's ok too.... but I have to LIVE in the same school district where I send my kids.

I think this lady's actions speaks to what is common sense: people recognize excellence when they see it and having a school choice is no different. She simply wanted the best for her kids and because we've built a system that ties the hands of the tax payer, sometimes people will resort to other means.

Yep...that's right.... I'm pro-voucher.

Agreed. When I was a kid my parents got divorced when I was in the 5th Grade. My Mom eventually got remarried and my step-dad lived in the next town. They both worked in the town where we originally went to school. My Brother, Sister and I didn't want to go to the school in the town he lived in. So every morning we would get up super early so our parents could drop us off at the School Bus drivers house on their way to work. Some days we were on the bus before the driver and of course we had to ride the entire route every single morning and afternoon. But, that's where we wanted to go to school so, for us it was worth it.

[BurghFan]

Re: Mom jailed for enrolling kids in wrong school district

Where are you guys getting this stuff about the kid's father? She said she use HER father's address meaning the kids maternal grandfather. Anyway, that's pretty stupid of her. Couldn't she just have moved to that district? Plus, I think you're allowed to register kids in other districts, it just costs more.

[jeremym480]

Re: Mom jailed for enrolling kids in wrong school district

Where are you guys getting this stuff about the kid's father? She said she use HER father's address meaning the kids maternal grandfather. Anyway, that's pretty stupid of her. Couldn't she just have moved to that district? Plus, I think you're allowed to register kids in other districts, it just costs more.

Oops. I guess I need to brush up on my reading skills.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: Mom jailed for enrolling kids in wrong school district

Wow. So her kids went to the better school for 2 years before it came to this? Seems like common sense should have prevailed.

It's sadly ironic that trying to do the best for her kids' education is going to keep her from getting a teaching job in Ohio.

[NDAlum]

Re: Mom jailed for enrolling kids in wrong school district

The sentence is 10 days with 80 hours of community service and 3 years of probation (probably supervised).

Violate probation = judge will look at violation and can make her do the 5 years.

I would guess there is a process to get her kids in the better school, but she chose to cheat the system. She got caught

[Cebby]

Re: Mom jailed for enrolling kids in wrong school district

You guys don't understand how schools are funded.

The school she was sending her kids to are mostly funded by property taxes. She wasn't paying property taxes in that county.

The school she was supposed to send her kids to are mostly state funded on a per kid basis. By not enrolling her kids in the this school she cost the school tens of thousands in funding.

That's why she was charged. If her children were going to the incorrect school within a school district it doesn't matter. When you cross district lines you are committing theft. Given the line about "almost always resolves cases without courts", I'm guessing they figured it out, told her, and she continued to do it.