Willis judge sentences honor student to jail for truency

[Charles L. Cotton]

The only issue I have with what folks are saying on here is that it is NOT the DAD who ran out on the family, but the MOM who left them...the dad works a lot of hours from what I have gathered reading the stories on this one, so he isn't home very much...yes, I know that our society LOVES the stereotype of the "deadbeat dad", but there are some pretty lousy women out there, too...

The news report I saw said he left the family. Perhaps that was inaccurate or incomplete.

Chas.

[Heartland Patriot]

Reminds me of a story I saw yesterday about a girl who is a high school senior and an honors student who was kicked of of a school bus for standing up for a mentally handicapped little girl who was being bullied by all the other students. The senior girl tried to get the bus driver to handle it, and the driver refused to do anything about it. Then the other students, who were younger, reported the senior for "bullying" them, and she was banned from the disctrict's school buses.

Shameful.

TAM, I found the email address of the superintendent of that school district, and expressed my righteous indignation with the seeming lack of attention to the bullying of the first girl and the school district's handling of the second, older girl who tried to do the right thing. Of course, I didn't get an email back, but that's okay...I did what I could considering it was in another state.

[Heartland Patriot]

The only issue I have with what folks are saying on here is that it is NOT the DAD who ran out on the family, but the MOM who left them...the dad works a lot of hours from what I have gathered reading the stories on this one, so he isn't home very much...yes, I know that our society LOVES the stereotype of the "deadbeat dad", but there are some pretty lousy women out there, too...

The news report I saw said he left the family. Perhaps that was inaccurate or incomplete.

Chas.

If the story WAS actually accurate or complete, any of us would have a hard time knowing it, the way a lot of the "news" is these days...

[philip964]

The only issue I have with what folks are saying on here is that it is NOT the DAD who ran out on the family, but the MOM who left them...the dad works a lot of hours from what I have gathered reading the stories on this one, so he isn't home very much...yes, I know that our society LOVES the stereotype of the "deadbeat dad", but there are some pretty lousy women out there, too...

The news report I saw said he left the family. Perhaps that was inaccurate or incomplete.

Chas.

If the story WAS actually accurate or complete, any of us would have a hard time knowing it, the way a lot of the "news" is these days...

You mean like this story about the United Nations Security Council by the BBC.





By the way, the judge has decided to withdraw the charge so it won't appear on her record (but she already spent the day in jail)

[C-dub]

The only defense I see is: if he knew that by sentencing her to jail, she would finally get the financial help she needed.

I don't think he's got the stones to try that. I don't even think the Obamanation would try to rewrite he biography that way.

[psijac]

The only defense I see is: if he knew that by sentencing her to jail, she would finally get the financial help she needed.

I don't think he's got the stones to try that. I don't even think the Obamanation would try to rewrite he biography that way.

That's not the Texan thing to do...

[VMI77]

I'm so sick of this "zero tolerance" mentality. Make an example of a kid who isn't on the A honor roll. It is just another case of punishing the successful that won't follow the rules. Subservience, not success is the goal.

It is bad enough when the school administrators resort to this "junk". When our court system does, too, it is time for a new judge. If "the rules are the rules" is all that is required, we didn't need a judge in the first place - we needed a mafia enforcer.

The primary instruction in the public schools is in conformity and obedience.

[VMI77]

"Truancy" is mostly about MONEY, not education. If they don't fill all the seats they get less money from the Feds. When I was in school my parents used to pull me out for almost a month every year to travel.....and all it took was a note.

[TLE2]

My daughter won't move back to Texas, this kind of idiocy is at the top of the list.

[chasfm11]

"Truancy" is mostly about MONEY, not education. If they don't fill all the seats they get less money from the Feds. When I was in school my parents used to pull me out for almost a month every year to travel.....and all it took was a note.

I'm not so sure. It also seems a lot about control. I hate HOAs because control freaks seem to migrate to the Boards of those organizations. I feel the same way about alot of the administrators in schools. That comes from both my tenure as a teacher (I still hold a life time certification) and as a parent.

Our daughter had a medical issue and missed a lot of school. I had repeatedly filed a signed medical exemption with the school administrators but several of them decided not to notice it. They would go to her class, pull her out of it (how does that help her supposed truancy again?) and issue some sort of punishment. I'd go to the school, remind them of her medical exemption and they would rescind the punishment. Not, of course, before they had publicly humiliated her. Like the girl in the the story, our daughter was taking AP classes and graduated in the top 25 of her class, getting a full academic scholarship to UNT. Results don't matter - compliance does. I'm convinced that it was a control thing because they forced her to sign a test that she couldn't take because of some absences immediately preceding it. She did take the test later and Aced it.

Standing squarely on my soapbox, I'd say that there are too many governmental entities involved in our educational institutions. Between the State and the Feds, there are way too many rules for the local administrators to hide behind. It is much easier to blame decisions on the State than to take responsibiltiy for them. On one specific ruling, I contacted the administrators of two of the surrounding districts and neither of them supported the interpretation of the State's requirements the way that our school district did. If our administrator had had to defend his actions alone, the outcome would have been vastly different.

[WildBill]

"Truancy" is mostly about MONEY, not education. If they don't fill all the seats they get less money from the Feds. When I was in school my parents used to pull me out for almost a month every year to travel.....and all it took was a note.

A high school teacher [head of the science department] told me that they had become baby sitters and beggars rather than educators.

[VMI77]

"Truancy" is mostly about MONEY, not education. If they don't fill all the seats they get less money from the Feds. When I was in school my parents used to pull me out for almost a month every year to travel.....and all it took was a note.

I'm not so sure. It also seems a lot about control. I hate HOAs because control freaks seem to migrate to the Boards of those organizations. I feel the same way about alot of the administrators in schools. That comes from both my tenure as a teacher (I still hold a life time certification) and as a parent.

Our daughter had a medical issue and missed a lot of school. I had repeatedly filed a signed medical exemption with the school administrators but several of them decided not to notice it. They would go to her class, pull her out of it (how does that help her supposed truancy again?) and issue some sort of punishment. I'd go to the school, remind them of her medical exemption and they would rescind the punishment. Not, of course, before they had publicly humiliated her. Like the girl in the the story, our daughter was taking AP classes and graduated in the top 25 of her class, getting a full academic scholarship to UNT. Results don't matter - compliance does. I'm convinced that it was a control thing because they forced her to sign a test that she couldn't take because of some absences immediately preceding it. She did take the test later and Aced it.

Standing squarely on my soapbox, I'd say that there are too many governmental entities involved in our educational institutions. Between the State and the Feds, there are way too many rules for the local administrators to hide behind. It is much easier to blame decisions on the State than to take responsibiltiy for them. On one specific ruling, I contacted the administrators of two of the surrounding districts and neither of them supported the interpretation of the State's requirements the way that our school district did. If our administrator had had to defend his actions alone, the outcome would have been vastly different.

I can't disagree. I believe zero tolerance and the way schools are administered in general is mostly about control. Zero tolerance keeps the good kids worried about their records and their future, thus keeping them "in line." Maybe it would be better wording to say that supposed concerns about truancy are more about money than about education.

[fickman]

The assumption in some of these folks' minds is that the schools have primary guardianship of students and "loan" them to the families for a few hours in the evenings and weekends.

I've got educators all around me (elementary school, middle school, high school, and college teachers and administrators in my immediate family and circle of friends). Fifteen years ago they would've thought homeschooling was irresponsible, extreme, and unwise. Nowadays they all understand it and most would recommend it.

I know there are great teachers and administrators out there - I've kept in touch with a lot of the ones that influenced me. Unfortunately, the bad apples are spreading, the kids are out of control, the parents aren't involved, and the government-agenda is being strengthened.

Vote for school choice!

We need to grab liberty back in all areas of life. . . from our self defense to our right to oversee the education, discipline, and nurturing of our kiddos.