Community Chat

[pinkskates4]

On 6/14/2014 garmer said:

Here, even though you must call your child off by nine am (phone the school), you still have to turn in a written note when they go back to school, even for one day. After three consecutive days out, you must provide a doctor's excuse to return to school.

I was wondering what if that mother wrote notes that never made it to the teacher. That would be really a shame, to end up dying over that.

None of us know what really happened. We shouldn't be critical of this mom. MO, for what it's worth.

The judge - who apparently had been working with her over the years concerning these fines said that she tried to make her kids go to school, but they didn't.

So I think truancy was, in fact, the issue.

One article said she was overwhelmed and the "kids ruled the roost."

Not a healthy situation for them - or for her.

I don't know what the answer is.

Ok - she shouldn't be blamed. She couldn't make her kids go to school and she didn't have money to pay the fines. So the fines should have been forgiven and her kids truancy should - what - just be ignored?

What should have been done?

[Marp2]

On 6/14/2014 Dagna said:

The judge - who apparently had been working with her over the years concerning these fines said that she tried to make her kids go to school, but they didn't.

So I think truancy was, in fact, the issue.

One article said she was overwhelmed and the "kids ruled the roost."

Not a healthy situation for them - or for her.

I don't know what the answer is.

Ok - she shouldn't be blamed. She couldn't make her kids go to school and she didn't have money to pay the fines. So the fines should have been forgiven and her kids truancy should - what - just be ignored?

What should have been done?

Several counties in this area have truancy officers that escort chronic truants to school each day. For the most part that works but there have been instances where the kids are delivered to school but walk out at the first opportunity. I do not know if a solution for those instances has been found or enacted.

I would think in an urban environment a van or bus could pick up the children with the driver required to immediately report anyone that misses the vehicle.

[terrier3]

On 6/14/2014 garmer said:

Those fines shouldn't have gone back to 99. The statute of limitations should have run out on 15 year old fines. I'm assuming these are summary fines, not felonies.

All of these fines that poor people in PA (in the articles from the state) have been jailed over are summary fines.

Even the judge feels guilt over the situation.

[garmer]

On 6/14/2014 Dagna said:

On 6/14/2014 garmer said:

Here, even though you must call your child off by nine am (phone the school), you still have to turn in a written note when they go back to school, even for one day. After three consecutive days out, you must provide a doctor's excuse to return to school.

I was wondering what if that mother wrote notes that never made it to the teacher. That would be really a shame, to end up dying over that.

None of us know what really happened. We shouldn't be critical of this mom. MO, for what it's worth.

The judge - who apparently had been working with her over the years concerning these fines said that she tried to make her kids go to school, but they didn't.

So I think truancy was, in fact, the issue.

One article said she was overwhelmed and the "kids ruled the roost."

Not a healthy situation for them - or for her.

I don't know what the answer is.

Ok - she shouldn't be blamed. She couldn't make her kids go to school and she didn't have money to pay the fines. So the fines should have been forgiven and her kids truancy should - what - just be ignored?

What should have been done?

I truly don't know what should have been done. Some problems have no easy solution.

[terrier3]

On 6/14/2014 garmer said:

If you can't pay your fine, they lock you up to "work off the fine". So much money per day towards the fine. Same as a parking ticket or other minor infraction. It's not only for truancy. I think without the threat of incarceration many people wouldn't bother to pay.

It's a sad situation for this family but, not unusual (except the death,of course). It costs a lot more to house the "criminal" , a lot more than the amt. of the fine, usually. So the county loses the fine money and the money it costs to keep the inmate.

Doesn't make a lot of sense but, I don't know of any other way to force people to pay what they owe. The threat of being locked up probably makes many people pay up. So, I don't know, in the long run, maybe it is cost effective.

Speaking in general, not specifically about this woman's case.

I think the solution is to use other means to enforce payment - liens of property, revocation of driver's license, deduction from state income tax returns (in states wi. income tax), etc.

There are plenty of ways to collect a debt for these minor (non-felony) offenses, besides locking someone in the slammer.

In this truancy case, the school social worker or truancy officer should have investigated. If the children were at risk, something should have been done to assist the family.

My point is there are TWO kinds of justice in these truancy cases - if people have the money, they pay the fine; if they don't they go to jail.

NEITHER solution addresses the real problem - that the child isn't attending school (due to lack of supervision, bullying, emotional problems, sheer obstinacy - there are a whole list of reasons). The school system needs to find out why the child isn't attending school.

If it is due to a bi-polar mom who can't supervise her kids, they may need to get into the social services system. If it is due to the child drinking or drugging - the child needs counseling and/or hospitalization. If the problem is that the child is afraid & is being bullied - that needs to be addressed.

Either paying a fine OR sending mom to jail - NEITHER will automatically stop the truancy.

[pinkskates4]

On 6/14/2014 terrier3 said:

On 6/14/2014 garmer said:

If you can't pay your fine, they lock you up to "work off the fine". So much money per day towards the fine. Same as a parking ticket or other minor infraction. It's not only for truancy. I think without the threat of incarceration many people wouldn't bother to pay.

It's a sad situation for this family but, not unusual (except the death,of course). It costs a lot more to house the "criminal" , a lot more than the amt. of the fine, usually. So the county loses the fine money and the money it costs to keep the inmate.

Doesn't make a lot of sense but, I don't know of any other way to force people to pay what they owe. The threat of being locked up probably makes many people pay up. So, I don't know, in the long run, maybe it is cost effective.

Speaking in general, not specifically about this woman's case.

I think the solution is to use other means to enforce payment - liens of property, revocation of driver's license, deduction from state income tax returns (in states wi. income tax), etc.

There are plenty of ways to collect a debt for these minor (non-felony) offenses, besides locking someone in the slammer.

In this truancy case, the school social worker or truancy officer should have investigated. If the children were at risk, something should have been done to assist the family.

So then it really was the school's responsibility to help the family resolve the truancy issue?

[kittymomNC]

Well, it looks like someone took down some posts, wonder why? I don't know who you were, but I will still reply.

I'm not ye*lling, I'm sc*reaming, can't you tell? People refuse to educate themselves about mental illness, and it makes me mad. Is that okay with you? That's how I feel, and I'm certainly entitled to express my feelings on this forum.

I said nothing about anyone being uneducated - many very well educated people don't have a clue about mental illness, and you know exactly how I mean that. I also think I'm being much more rational than a person who says because I defend this mother (and I defended the children too), I 'have their blo*od on my hands' - that's a little far-fetched.

It's also a little far-fetched to impune the education system in NC - and no, I did not get my education here. However, if I had, I would be very proud to have gone to Duke University, the University of North Carolina, or North Carolina State. Where did you get your education?

[terrier3]

On 6/14/2014 Dagna said:

On 6/14/2014 terrier3 said:

On 6/14/2014 garmer said:

If you can't pay your fine, they lock you up to "work off the fine". So much money per day towards the fine. Same as a parking ticket or other minor infraction. It's not only for truancy. I think without the threat of incarceration many people wouldn't bother to pay.

It's a sad situation for this family but, not unusual (except the death,of course). It costs a lot more to house the "criminal" , a lot more than the amt. of the fine, usually. So the county loses the fine money and the money it costs to keep the inmate.

Doesn't make a lot of sense but, I don't know of any other way to force people to pay what they owe. The threat of being locked up probably makes many people pay up. So, I don't know, in the long run, maybe it is cost effective.

Speaking in general, not specifically about this woman's case.

I think the solution is to use other means to enforce payment - liens of property, revocation of driver's license, deduction from state income tax returns (in states wi. income tax), etc.

There are plenty of ways to collect a debt for these minor (non-felony) offenses, besides locking someone in the slammer.

In this truancy case, the school social worker or truancy officer should have investigated. If the children were at risk, something should have been done to assist the family.

So then it really was the school's responsibility to help the family resolve the truancy issue?

Absolutely...that's what school social workers are there for...to assist children with problems that are affecting their learning.

[Shorty2U]

Thanks for the replies I was curious as to what people thought. Politicians are trying to push a Bill in her name to change this law.

And yes her husband died in 2011. Maybe life was better before he died? I also think (not sure) that the 7 children may have been from 2 marriages. All I know is the neighbors interviewed claim this woman was a nice friendly woman whose kids were her life.

Its my opinion they should have gone to school and respected their mom. However I don't know their upbringing and what went on in their home. I only know what I read online via my old hometown news/newspaper.

But I stand by my thinking that the children who ""skipped"" school should have been punished in some way. Well now they will forever live with what happened to their mom. Sad but true.