Jail for truants' parents?

[Elle]

Detroit Public Schools interim CEO David Adamany has a simple message for parents: Get your kids in school or face going to jail.

 

[kwillia]

First, the school notifies parents, alerting them to their child's absences. If that doesn't work, parents get a notice ordering them to have the child in class the next school day. A third warning is a letter ordering the parents to attend a meeting at the school to discuss the absences.


If the student is still chalking up unexcused absences, the county prosecutor can issue an arrest warrant for the student's parents. A parent could end up with a misdemeanor conviction in Wayne County Circuit Court, with a maximum penalty of up to 90 days in jail and a $50 fine.

"We prosecute as a last resort, and it's only because the parents have been extremely, extremely negligent," said Victoria Pipkin, spokeswoman for Los Angeles County.

I have no problem with this... :shrug:

 

[Club'nBabySeals]

I have no problem with this...

I'm on the fence about this one.


On one hand, I can totally agree that by getting the little hooligans off the street and back into the classroom, it cuts down on the illegal activity (vandalization, gang violence, etc.)...

But on the other, I feel like if the kids don't want to be there, and are forced, they are only going to disrupt the classes, cause trouble, and detract from the education of the students who DO want one. School isn't supposed to be daycare.



You clean up the streets, but at the expense of the good kids who just go to school to learn. It's a rough call.

 

[mAlice]

I do have a problem with it. First, they tell us we can't use corporal punishment to discipline our kids, then when the kids are out of control, they want us to be responsible for their actions. You can't have it both ways.

 

[suzeQ]

I agree with Elaine. I have seen adolescents so out of control that the parents called the law enforcement and asked them to be taken away. They were told that unless the child was at risk of harm to self and others, they couldn't do anything. I guess disrespectful screaming and refusal to go along with family rules is not dangerous enough. Parents who lay a hand on their child, in an attempt to discipline, run the risk of the kids calling Child Protective Services. And you know who gets removed from the home--the parent, not the child. I don't know the answer. And don't tell me prevention, because that doesn't always work, either.

 

[Sharon]

Who will watch the kids and make sure they are in school while the parents are in jail?

 

[suzeQ]

Who will watch the kids and make sure they are in school while the parents are in jail?

There you go! Then they would see how tough the parents have it!

 

[Railroad]

I agree with Elaine, SuzeQ, and Sharon. Our kids were never bad about truancy, but I raised our kids the old-fashioned (and I mean pre- Dr. Spock) way. Socialist Services tried to take our kids twice. It was neither pleasant nor easy to keep it all together while the kids were growing up - with both parents working.

I think it may be appropriate to point out that the PC crowd have not only tied the parents' hands, but they've also tied the teachers' hands - nobody is allowed to get the kids' attention and force them to behave. It seems to me that the children, not the adults, should be getting punished for truancy, even though it still IS the parents' responsibility to control their children.

 

[Vince]

Parents who lay a hand on their child, in an attempt to discipline, run the risk of the kids calling Child Protective Services. And you know who gets removed from the home--the parent, not the child. I don't know the answer. And don't tell me prevention, because that doesn't always work, either.

They tie your hands for disciplining your children and then threaten you with jail if you can't make them do what they're supposed to do. Catch 22. So glad mine are grown.