Poll: Ohio mom jailed for sending kids to a better school district. Your thoughts?

[silver wolf009]

Being an Ohio resident, I actually went through public, private, and home schooling, at various times through my elementary and high school levels, and I assure you, the public schools were by far the worst.

I went to a school which will remain nameless, that was, Statewide, in the 96th percentile, so it was a pretty damn good school. But when I asked to be allowed to graduate early so I could go on tour with a band professionally, my guidance councilor said, and I quote "I don't give a damn about what you want. You're not graduating early." Congratulations on killing a dream.

This was also after I was held back a year because through my two years of homeschooling I had worked my ass off and gotten a year ahead. They said it would be better if I repeated a grade to be with people exactly the same age, and not one whole year older than me, because it would make such a huge difference. I fail to see the logic in stunting a child's educational growth because they would be with other students upwards of 365 days older.

Also, I had to throw a total ***** fit for them to give me my diploma with honors, because I deserved it, but they didn't want to give it to me, because the vice principal knew my father, and held a grudge for thirty years. It's petty and pathetic, but it's the cold truth.

And this is one of the top 5% schools in the state. I don't blame her for trying to get out of something worse than that.

Sorry for a rant, but there has to be a better system. Ever since the public schooling system has been in effect, literacy rates have dropped, and we have gone from turning out some of the best and brightest, to falling hard. Problem is, legislators don't try and fix the problem, they just shovel money at it and double down.

Sucks man. I just hope that you got it all worked out in the end. And by any chance is that avatar from Repo! The Genetic Opera?

OT: While what she did, I felt, was justified, she broke the law. Such a thing needs punishment. I just hope that sometime in the future stupid laws can be repealed.

EDIT:

yea, here in canada our schools are funded federally, and they don't give a damn where you send your kids. as long as you can get'em there on time, they're fine with it.

The sad thing is that here in the US, they are fedearlly funded to. But you still have to obey the district laws for the district your in.

 

[Sendura]

All these school think about is money. If only money wasn't so important. Sure, she cheated the school out of their money, but I probably would have done the same for my kids.

 

[Axzarious]

Well, I can see a general problem of being morally wrong in a way. Somebody mentioned a voucher system... Well, if she is able to pay for her kids to attend a better school, and then lies about others, she is essentially having other people pay for her kids to go to school. Its kinda like stealing in a way. Then again, this is based off a few comments that I read saying how the taxes in certian areas work. Not sure how things work down in the US.

 

[superbatranger]

I also thought it was really weird that she went to jail for this. I think it's a punishment more severe than it should be (probably her lawyer was pretty bad), and now that you mentioned it, making some people an example by punishing them harder than the usual really seems to be a very bad idea. Now the prosecutor and the school have made more damage than she would have done if her kids have continued studying in that school, don't you agree?

How crippling do you think the crime-appropriate fine would have been? Or work-avoiding community service? Jail was probably the ideal situation for her.

OT: People may not like it, but she was wrong on all fronts. Wanting your child to get a better education does not justify fraud, and that idea en masse is only detrimental.

This is true. Although, I do believe she was right in wanting the best for her children. Yet, her methods of achieving that were simply wrong. She should have found a way to get her children to a better school legally.

 

[Legion]

Why didn't she just move house? Inconvenient, but if she wanted them to go to a better school that badly then it's a lot better (and smarter) than lying to the school and falsifying paperwork.

She deserves to still spend the ten days in jail but I still feel bad for her because that law sounds stupid and pointless.

Can someone tell me the point of the law?

If anyone could go to any school then the best ones would be packed with people from all over the place wanting the best, forcing local people for whom the decent school is closest to have to go elsewhere. Which isn't exactly fair seeing as they live closer. It'd be even more unfair if the closest school after the best ones were very far away.

 

[Xanian]

So basically we spend God knows how much in legal fees and the cost of jailing her to recoup 30,000 they wouldn't have gotten anyways.

Oh America...my home...why do you do such silly things?

 

[Halceon]

Of course she is justified. A law that restricts people's chances of education is as shitheaded as it gets.

There was a mention of tax money being spent on the wrong district. That just shows that there are serious problems in education funding. Over here we have a system where the budget money for a child's education goes to the municipality in which the child goes to school. Nobody cares where the child lives or where the mother lives, as long as the child gets to school on time every day. There is, of course, talk of money flowing from municipality to the other, but our system forces the schools to become better, to attract more kids. What I can gather about your system is that it motivates stagnation and punishes anyone who would stand against it.

The faking documents part, I can't really comment on that, I don't know the intricacies. However, wouldn't it be possible for the woman to legally claim she is living with her father and only resides at her current home part-time?

 

[SirDeadly]

I don't know what the hell is up with the US and school districts. Down here you can send your child to whatever school you want, some over an hour away! From what I gather, you guys and your schooling methods are completely insane!

 

[Bobbity]

It's a tricky one. I'd be inclined to make an exception for her, but then you'd be encouraging others to do the same. The best solution would be to improve the quality of education in the woman's actual district, but that's a difficult and long term approach. Perhaps the school could have confronted her, and possibly reprimanded her in public, while secretly allowing her to continue. One student more or less in a class doesn't cost the school any more, and they could do it out of kindness if they'd really wanted to.

It's a damned difficult situation though, and I'm not sure anyone can be reprimanded for acting in the ways that they did.

 

[InfiniteSingularity]

Well fair enough. What's wrong with jumping districts? If the government puts a shit school in one district and a good one in another, you're going to get district-jumpers. Why can't both schools be equal of standard, so you can still get the best standard of education no matter where you live? What's the point of refusing one district a good education while granting their next-door neighbour one? Where's the gain? There is a thing called equal opportunity which is supposed to be embraced in 'democracies' like the US. Now if that is the case, why is an equal opportunity for good education being denied to this family? I know you're supposed to campaign to change the law, but what if a) they take 10 years to "process your request" or some shit (which they probably will) or b) ignore it and say you're wrong. What then? Are you just going to go along with sending your kids to a shit school? Because "the law" tells you to? That's bullshit

And yeah, I'm a little worked up, because it's shit like this that makes me angry at society

I agree that both schools should be raised to a certain standard. Schools get money by having a certain amount of attendance however. They also get money from the Taxes of the people in the district they operate. That was a point made in the article. If she sends to another district, she is basically getting a better school her taxes haven't gone towards.

Now, I think the whole education system could use an overhaul, but I think this is much more a nuts and bolts disagreement here. There is no major tragedy that she was avoiding. She broke a very minor law (sending to a different district) and then to cover that up, broke a larger law (Additional lying to the government). The original part there is a fairly minor thing, but it gets kinda out of hand When she tries to cover it up.

Anyhow, I think she should not have done what she did, and think that working with the system to make a better one is the right course of action, except in extreme cases.

Except when the system doesn't listen to you

 

[Jfswift]

Whether she's justified or not is beside the point. Why isn't anything being done about her own school district. It must not be that good if she went to that extreme. I mean to me, the whole situation seems like slapping a bandage on the wound and ignoring the infection.

 

[Angela Orr]

Why Jail her just expell the kids from the school..there are other avenues she could have taken . Here in SC you kids do not have to go to the school as to which district they live in. You have the option of picking the district school they attend

 

[Silvance]

The full story makes you want to sympathize with her more. The urban district she's suppose to send her kids to made 7 out of 26 marks and had a graduation rate of 70%. The school she sent her kids to had 26 out of 26 marks and a 97% graduation rate. Also, her ex-husband lives in the district where the good school is and has joint custody of the children, which you would think makes it legal. She didn't really "forge" or lie on documents, she simply listed all of her ex-husbands information, and as the kids live there half the time, that doesn't really seem like it'd be illegal.

 

[Artina89]

No, I don't think she's justified in doing this. Yes, she has a responsibility to provide for her children, but so does everyone else. What makes her children in particular so special that she should be able to send them to a better school while everyone else simply has to send theirs to their local school? My mother is a teacher and one of the things that really gets up her nose is the endless wave of parents demanding special treatment for their kids- every parent who does this is inconveniencing another parent and child, often one who actually NEEDS special treatment. So while I think jail is a bit over-the-top, I really have precious little sympathy with her reasoning.

I was thinking the same thing as well.
The high school I attended wasn't great. In fact, it was one of the worst schools where I live, but I studied and I am now at university. I am a big believer that if you are willing to work hard, you can make anything work. There was no need to break the law IMO

 

[Jodah]

Justified? Yea, probably. Should she be punished? Absolutely. Whether or not a law is right or wrong does not dictate whether it should be followed or not. There are many laws I do not agree with but if I break one of them and get caught, I expect to be punished. It may lead to me trying to change the law in the future but that does not excuse past crimes.

For the will to abide to the laws to be so strong that even when they fail you follow them, there should be a better reason aside from "the book says so". Seriously, how much they paid you?

Read the rest of the thread and then come back. You will see your opinion is in the minority. When a law is made everyone is expected to follow it. If it is immoral and someone breaks it they will still be punished, as they should be. This may end up causing the law to be changed but this does not give one permission to break the law.

If the criteria for whether a law should be followed or not becomes morality then we will have anarchy. There are a great many people that think it is morally justified to kill abortion doctors. Would it be okay with you if nobody got punished for doing that?

As I (and many others in this thread) have said she was justified. However, she still broke the law whether you agree with it or not. That means she should be punished and anyone else who does the same thing should be punished until the law is changed or removed.

 

[Raregolddragon]

I see this as no different than getting in trouble for filling false Tax papers, sorry she gos to jail, She should have just moved to the better district.