Jail Sentence for Irresponsible Parents
In Baltimore, Maryland, over a dozen parents have been sentenced, some given jail time due to their child missing too many days of school this year.
One mother told reporters that she dropped her teenage son off at the bus stop every day but he never made it on the school bus. She was sentenced to 10 days in jail.
The school district’s truancy office said that less than 1% of students and parents are involved in such cases of truancy. However, they feel it is important to make sure both the parents and students know how important school is.
Hundred’s of parents are cited each year for their child’s truancy. For the parents to be convicted, the students would have had to miss 15 days of school with proof that the parent knew their child was missing school.
Many other states are cracking down on irresponsible parents. California has a new anti-truancy bill. They will fine parents who knowingly allow their child to skip class and the parents can serve up to a year in jail. In Texas, failure to ensure that a child attends school is criminal negligence. This is a class C misdemeanor and carries a fine up to $500. A Michigan prosecutor is trying to pass an ordinance stating that if a parent misses a parent-teacher conference they can be sent to jail for three days.
In most states, parents may be relieved of truancy laws if they have a child with a mental or physical condition that makes attending school impossible.
