Mom sends kids to better school; gets jailtime for it...

[Jagos]

Link

Kelley Williams-Bolar was convicted of lying about her residency to get her daughters into a better school district.

"It's overwhelming. I'm exhausted," she said. "I did this for them, so there it is. I did this for them."

Williams-Bolar decided four years ago to send her daughters to a highly ranked school in neighboring Copley-Fairlawn School District.

But it wasn't her Akron district of residence, so her children were ineligible to attend school there, even though her father lived within the district's boundaries.

So... If you want to go to a better school, you can face jailtime for it. I can't see a reason why. She has to pay more in gas, she is doing her best to give her children the best she can and yet they jail her for it?

There's all kinds of wrong in this decision...

[Bells]

There is a strawman logic behind it.

Imagine a 3 District zone with 500 kids each, and 5 schools in each for 100 Kids each.

Now, imagine if the grade of the Schools on district 1 and 3 were between 2/10 and 5/10 while the schools on District 2 average around 8/10 and 9/10.

So, ofcourse, you want to send your kids there. Even if you have to expend more money for it... so you do it.

Now, those 5 Schools with a Student Cap of 500 are getting 1500 applicants... 2/3 won't get it. Quite a few FROM that distric. meanwhile, the other schools have vacant seats. You could argue that the District could and should improve it's schoosl... that's the "slow with faith" approach. You could argue that the best schools could expand their classes to take in more students... but that would spread thin their resources, likely to bring down the very same grades that made all these people want to go there in the first place.

So, yeah... complicated.

But i do believe that Jailtime is WAY overkill.

[bluestarultor]

Well, technically, it's not a matter of her wanting her kids in another district being wrong so much as falsifying residency information was. That's really what the question was in this case.

School districts are bound by districts. That's why they call them that. If you're not in the range, you can probably appeal or something, but outright lying about where you live is not the right way to go.

[Jagos]

Blues, that seems like a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation.

I just have to think...

With the judge using her as an example, will this really get the message across or does it seem, at least to me, that this could cause more problems...?

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by Jagos

Blues, that seems like a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation.

I just have to think...

With the judge using her as an example, will this really get the message across or does it seem, at least to me, that this could cause more problems...?

Well, to put it this way, schools WILL let kids in from outside their district. I know this because a friend of mine was "expelled" (student ID still active, no hearing, but the district had enough power that it was easier for him to just give up and leave) and had to seek schooling in another nearby district. All things considered, it wasn't that hard from what I heard from his mother. He just had to find his own way there. The difference is he got registered there legally.

See, from what I'm taking from this, she decided it was easier to forge a ton of documents and keep up a lie about her location than to, y'know, go up and just ask if she could register her kids there even though they were outside the bounds, maybe pay some form of tuition.

[Mr.Bookworm]

Originally Posted by ABC

"I don't think they wanted money ? ," Williams-Bolar said. "They wanted me to be an example."

Presiding Judge Patricia Cosgrove acknowledged as much.

"I felt that some punishment or deterrent was needed for other individuals who might think to defraud the various school districts," Cosgrove said.

What the fuck?

I think a fucking judge should know how the fuck our legal system works.

Because Jesus fucking Christ that is not how it works.

There's a completely rational reason for why this woman was sentenced, even if I sympathize with her motivations, but goddamn.

[Token]

Okay, I went to Copley, so I might as well put my two cents in, and say this isn't unprecedented. Actually, a couple years back, there was a massive student outcry when the school started cracking down on this. They had one of the security guards follow people home if they were suspected of living out of the district. This isn't hearsay, this is an actual gogdamn thing that happened. Combined with the fact that they were offering students money for reporting anyone who lived outside the district, a lot of people, students and teachers alike, were pissed. The thing about Copley is that most of the kids have separated parents, and some of those parents do, in fact, live outside the district. While I understand, vaguely, the motivations behind it, Copley has a history of going about this in underhanded, and honestly shitty ways.

EDIT: I'd like to point out, that regardless of some shittiness on Copley's part, the mother made the right choice. Akron city schools are dangerous, subpar, and honestly, need a complete rehaul, cuz damn. Copley, on the other hand, is consistently well rated, safe, and even though they really need to stop sucking the football team's dick and put more money into the auditorium (or gogforbid finishing the fucking music wing they started at the end of my freshman year, but no, the fucking football team needs new helmets, that'll fix the fact that they're almost as much of a laughing stock as the Browns. Jegus fuck, Copley, less sports, more arts, B-Koch, V-Dank, and Foster would totally fucking appreciate it you useless fucks), and really need to fix their special-ed program (I could rant for so fucking long about how often they have screwed over my brother and I by denying us services required by law, but whatever), they are still infinitely better than Akron. They have some of the most fantastic and personable teachers I have ever met, and the kid will be worse off without them. (Sorry for the tangent. A little loopy from my meds, and this is close to home. Like across the street close to home. But seriously, when I'm rich, I am building that place a new fucking auditorium. And risers that aren't super old. Stupid, arts hating fuckwads.)

[Nikose Tyris]

Some people appear to be viewing this in a "race" light.

[Token]

Originally Posted by Nikose Tyris

Some people appear to be viewing this in a "race" light.

Okay, yeah, that's bullshit. Copley is diverse as fuck, and while it has problems, racism in the schools is not one of them.

[Nikose Tyris]

Originally Posted by Token

Okay, yeah, that's bullshit. Copley is diverse as fuck, and while it has problems, racism in the schools is not one of them.

Preeeeeeeetty much how I felt when I saw the article, but as I'm having to deal with too-far-left friends, I prefer to let someone else point out the discrepancy.