Jail time for sending kids to good school

[Jacob]

A woman is sentenced to jail time for lying about her kid's residence to get them out of a bad/dangerous school. she claimed her father's home as her residence. Good thing they didn't catch her not wearing her seatbelt too.

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.

The school district accused Williams-Bolar of lying about her address, falsifying records and, when confronted, having her father file false court papers to get around the system.

Williams-Bolar said she did it to keep her children safe and that she lived part-time with her dad.

[Indy Coug]

So what was the sentence?

[Jacob]

So what was the sentence?

I read 10 days in jail.

[The_Tick]

And $30,000 in taxes for her children going to the school.

[NorthwestUteFan]

So...What would have happened if she did what Forrest Gump's mother did to get him into the good school?

(Principal, walking out front door, straightening tie: "Your momma sure does care about your education, son!"
Forrest, mimmicing what he just heard: "Unh! Uhh! Uh! Uh!!!")

So 10 days in prison. Was this a misdemeanor or a felony? Will she have that on her record forever? Perhaps she can at least get some publicity and leverage the incident to improve the quality and safety of her local schools.

This poor lady is a poster case FOR school choice and vouchers. It is appalling that a district will care more about maintaining the status quo for the school district than it cares about the ACTUAL quality of the education and safety provided to its CLIENTS, the students and their families.

[marsupial]

A woman is sentenced to jail time for lying about her kid's residence to get them out of a bad/dangerous school. she claimed her father's home as her residence. Good thing they didn't catch her not wearing her seatbelt too.

Was this in Ohio? I wish it was Dayton, because it would have been a great one for the Thanks Dayton thread.

[NorthwestUteFan]

It gets worse. This is from the sentencing judge:

"'Because of the felony conviction, you will not be allowed to get your teaching degree under Ohio law as it stands today. The court's taking into consideration that is also a punishment that you will have to serve.'' - Judge Patricia Cosgrove

This is a HUGE penalty to pay, far in excess of any reasonable punishment or fine IMO.

I dug a little bit deeper on this one. Apparently this was discovered by the school district, and they DID NOT kick her kids out of school. They merely sent her bills for the tuition. She refused to pay them. This went on for quite some time.

During the same time frame the school district discovered an addition ~40 families doing exactly the same thing. They sent out tuition bills to everybody, but Williams-Bolar was the only one to refuse to pay.

Here is a HUGE problem as I see it. When she refused to pay, why ONLY THEN was she prosecuted (for document fraud)? Why did they not prosecute the other 40 families? It seems all the other families commited the same doc fraud crime that she did, but they were not prosecuted because they paid.

Shouldn't the doc fraud law apply equally to everybody? Is not the falsification of a document considered a felony for everybody equally under the law?

Why were the other 40 families' document fraud considered to be a 'debt' when they paid, while hers is prosecuted as a felony?

Does not the law apply equally to all persons?

[NorthwestUteFan]

It is obvious she knowingly broke some laws. It is also interesting that the 'theft of services' charges (for $30,500 worth of tuition) were dropped. It is ironic that Copley-Fairlawn school district is whining about unpaid tuition, while Akron school district was getting funded for her daughters' schooling (to a certain extent) by property taxes paid through her rent.

The school districts in her area have an open enrollment policy, you just have to pay the tuition (~$7,500 per student per year - seriously? the Catholic schools in the area are about the same price, and are orders of magnitude better!). She knew that, but chose to ignore the law.

In a fairer system she should be able to take a tuition credit from her district to move her kids to a better/safer district.

This is the reason people who live in bad school districts should be the most outspoken proponents of school vouchers and public school choice.

[wuapinmon]

oxcoug, you should tell your brother about this; it seems right up his alley.

[Jacob]

This is the reason people who live in bad school districts should be the most outspoken proponents of school vouchers and public school choice.

The people making the laws don't live in those bad school districts, and the people who do are voting for the opponents of choice anyway, so why bother?

[Sullyute]

The people making the laws don't live in those bad school districts, and the people who do are voting for the opponents of choice anyway, so why bother?

An interesting and ironic observation. So is _____ (insert your race, culture, economic status) flight the only answer?

I would be interested in Robin's take on this, since in lives in south central LA. Does little Robin go to private school? Does you see any way to change the education disparity between rich and poor school areas? Does bussing intercity kids for an hour each way work? Any ideas?

[creekster]

An interesting and ironic observation. So is _____ (insert your race, culture, economic status) flight the only answer?

I would be interested in Robin's take on this, since in lives in south central LA. Does little Robin go to private school? Does you see any way to change the education disparity between rich and poor school areas? Does bussing intercity kids for an hour each way work? Any ideas?

I think Robin moved to Westwood.

[Uncle Ted]

What is the big deal? In Texas I hear about people renting apartments that are their "primary residence" in other school districts so their kid can go to a different school all the time all. The reason usually, however, isn't for the academics but rather for the football program.

[RobinFinderson]

An interesting and ironic observation. So is _____ (insert your race, culture, economic status) flight the only answer?

I would be interested in Robin's take on this, since in lives in south central LA. Does little Robin go to private school? Does you see any way to change the education disparity between rich and poor school areas? Does bussing intercity kids for an hour each way work? Any ideas?

Creekster is right. We moved to Westwood so that LR could walk to school. In our case the move was only necessary as a convenience, because LR had tested into the school's IHP program, and thus could have shuttled in from any part of the city. But neither of us were interested in dropping him off and picking him up every day, so now he is a classic latchkey kid.

As for my feelings in general on the subject, I am a supporter of school choice, but I am also a strong believer that any public schools can be fixed with enough money (and the right approach). School's in poor neighborhoods are definitely much worse than schools in wealthier neighborhoods, and no amount of good parenting is going to make up for six years of lost opportunity at an inferior school. If a child's parents are willing to make the sacrifice to bring a kid to an affluent school, the child should be accommodated. If this means that the school has to buy bungalows and fill in the teachers' parking lot, then so be it, so long as both bussed and local students are mixed together evenly.

[Jacob]

What is the big deal? In Texas I hear about people renting apartments that are their "primary residence" in other school districts so their kid can go to a different school all the time all. The reason usually, however, isn't for the academics but rather for the football program.

Same with Provo and basketball:

See the Collinsworths, the Wesleys