Honor student jailed and fined for missing school

Petition here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Edit: After having been abandoned by her parents, an 11th grade Texan student works two jobs to support her two siblings. This is on top of taking AP classes. One day, she was too exhausted to go to school and missed class.
The judge sentenced her to a night in jail and a $100 fine, and this will be kept in her file for the rest of her life, thus hindering her chances to get any other jobs or to go to university.

Write it up properly instead of link-dumping like a lazy asshole.

This girl does not belong in jail. Her parents, on the other hand . . .

Khajidu wrote:

The judge sentenced her to a night in jail and a $100 fine, and this will be kept in her file for the rest of her life, thus hindering her chances to get any other jobs or to go to university.

They threw her in jail for a night and fined her $100. A really shitty thing to do, but it's not like they charged her with a felony. She can bounce back from this. However:

Quote :

"A little stay in jail for one night is not a death sentence," Judge Lanny Moriarty said.

Really, judge? Those were your only options? A night in jail or death? Wait, it's Texas. I'm surprised she didn't get the needle after all.

The judge is wrong and lacks compassion. And yes, this sort of thing does stay on a person's record, especially with it splashed all over the Internet.

I have students in similarly tough situations. Knowing those situations, I cut them some slack if they're late to school or exhausted. If someone has all those responsibilities and still manages to do well in school, a few absences or tardies should not be punished.

I do know some students who have gotten into trouble for truancy--the usual punishment here is community service.

A few more facts on the situation: The school allows for 10 unexcused absences in a six-month period. The school may then file in court.

This policy is posted on the school's web page.

The student turned down home school options.

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Do I think this makes it right? Hell, no!

TheTexas truancy code does say this counts as a misdemeanor. Class C, to be exact, which is often considered to be a "fine only" misdemeanor.

I was doing some Googling earlier. I tried to determine whether or not she still qualifies under Texas law as a juvenile, and therefore could not have received the jail sentence, but was having some trouble. Same goes for whether a Class C misdemeanor can ever have jail time.

Probably not 100% reliable, but...according to this, the night in jail was not something that can be done for a Class C misdemeanor.

>mfw Americans clap when people are forced to go to class

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So much for personal freedoms and that fun shit.

ALTERNATE DICK HEAD POST THAT MISSES THE POINT:

Proving once again that women belong in the kitchen, woman tries to leave kitchen, collapses from exhaustion.

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

>mfw Americans clap when people are forced to go to class

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

So much for personal freedoms and that fun shit.

ALTERNATE DICK HEAD POST THAT MISSES THE POINT:

Proving once again that women belong in the kitchen, woman tries to leave kitchen, collapses from exhaustion.

At which point Mikey starves to death, and nothing of value is lost.

I must be in bizarro world, because I thought missing school only affects one's grade, not LANDS THEM IN JAIL. Hell, even a fine seems completely outlandish, what the fuck kind of a system is this?!

Snake Bandage wrote:

I must be in bizarro world, because I thought missing school only affects one's grade, not LANDS THEM IN JAIL. Hell, even a fine seems completely outlandish, what the fuck kind of a system is this?!

This. Where I'm from, when a child skips too much, teachers and headmasters first talk to the parents. And when there's no parents, we have child protection services. We would never allow a teenager to support a whole family on their own, on top of school. We firmly believe children are there to go to school, not work.

Someone in the petition comments mentioned one of the siblings was in college. They're supposed to be an honor student as well, but it's not specified if they work too. I cannot find the commenter's source, however.

Snake Bandage wrote:

I must be in bizarro world, because I thought missing school only affects one's grade, not LANDS THEM IN JAIL. Hell, even a fine seems completely outlandish, what the fuck kind of a system is this?!

Welcome to America, the land of the imprisoned.

Lady Anne wrote:

Snake Bandage wrote:

I must be in bizarro world, because I thought missing school only affects one's grade, not LANDS THEM IN JAIL. Hell, even a fine seems completely outlandish, what the fuck kind of a system is this?!

Welcome to America, the land of the imprisoned.

The weird thing this is not entirely false.

You used to be cool, America. What happened? Why can't we have nice things?

Quote :

We would never allow a teenager to support a whole family on their own, on top of school. We firmly believe children are there to go to school, not work.

Are you suggesting the government should be able to use our taxpayers dollars to help take care of a kid that isn't ours?

What the fuck is wrong with you?

She needs to pull herself up by her bootstraps and deal with it herself. It's a learning experience! It will only make her a stronger person.

Stupid socialist... [/sarcasm]

A woman actually attempting to pay their way through high-school on their own without any parental help? WE CAN'T HAVE HER BEING SMART! IMPRISON HER!

Mr.Doobie wrote:

Quote :

We would never allow a teenager to support a whole family on their own, on top of school. We firmly believe children are there to go to school, not work.

Are you suggesting the government should be able to use our taxpayers dollars to help take care of a kid that isn't ours?

What the fuck is wrong with you?

She needs to pull herself up by her bootstraps and deal with it herself. It's a learning experience! It will only make her a stronger person.

Stupid socialist... [/sarcasm]

lol and the day she commits suicide is the day we lose someone of value for society

which will never get the payback for what it gave her (or not)

Snake Bandage wrote:

I must be in bizarro world, because I thought missing school only affects one's grade, not LANDS THEM IN JAIL. Hell, even a fine seems completely outlandish, what the fuck kind of a system is this?!

You don't understand the concept of Bizzaro World. You see, if in Real World, people get bad grades for missing class, in Bizzaro World, people would get GOOD grades for missing class.

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

Snake Bandage wrote:

I must be in bizarro world, because I thought missing school only affects one's grade, not LANDS THEM IN JAIL. Hell, even a fine seems completely outlandish, what the fuck kind of a system is this?!

You don't understand the concept of Bizzaro World. You see, if in Real World, people get bad grades for missing class, in Bizzaro World, people would get GOOD grades for missing class.

They would get a pay raise for doing horribly on the job too.

Reidmar wrote:

A woman actually attempting to pay their way through high-school on their own without any parental help? WE CAN'T HAVE HER BEING SMART! IMPRISON HER!

dude i lol'd irl

Mr.Doobie wrote:

Quote :

We would never allow a teenager to support a whole family on their own, on top of school. We firmly believe children are there to go to school, not work.

Are you suggesting the government should be able to use our taxpayers dollars to help take care of a kid that isn't ours?

What the fuck is wrong with you?

She needs to pull herself up by her bootstraps and deal with it herself. It's a learning experience! It will only make her a stronger person.

Stupid socialist... [/sarcasm]

The really funny thing is that she seemed to be doing all right in the exact situation you describe, until the government tried to "solve" her problem by punishing her for truancy. Yep, the "socialist" system demanding that all children be present in its state-run schools took up a fucked-up situation and fucked it beyond all recognition.

Pengy wrote:

The really funny thing is that she seemed to be doing all right in the exact situation you describe

...

Quote :

being too emotionally and physically exhausted to go to school.

Oh yeah she was doing fine.

Pengy wrote:

until the government tried to "solve" her problem by punishing her for truancy.

... um....

Pengy wrote:

Yep, the "socialist" system demanding that all children be present in its state-run schools took up a fucked-up situation and fucked it beyond all recognition.

Haha kay....

All right, let's pretend quotation marks can't indicate irony.

I never said it didn't suck. But her absences didn't stop her from being an honor student, or from holding down her jobs; it was only when the short-sighted "somebody think of all the children failing in school because they can play hooky" policies of the local government kicked in, to worsen her situation to the point of FUBAR.

In short, she was doing the "bootstrappy" thing right up until the judge, an official of the local government, decided to make an example of her. For the children.

^
This

We can argue back and forth on whether the government is capable of genuinely helping her or if the government should help her, but no one who ISN'T a colossal moron can defend what the government actually did.

Pengy wrote:

In short, she was doing the "bootstrappy" thing right up until the judge, an official of the local government, decided to make an example of her.

... She was physically and emotionally exhausted to the point where she couldn't go to school.

Yeah, that "bootstrappy thing" was turning out real successful...

Quote :

For the children.

We can guess why he did it all day. I'm guessing it was more out of a Puritanical desire to punish...

But yes. She was wrongfully imprisoned and punished. It sucks. I never disagreed with that. So... yeah...

Mikey wrote:

We can argue back and forth on whether the government is capable of genuinely helping her or if the government should help her, but no one who ISN'T a colossal moron can defend what the government actually did.

Ok.

I was not surprised to find out this happened in a town not far from me. I knew that judge's named sounded familar.
Luckily, she's getting a lot of support around the area.

My nieces missed over a certain number of days of school and have to make them up. They're not doing school stuff, though and I heard a lot of people were forced to make up days.
I get that regular attendence in school is important, but their absences were excused. There were two deaths in the family and the other days they were sick.

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

^
We can argue back and forth on whether the government is capable of genuinely helping her or if the government should help her, but no one who ISN'T a colossal moron can defend what the government actually did.

This isn't something I often say, but I completely agree with Mikey. The good news is that she will mostly likely now have many more offers of assistance, now that this has become very public. And hopefully now someone will track down her POS parents and garnish every check they ever make.