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08-17-2023, 08:18 PM
State Supreme Court upholds schools' discretion to decide what 'reasonable' attendance means
A quarter of the state's students attend less than 90 per cent of the time
More parents can expect to be jailed if their children miss school after a court upheld prison terms for two mothers whose young children missed just two weeks over the course of a year.
Mothers Tamarae LaRue and Caitlyn Williams from Lebanon, Missouri, were put behind bars for not ensuring ‘regular’ attendance by their six and seven-year-old children.
And their appeal was dismissed on Tuesday by the Missouri Supreme Court which insisted that the state did not have to define what 'regular' means.
‘No Missouri parent would conclude attendance “on a regular basis” means anything less than having their child go to school on those days the school is in session,’ Supreme Court Judge Robin Ransom declared.
The moms from Leclade County were prosecuted by the Lebanon II School District which demands an attendance rate of at least 90 per cent.
Tamarae LaRue was sentenced to 13 days behind bars when attendance by one of her four sons dropped below what the school deemed acceptable
LaRue, 32, was sentenced to 13 days after her son missed 15 days of first grade, while Williams was jailed for seven days after her daughter missed 16 days of kindergarten.
Williams alerted staff on some occasions including dentist appointments, a bad cough and a dose of ringworm, and LaRue, a mother of three other boys also notified her son’s school of some absences due to illness.
But she began having panic attacks and fearing she was being picked on in a state where almost a quarter of students attended school less than 90 per cent in 2021/22.
‘I was busting my tail trying to make sure they had all the proof they need—all the doctor’s notes they need—calling them while at the eye doctor,’ LaRue told the Wall Street Journal from the gas station where she works.
Nearly 600 charges have been filed by state officials for violations of Missouri’s compulsory-education law in the last five years.
Steve Jackson, the judge who jailed Williams in June 2022 admitted the law was a mess and said he hoped she would appeal.
'It is absolutely a horrible statute,' he told the court.
But the state's supreme court has left the law untouched, arguing that the mothers had been warned, opening the door to more jail terms for parents.
Esther Elementary School sent Williams a letter in November 2021 after her daughter's sixth unexplained absence, telling her 'the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education states that students should have a 90 per cent or higher attendance percentage'.
The assistant principal reportedly warned that the absences were affecting her daughter's performance, and she was subsequently charged with a 'class C misdemeanor of violating the compulsory attendance law'.
The single mom was convicted by the circuit court which sentenced her to seven days in the Laclede County jail.
LaRue too was written to after six unexplained absences and later sentenced to 15 days jail before her sentence was commuted to two years probation.
'This nonattendance was not excused by any circumstance provided for in the statute,' the court wrote.
'Given the notice provided to each parent and that each parent was in control of their young child, evidence existed to support the inference that each parent knowingly failed to cause their child to attend school on a regular basis.'
'School attendance is crucial for a student’s academic, social and personal development,' said district spokeswoman Jacy Overstreet.
'Our first approach is to work collaboratively with students, their families and our dedicated staff members to identify the underlying reasons for the absences.'
A quarter of the state's students attend less than 90 per cent of the time
More parents can expect to be jailed if their children miss school after a court upheld prison terms for two mothers whose young children missed just two weeks over the course of a year.
Mothers Tamarae LaRue and Caitlyn Williams from Lebanon, Missouri, were put behind bars for not ensuring ‘regular’ attendance by their six and seven-year-old children.
And their appeal was dismissed on Tuesday by the Missouri Supreme Court which insisted that the state did not have to define what 'regular' means.
‘No Missouri parent would conclude attendance “on a regular basis” means anything less than having their child go to school on those days the school is in session,’ Supreme Court Judge Robin Ransom declared.
The moms from Leclade County were prosecuted by the Lebanon II School District which demands an attendance rate of at least 90 per cent.
Tamarae LaRue was sentenced to 13 days behind bars when attendance by one of her four sons dropped below what the school deemed acceptable
LaRue, 32, was sentenced to 13 days after her son missed 15 days of first grade, while Williams was jailed for seven days after her daughter missed 16 days of kindergarten.
Williams alerted staff on some occasions including dentist appointments, a bad cough and a dose of ringworm, and LaRue, a mother of three other boys also notified her son’s school of some absences due to illness.
But she began having panic attacks and fearing she was being picked on in a state where almost a quarter of students attended school less than 90 per cent in 2021/22.
‘I was busting my tail trying to make sure they had all the proof they need—all the doctor’s notes they need—calling them while at the eye doctor,’ LaRue told the Wall Street Journal from the gas station where she works.
Nearly 600 charges have been filed by state officials for violations of Missouri’s compulsory-education law in the last five years.
Steve Jackson, the judge who jailed Williams in June 2022 admitted the law was a mess and said he hoped she would appeal.
'It is absolutely a horrible statute,' he told the court.
But the state's supreme court has left the law untouched, arguing that the mothers had been warned, opening the door to more jail terms for parents.
Esther Elementary School sent Williams a letter in November 2021 after her daughter's sixth unexplained absence, telling her 'the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education states that students should have a 90 per cent or higher attendance percentage'.
The assistant principal reportedly warned that the absences were affecting her daughter's performance, and she was subsequently charged with a 'class C misdemeanor of violating the compulsory attendance law'.
The single mom was convicted by the circuit court which sentenced her to seven days in the Laclede County jail.
LaRue too was written to after six unexplained absences and later sentenced to 15 days jail before her sentence was commuted to two years probation.
'This nonattendance was not excused by any circumstance provided for in the statute,' the court wrote.
'Given the notice provided to each parent and that each parent was in control of their young child, evidence existed to support the inference that each parent knowingly failed to cause their child to attend school on a regular basis.'
'School attendance is crucial for a student’s academic, social and personal development,' said district spokeswoman Jacy Overstreet.
'Our first approach is to work collaboratively with students, their families and our dedicated staff members to identify the underlying reasons for the absences.'