Mom Jailed for Sending Kids to Safer Schools

[dlg3000]

Mom Jailed for Sending Kids to Safer Schools

Kelley Williams-Bolar convicted of felony for falsifying records

By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 26, 2011 8:41 AM CST

– Kelley Williams-Bolar tried to send her two daughters to safer schools—and in doing so, she found herself convicted of a felony and sent to prison for 10 days. Williams-Bolar lives in Akron, Ohio, but wanted to send her children to the schools in Copley Township, where her father lives, so she apparently claimed they lived with him. District officials were so suspicious they hired a private detective, who found that the girls lived with Williams-Bolar, although she contends they were all living with and taking care of her ailing father while the girls attended the Copley schools. (Gawker notes that the Copley schools are “whiter” than the Akron schools, and Williams-Bolar is black.)

Though the superintendent acknowledges such cases are typically resolved without a trial, Williams-Bolar was charged with and convicted of falsifying records. She was also charged with grand theft—the school wanted $30,500 in tuition for the two girls—but the jury could not reach a unanimous decision. The judge tells the Akron Beacon Journal that, in spite of multiple pre-trial hearings, “the state would not move, would not budge, and offer Ms. Williams-Bolar to plead to a misdemeanor.” Williams-Bolar's father was also charged with fraud in a separate case involving the Department of Job and Family Services; his case hearing is next month.

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[Cyno]

That'll learn her for trying to get her kids a better education!

[Predator McBroski]

Jan 26, 2011 21:05:03 GMT -5 Cyno said:

That'll learn her for trying to get her kids a better education!

Yeah, she's evil.

[forgottensinpwf]

First the hat guy, now this?

What the f*** is going on?

Yeah, she f***ed up big time, but her heart was in the right place.

[Red Impact]

As much as the title can be spun, she still did commit an act of fraud for it. She wasn't paying taxes for the school district she was sending her students to, and was lying to get them admitted to the district.

Just saying.

[ani]

She forged records. I really have no sympathy for her.

[sryans]

And if she was not punished, it would have encouraged other parents to do the same thing, and while that does not sound like a big deal, it would not have been a good situation.

[BK From WV]

Jan 26, 2011 21:11:00 GMT -5 Red Impact said:

As much as the title can be spun, she still did commit an act of fraud for it. She wasn't paying taxes for the school district she was sending her students to, and was lying to get them admitted to the district.

Just saying.

I agree. I'm all for her trying to get her kids a better education but what she did was illegal.

[Alex Shelley]

This is a really shitty thing about school districts. This is a pretty common thing honestly, at least it was where I grew up where half of my school was attending illegally like this. Everybody knew it was happening, and for the most part people just let it happen. It's something that, even though it is illegal, it's hard not to feel for the people doing it - they're just trying to do what's right for their kids.

[Young Game]

Doing the right thing by doing the wrong thing. This was a real no-win situation.

[Red Impact]

Jan 26, 2011 21:18:50 GMT -5 Alex Shelley said:

This is a really s***ty thing about school districts. This is a pretty common thing honestly, at least it was where I grew up where half of my school was attending illegally like this. Everybody knew it was happening, and for the most part people just let it happen. It's something that, even though it is illegal, it's hard not to feel for the people doing it - they're just trying to do what's right for their kids.

I understand what she was trying to do, and do sympathize... but I don't think this is something that people should really be crying foul for.

The fact that it's being presented that she's being imprisoned for sending her kids to a different school is pure unabashed spin, because that's not the core of it. That's not the law she broke, the law she broke was falsifying documents and maybe even tax fraud.

All this and, really, she probably could have gotten around it. She has a father in the district, so was there some rule against them going to the school if they officially lived with him for the week and her on the weekends? Maybe he would have had to be a legal guardian or something, I don't know the law there, but if it was possible, I'd try to figure a legal way around it before I committed a felony.

[Dave at the Movies]

Stuff like this is why education in the US is failing. I say privatize all the schools and let parents be parents and send their kids to whatever school they choose.

Will that cost money for the parents? Sure but technically you are already being forced to pay for public schools whether you have kids or not.

[76flyingeagles]

[Drillbit Taylor]

Jan 26, 2011 21:40:27 GMT -5 Dave at the Movies said:

Stuff like this is why education in the US is failing. I say privatize all the schools and let parents be parents and send their kids to whatever school they choose.

Will that cost money for the parents? Sure but technically you are already being forced to pay for public schools whether you have kids or not.

What about over crowding? If everyone wants to send thier kids to school A then overcrowding will become a huge issue.

[FinalGwen]

Jan 26, 2011 21:40:27 GMT -5 Dave at the Movies said:

Stuff like this is why education in the US is failing. I say privatize all the schools and let parents be parents and send their kids to whatever school they choose.

Will that cost money for the parents? Sure but technically you are already being forced to pay for public schools whether you have kids or not.

I'm going to have a hard time criticising this without straying beyond the 'no politics' rule. But education should be the concern of a society, not a business out to make money. And without a curriculum, and guidelines, you open yourselves up to numerous problems.

Faith Schools in the UK are serving to segregate people into their own closed communities. Children are being kept from being exposed to new ideas and lifestyles either through lessons or just meeting new classmates from different walks of life, primarily because their parents don't want them questioning anything. Luckily, because the vast majority of schools are state-run, this isn't a large problem, but it is a growing one, and I feel sorry for the kids who are exposed to it.

If all schools were privatised, it'd become a shopping mall of ignorance. Don't like evolution? Pick this school, it's all about Creationism! Think that gays are nasty? Go to this school, we'll explain to your kids why they're evil! Think that English lessons aren't as important as real subjects like maths or science? Pick this school, we don't teach English! Want to learn English, but really, really hate Jane Austen? Pick this one, it doesn't have her books in the library!

Choice is all well and good, but submitting the educational system to the free market is as big a gamble as the financial ones people take on the regular free market, and we all know how that turns out.

[Dr. T is an alien]

I cannot believe that the school went to such lengths. First, while she is not paying taxes in that county, the kids father was, so it is not a matter of money. Still, the school spent the money that hiring a private investigator required just to throw a couple of young, black kids out of their school. I cannot believe that the ACLU has not raised a stink about this, especially since the prosecutor insisted on pressing felony charges knowing full well that such charges, despite the infinitesimally short prison term, will completely ruin her ability to ever make a living in her chosen profession.

Did she do wrong? Technically, but it was not costing the "victim" district any real money. I am a redhead, so I am about as white as one can come, but even I look at this with the most pessimistic view one this. If they had pressed similar felony charges against any white parents that did the same thing, I would be shocked. I think this is an abuse of power as this was deliberate overkill.

[Mr. Emoticon Man, TF Fan]

Woman commits crime; gets punished for it. Shocking.

[Red Impact]

Their father didn't live in the district, it was the mother's father.

And I know this thing is being turned into a race issue, but I'm not going to brand people racists because someone who was legally in the wrong is being prosecuted for it. There's no real technicality about it, she committed fraud, despite her intentions.

[Dave at the Movies]

Jan 26, 2011 21:53:18 GMT -5 Drillbit Taylor said:

Jan 26, 2011 21:40:27 GMT -5 Dave at the Movies said:

Stuff like this is why education in the US is failing. I say privatize all the schools and let parents be parents and send their kids to whatever school they choose.

Will that cost money for the parents? Sure but technically you are already being forced to pay for public schools whether you have kids or not.

What about over crowding? If everyone wants to send thier kids to school A then overcrowding will become a huge issue.

Good point but if a school was private they would not be obligated to let every kid in. I guess you could then say there wouldn't be enough schools for all the kids but I think that is unlikely because if there is a demand for more schools there will be someone willing to make money and will supply more schools. You also have to remember that there will be more parents willing to have their kids home schooled because they won't be tied down with rules from keeping them from doing so.

[Dr. T is an alien]

Jan 26, 2011 22:21:32 GMT -5 Red Impact said:

Their father didn't live in the district, it was the mother's father.

And I know this thing is being turned into a race issue, but I'm not going to brand people racists because someone who was legally in the wrong is being prosecuted for it. There's no real technicality about it, she committed fraud, despite her intentions.

Oh, I don't argue that she did wrong and should have been punished. I just think that the punishment went overboard as a felony charge was overkill. The prosecutor knew that the felony charge, despite the limited prison term, would have destroyed her life entirely. Considering that the prison term was only 10 days, that indicates the act itself is not that severe. She could have served 10 days for misdemeanor charges as well, but according to the judge he recommended such a course but the prosecutor insisted on tagging her with a felony charge knowing that it would be either a lifelong sentence or it would essentially exile her from her home state. That is just cruel.