Tyrone N. Butts
APE Reporter
16
Student's truancy puts mom in court
MOUNT DORA -- Unique Jones missed more than 100 days of school last year and had to repeat kindergarten.
Now the 7-year-old is close to 100 absences this year.
Lake County school officials, frustrated they have been unable to keep the child in class, have taken the case to court -- four times.
On Friday a circuit judge will consider putting the child's mother in jail for failing to follow his order to have her daughter in school.
"There isn't anybody he
re eager to put incarceration on anyone," said Jay Marshall, director of student services for Lake schools. He said the district has exhausted all
alternatives.
"We want the child in school."
Unique had 111 unexcused absences from Triangle Elementary last school year. That's nearly two-thirds of the 180 days in the school term.
Jaquisa Luke blamed her daughter's absences on sickle cell anemia. She said she and Unique both suffer from the inherited blood disorder that causes pain and weakness. Most times, Luke said, she was too sick to take Unique to school, and other times Unique didn't feel well enough to go.
But to avoid the maximum penalty of six months in jail, Luke will have to explain to Circuit Judge Willard Pope why she did not follow a plan to have a neighbor transport the child to and from school.
Even if a parent is ill, the child is still required to attend class
, school officials said.
In addition, Luke could have submitted -- but didn't -- medical paperwork that would have made it possible for Unique to be taught at home. Luke said that many
times Unique felt too weak to go to school but not bad enough to see a doctor. So there was no paperwork.
This is the first time in Lake County such a case has led to a criminal contempt-of-court proceeding, Marshall said. But parents of truant students have been prosecuted in several Florida counties, including Orange, Seminole and Osceola.
However, parents generally receive probation.
"I don't think we have actually sent anybody to jail yet," said Ned Julian, School Board attorney for Seminole County. "Usually by the time parents meet with the prosecutor and feel the hot breath of the law on their neck, they send the kids to school. The goal is not to put the parents into jail. The goal is to get the children to school."
In the past six weeks, 11 parents were arrested in Detroit, four in New Mexico and 19 in Knox County, Tenn., as part of a get-tough approach to truancy, according to news reports.
In Florida, failure to send a child to school is a second-degree misde
meanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.
Luke does not face the misdemeanor charge. Prosecutors in the state attorney's office say that approach takes longer than seeking a judge's order.
Typically, schools try to handle truancy cases without involving prosecutors, sending letters to parents and seeking the help of social workers and social-service agencies.
Marshall said all those steps were taken for Unique, starting with letters urging Luke to enroll her in school in the 2003-04 school year. Florida law requires children ages 6 to 16 to attend school regularly. Unique turned 6 in January 2004.
If a child misses 10 or more days in a semester, the school can ask for a statement from
the child's physician verifying that an illness caused the excessive absences. Those absences are then excused.
In Unique's case, Marshall said, "We have not received any documentation from a physician regarding her absences."
Luke said that's because most of the a
bsences were because of her illness, not Unique's.
"She only gets sick sometimes, but not as much as I do," Luke said. "When I was younger, I didn't get sick as much either. The older you get, the harder it gets."
Dorothy C. Moore, a physician with the Maryland-based Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, said the disease affects each person differently.
"Some have a rough time with it as a child and then get better as they get older," she said. "Others have no problems as a child and then get worse as they get older. It really varies from person to person."
Luke said that while she was ill for much of 2003-04
, she relied on a relative to take Unique to school, but the relative failed to do so.
"I didn't go to school because Mommy was sick," Unique said last week at their Mount Dora apartment.
Unique was declared a habitual truant on Oct. 26, 2004.
After that, a judge twice ordered Luke to make sure Unique attends school every day and to provide reliable tra
nsportation.
The school social worker and guidance counselor made arrangements for the child to be picked up and taken home by a neighbor who also has children at Triangle Elementary. Luke agreed to the arrangement.
"However, Ms. Luke is still not able to have [Unique] ready on time for the neighbor each morning," reads the Feb. 23 truancy petition.
Since Luke's last court appearance Jan. 18, Unique has accumulated five more unexcused absences.
School officials are hoping the threat of jail time will make a difference.
"I never thought it would go this far,"
said Luke, a single mother of three who does not work and lives on disability income. Her other children are 1 and 3 and don't have sickle cell anemia. Other family members help her care for the children.
If she is sent to jail, the children could be sent to live with relatives or foster parents.
Luke said she takes Unique's absences seriously. She said she wants the best for her daughter and hopes the judge will see that w
hen she talks to him.
"I think education is very important," she said. "I want her to grow up and get an education. I do care, and I know she needs to be there."
**********
What a perfect disease for niggers. You can be sick when you wanna be and be well when you wanna be.
T.N.B.
Student's truancy puts mom in court
MOUNT DORA -- Unique Jones missed more than 100 days of school last year and had to repeat kindergarten.
Now the 7-year-old is close to 100 absences this year.
Lake County school officials, frustrated they have been unable to keep the child in class, have taken the case to court -- four times.
On Friday a circuit judge will consider putting the child's mother in jail for failing to follow his order to have her daughter in school.
"There isn't anybody he
re eager to put incarceration on anyone," said Jay Marshall, director of student services for Lake schools. He said the district has exhausted all
alternatives.
"We want the child in school."
Unique had 111 unexcused absences from Triangle Elementary last school year. That's nearly two-thirds of the 180 days in the school term.
Jaquisa Luke blamed her daughter's absences on sickle cell anemia. She said she and Unique both suffer from the inherited blood disorder that causes pain and weakness. Most times, Luke said, she was too sick to take Unique to school, and other times Unique didn't feel well enough to go.
But to avoid the maximum penalty of six months in jail, Luke will have to explain to Circuit Judge Willard Pope why she did not follow a plan to have a neighbor transport the child to and from school.
Even if a parent is ill, the child is still required to attend class
, school officials said.
In addition, Luke could have submitted -- but didn't -- medical paperwork that would have made it possible for Unique to be taught at home. Luke said that many
times Unique felt too weak to go to school but not bad enough to see a doctor. So there was no paperwork.
This is the first time in Lake County such a case has led to a criminal contempt-of-court proceeding, Marshall said. But parents of truant students have been prosecuted in several Florida counties, including Orange, Seminole and Osceola.
However, parents generally receive probation.
"I don't think we have actually sent anybody to jail yet," said Ned Julian, School Board attorney for Seminole County. "Usually by the time parents meet with the prosecutor and feel the hot breath of the law on their neck, they send the kids to school. The goal is not to put the parents into jail. The goal is to get the children to school."
In the past six weeks, 11 parents were arrested in Detroit, four in New Mexico and 19 in Knox County, Tenn., as part of a get-tough approach to truancy, according to news reports.
In Florida, failure to send a child to school is a second-degree misde
meanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.
Luke does not face the misdemeanor charge. Prosecutors in the state attorney's office say that approach takes longer than seeking a judge's order.
Typically, schools try to handle truancy cases without involving prosecutors, sending letters to parents and seeking the help of social workers and social-service agencies.
Marshall said all those steps were taken for Unique, starting with letters urging Luke to enroll her in school in the 2003-04 school year. Florida law requires children ages 6 to 16 to attend school regularly. Unique turned 6 in January 2004.
If a child misses 10 or more days in a semester, the school can ask for a statement from
the child's physician verifying that an illness caused the excessive absences. Those absences are then excused.
In Unique's case, Marshall said, "We have not received any documentation from a physician regarding her absences."
Luke said that's because most of the a
bsences were because of her illness, not Unique's.
"She only gets sick sometimes, but not as much as I do," Luke said. "When I was younger, I didn't get sick as much either. The older you get, the harder it gets."
Dorothy C. Moore, a physician with the Maryland-based Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, said the disease affects each person differently.
"Some have a rough time with it as a child and then get better as they get older," she said. "Others have no problems as a child and then get worse as they get older. It really varies from person to person."
Luke said that while she was ill for much of 2003-04
, she relied on a relative to take Unique to school, but the relative failed to do so.
"I didn't go to school because Mommy was sick," Unique said last week at their Mount Dora apartment.
Unique was declared a habitual truant on Oct. 26, 2004.
After that, a judge twice ordered Luke to make sure Unique attends school every day and to provide reliable tra
nsportation.
The school social worker and guidance counselor made arrangements for the child to be picked up and taken home by a neighbor who also has children at Triangle Elementary. Luke agreed to the arrangement.
"However, Ms. Luke is still not able to have [Unique] ready on time for the neighbor each morning," reads the Feb. 23 truancy petition.
Since Luke's last court appearance Jan. 18, Unique has accumulated five more unexcused absences.
School officials are hoping the threat of jail time will make a difference.
"I never thought it would go this far,"
said Luke, a single mother of three who does not work and lives on disability income. Her other children are 1 and 3 and don't have sickle cell anemia. Other family members help her care for the children.
If she is sent to jail, the children could be sent to live with relatives or foster parents.
Luke said she takes Unique's absences seriously. She said she wants the best for her daughter and hopes the judge will see that w
hen she talks to him.
"I think education is very important," she said. "I want her to grow up and get an education. I do care, and I know she needs to be there."
**********
What a perfect disease for niggers. You can be sick when you wanna be and be well when you wanna be.
T.N.B.