| Updated: 7/10/2012 9:13 am |
Published: 7/09/2012 5:51 pm
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The Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office filed 38 misdemeanor charges Friday against parents of students who skipped school.
"It's hard for me to understand why you wouldn't send younger children to school, especially for their most basic needs of reading and learning basic math skills,” says mom Missy David.
Now, those parents are being held accountable. If a child is absent 10 days or more without a parental excuse, the school can submit a violation report and then the DA’s office can file a misdemeanor charge against the parent. For the 2011-2012 school year, Hale High School had the most students reported for truancy.
"Basically there are two options, we can do a fine only and that's where the parent pays a fine and that's the last time they are seen in court, but another option we really like to do it to put the parent on a deferred sentence,” says assistant district attorney, Meredith Stanton.
Missy had no idea how serious the consequences could be.
"I certainly would not want to go to jail for not sending my children to school,” she says.
Thankfully, she has no problem getting her two young boys to class during the school year. Four-year old, Alec and six-year old Aiden can’t get enough of their school.
The parents facing misdemeanor charges will now face a judge to determine whether or not they will pay a fine or be put on probation.
In the past 12 months, the DA’s office received 586 reports of students skipping classes from various schools around Green Country. In the majority of the cases, charges were filed.
