Honor student thrown in jail and fined

Lord_Sidious

She was left to fend for herself and sister by her parents.

Jack21222

Are you trolling me? What do you call it when a 17 year old and her younger sister are abandoned by their parents and has to work two jobs in addition to go to school to support them?

If that's not one hell of a crack, I don't know what is.

rootX

See the cepheid's post # 12.

Jack21222

That post has nothing to do with my post.

ThomasT

No matter how anybody might want to spin this, the facts are that a high school student was fined and put in jail for missing school. Excuse me, but wtf. Who does that? Who puts kids in jail because they skipped school? Well, apparently Texas does. I can only say thank god that Rick Perry is out of the presidential race. What on earth were Texas legislators thinking when they passed this law? For that matter, were they even thinking? And then there's the judge. What was he thinking (if he was, in fact, thinking)?

Only in America, eh?

leroyjenkens

You're right on the money with that one. Just look at the Trayvon Martin case.
Yeah, you're right. The media failed us again. How about some more thorough investigation? Why is she in that situation to begin with?

edward

This goes much deeper than it appears. In Texas either truants, or their parents may be fined. Many judges in Texas have been using a private company, AIM TRUANT SOLUTIONS to enforce GPS tracking on truants.

http://www.aimtruancy.com/tag/gps/

Hello Mr Orwell.

I do see a problem with using a for profit company to enforce a state law.

Hurkyl

That's why media likes sob stories. It gets people all charged up, which makes for good entertainment. It helps that when people get all emotional, they fail to think critically.

I react badly to such manipulation. When I loaded the CBS article and saw the preview image for the video, I was instantly put into the frame of mind to severely mistrust that the article is a fair representation of the facts.

cepheid

RootX, I wasn't trying to say with that post that the girl was not having to support her younger sister. The article clearly stated that the girl was having to support her younger sister, *in spite* of the fact that said younger sister was living with relatives. All I was trying to say was, "hmm, that doesn't make too much sense. If the younger sister is living with relatives, why don't the relatives look after her, instead of the older sister having to work two jobs to support her, as clearly stated in the article? It seems like this older sister is shouldering an unnecessary burden that her adult relatives should be doing."

I agree with the OP completely, that the situation that this girl, at age 17, finds herself in, is unacceptable. She shouldn't have to take on the responsibility of working two jobs to support two other human beings while also simultaneously attempting to get an education.

rootX

I didn't want to get into details I am not interested in. OP is being bit too emotional about this and it's not worth arguing too much. That's why I referred to your post only to point out that they appear to be living with relatives and are not by themselves.

The articles are of so poor quality that you don't even know:
How parents divorced and left the children for themselves? Is it even legal that parents can abandon their children out of blue? With whom the girl and her sister are living? Who is the legal guardian of the children right now? How well the relatives are supporting the children? How reliable are the details presented in the article?
I doubt this is the complete truth.

Kushwoho44

I'm a bit confused, not American.

How is not attending school a crime 0.0

Borg

It's like countries where attending school is a crime - only different.

Jack21222

Classmates and her employer corroborate the claim.

As to why relatives can't take care of them, it's quite possible they are poor. I don't know about your families growing up, but it wouldn't have been possible for my family to take on any cousins in our trailer. My family was on welfare as it was (at least for a few months). Not everybody has a rich uncle they can live with. That's probably why the siblings got split up.

Of course, I'm just speculating here, but it's no worse than the speculation that they're lying to the media.

AlephZero

Yup, those poeple are obviously independent unbiased witnesses. Case dismissed. [/IRONY]

But I guess those kids must have pretty expensive lifestyles, if it takes TWO jobs to keep them in the manner to which they were accustomed.

edward

It is a crime in Texas.

http://www.ehow.com/info_8776837_cri...aws-texas.html

edward

A number of states have truancy laws.

http://www.google.com/search?q=http%...iw=960&bih=414

Ironically forcing truants to attend school doesn't necessarily mean that they wil be good students.

edward

It appears that mandatory testing under the No Child Left behind act has discouraged many students.

Federal funding for schools under the NCLB also requires strict attendance.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0214080530.htm



In this case all the judge had to do was to look at the girls excellent school performance despite absences. Missing 3 days out of each month never used to be a big deal.

Edit to add link
http://www.ehow.com/info_8776837_cri...aws-texas.html