I’m at an impasse with the courts and the school system. We concluded permanent orders on January 6, the judge ignored the educational neglect from mom, the only thing they said is ‘Do better mom’ and excused my oldest son missing 91 classes the first semester and a 1.0 GPA. The only class he passed was a music class which all he has to do is show up and he gets an A. My two younger children are in Pre-K and Kindergarten, they are also missing about as much school, over 10% every semester. The school system doesn’t have truancy court, the state does but the school district does nothing to stop the behavior. I’m absolutely baffled how the court believes Mom is a fit parent when she is unable to do the very basic thing of getting the kids to school on time. They aren’t a few minutes late, they are north of 30-40 minutes late on an almost daily basis. If they aren’t late she calls them out for fake illness which just so happens to fall on her not work from home days. Basically, she calls them out so she doesn’t have to wake up early. How do I protect my children from this? The schools complain and say it’s a major problem but refuse to involve anyone to punish mom. I’ve told them, if you want the behavior to stop you need to do something because I’ve tried and failed and the family courts don’t care.
I think that with such few options to get her to stop, your best bet is to work on trying to make sure they get to school and don’t fall behind/have missing work. Offer to get them there in the mornings and hire a tutor during your time with them. Get in contact with their teachers and request as much make-up work as they’ll allow.
The school only reports the absence, the county enforces it. Go to the county office and demand to know why mom hasn’t got a letter and at this point been summoned to court. What are compulsory grades in your state? In PA, Kindergarten and below are optional and attendance records don’t count.
They don’t report the absence, they have always told me since COVID they don’t enforce it with the court. I knew that was off and confirmed it tonight. It’s the same here, Kindergarten and Pre-K aren’t mandatory however it shows a pattern. The children’s therapist says it absolutely does matter being habitually tardy because they are being induced with stress and anxiety at a young age and impacts them long term. Mom chose to enroll them in Pre-K and Kindergarten, she did it to block my ability to have visitation during the week. She has an obligation to actually follow through and put the work in to get them there on time or at all.
Speak to someone in your county or state’s truancy office. They may have some options since truancy can actually land a parent in jail.
I think that is the next logical step. The children’s therapist is in agreement with doing it. She should be in jail, I’ve never seen a school district fail so poorly. Friday was the first time a teacher called me about the problems.
How many classes per day are there? How many actual days were missed? There are laws that apply to educational neglect, but those come into play mostly in dependency and neglect matters. That’s not to say that the court didn’t (or shouldn’t) factor attendance into a custodial matter, but depending on how many days were missed and what grade your son is, it could amount to something bigger.
@Isan
Here’s the numbers for my oldest: 8 classes including advisory, 28 days of school, 69 missed classes and 26 tardies, 224 classes of school so far. So around 30.8% of missed classes in 28 days. Every single day of school the number grows. Right now he has all F’s, he had an A in Jazz but that was just updated to an F. Last semester he had 91 missed classes and 33 tardies. He’s definitely on pace to double that this semester.
You need a lawyer and a court order that they must attend. If they don’t contempt.
I mean, I had a lawyer. When there’s a bias in the judge you might as well not show up. I was hoping it wasn’t the case but I was wrong. This judge wouldn’t find her in contempt for 13 months of withholding my son, I doubt they will do anything about the school attendance.
Unfortunately, all you can do is keep a track of the children’s scholastic records and attendance and seek a modification in a few months. However, you may need to consider moving closer so the children won’t have to switch school.
That was my plan, the children are in school in another district, they don’t have any friends and don’t socialize outside of school with anyone because they live about 30 minutes from the school. I don’t think even 50/50 during school would do much because I’m fighting an uphill battle. How can I ensure the children even do homework on Mom’s time when she has never done it?