Truancy Charge Stirs Debate
By BEN GARRETT -- Independent Herald Staff
A Scott High School student, who - within the last year - has given birth to a child a only 16, watched her brother die of cancer and seen her mother suffer from a debilitating illness, has been summoned to Scott County Juvenile Court for truancy after missing several days of school. Now, her mother is speaking out.
"My daughter is being punished for something that is not her fault," says Winfield's Marilyn Green.
Green says she has relied on her daughter for help since being diagnosed with debilitating rheumatoid arthritis. She is currently taking a type of chemotheraphy for her illness, along with what she estimates to be "about 20 other" medications.
"My daughter has had to miss several days (of school) due to having to help me and her child," Green said. "Scott High has not tried to work with her about the absences."
Scott County Director of Schools Mike Davis refuted the allegation that the school is simply ignoring the Greens' problems.
"We are required by statute to require students to be in attendance," Davis said. "Otherwise, due to recent legislation, our school would be classified a 'high priority' school. If there is a legitimate reason (for a student) to miss, we're going to do whatever we can do. We wish there were some means by which we could accommodate this student."
On Wednesday (Oct. 1), Green and her mother were taken before Sessions Court Judge James L. Cotton, Jr., because of the abscences, which Mrs. Green says total about 17 so far this school year.
"I was so humiliated," Green said of the court appearance. "We stood there in front of a crowded courtroom with people laughing at us when (Judge) Jamie (Cotton) told me that I was an unfit mother and a disgrace. He told my daughter that she needed to get me off her back and break the strings.
"He (Judge Cotton) told me that I was ruining my daughter's life. That reall hurt."
Judge Cotton said that, as a matter of judicial ethics, he cannot comment on a particular juvenile case, but said that any truancy case is a "balancing test for the juvenile judge to weigh the seriousness of the child's circumstances against the need for the child to get a complete and comprehensive education."
The homebound program, he said, does not allow for such an education.
"From a general and broad perspective, I can tell you that the home bound program is a pitifully poor educational substitute for a student who is capable of attending regular school, simply because it provides onl three hours of education per week. In my opinion, home bound instruction is primarily intended for students who are experiencing serious health or personal problems that place their emotional or physical health at risk, or otherwise places great hardship on the student.
"Homebound instruction is not intended to be used by healthy students who are fully able to attend regular school but whose parents want to keep their children at home during regular school hours for hospice care, household chores or the parents' other personal benefit," he said.
Mrs. Green said that she and her daughter were told by the court that if the daughter were not in school the following day (Thursday, October 2), both the daughter and her 14-month-old infant child would be removed from home and placed in state custody.
Green said that, in addition to needing some help with her own condition, the illness prevents her from providing childcare for the infant, leaving the burdens on her daughter. Divorced from her husband, Green said that her son, John, 19, lost his battle with a type of brain cancer in July 2002, leaving the youngest Green with the sole chore of caring for her mother.
Green's main gripe is with Scott County Schools Attendance Supervisor John Blakely, she said.
"I wrote a letter to Mr. Blakely and he called me on the phone and talked to me like a dog," she said. "He told me, 'I can't excuse your daughter from school to take care of her mommy.'"
Green said that she contacted the Tennessee State Board of Education regarding the matter and was sent documents regarding state attendance policies that could be presented to the school system and juvenile court. She said that both bodies refused to consider the documents.
Indeed, Tennessee Code Annotated, ¤49-6-3002, states, "attendance policies shall be firm but fair so that each child has a reasonable opportunity to meet the minimum attendance requirements. Policies shall accommodate extenuating circumstances created by emergencies over which the student has no control."
Green interprets that, along with Code ¤49-6-3050, concerning homebound education, to mean that her daughter could be allowed to stay home since there are extenuating circumstances at home that require the younger Green's presence. The school system and the court, however, have not agreed with that interpretation.
But, says Green, "this whole thing could have been avoided." When the doctors told her that she would have to begin taking treatment for her illness, she said, "(my daughter) had only missed three days of school. I sent letters to them explaining that she would have to miss a few days of school."
Green said that she has contacted several people within the school system in addition to Blakely. For the most part, she said, she has not received a response.
Meanwhile, she says the issue doesn't lie with her daughter simply wanting to quit school.
"She only lacks six credits to graduate," she said. "She has been an A and B student ever since she started school."
Davis expressed his sympathy with the situation but said the important thing is that the student receive a high school diploma.
"I sympathize with her health conditions but we're talking about something that will affect her (the student) for the rest of her life," he said. "We'll work with her every way we can. But we want her to be in school."
Green said she won't give up easily. She has sent a letter to State Representative Les Winningham and plans to take her case before the Scott County Board of Education at its monthly meeting tonight (Thursday).
"Mr. Blakely is leading my daughter around at school today (October 2) from class to class like she's some kind of criminal," she said.
"She shouldn't be punished because of my health."
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