Can parents be jailed for a child's truancy? Missouri moms get jail time as their children fail to attend school on 'a regular basis'
LEBANON, MISSOURI: A Missouri court has senenced two mothers whose young children skipped only two weeks of school over the course of a year. Reports suggest that more parents can be jailed if their children miss school.
Tamarae LaRue and Caitlyn Williams from Lebanon, Missouri, were imprisoned for failing to make sure that their six and seven-year-old children attended school on a regular basis. And on Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court rejected their appeal, stating that the state was exempt from having to define what "regular" means.
"No Missouri parent would conclude attendance 'on a regular basis' means anything less than having their child go to school on those days the school is in session," Missouri Supreme Court Judge Robin Ransom ruled, Daily Mail reports.
This raises the question of whether parents can face jail time for their child skipping school.
Can parents be jailed for a child's truancy?
The Lebanon II School District, which enforces a minimum attendance rate of 90%, brought the charges against the mothers from Leclade County. LaRue, 32, received a 13-day term after her son missed 15 days of first grade, while Williams, whose daughter missed 16 days of kindergarten, received a seven-day jail term.
Williams occasionally informed staff of absences due to illness, such as dental visits, a nasty cough, and a dose of ringworm. LaRue, a mother of three other boys, also occasionally informed staff of absences due to illness.
However, she started experiencing panic attacks and worried that she was being targeted in a place where, in 2021–2022, roughly a quarter of children attended school at less than a 90% rate.
"I was busting my tail trying to make sure they had all the proof they need—all the doctor’s notes they need—calling them while at the eye doctor," LaRue told the Wall Street Journal from the gas station where is employed.
Is truancy illegal in Missouri?
A violation of the compulsory attendance law is classified as a class C misdemeanor, as per dese.mo.gov. State officials have alleged violations of Missouri's legislation requiring compulsory education in over 600 cases over the last five years.
The judge who imprisoned Williams in June 2022, Steve Jackson, acknowledged that the statute was confusing and expressed his hope that she would file an appeal. "It is absolutely a horrible statute," he said to the court.
However, the state's Supreme Court upheld the statute, claiming that the mothers had received warnings, potentially subjecting parents to additional jail time.
In November 2021, Esther Elementary School informed Williams in a letter that "the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education states that students should have a 90% or higher attendance percentage." This was in response to her daughter's sixth unannounced absence.
According to reports, the assistant principal cautioned the mother that her daughter's performance was being affected by the absences, and she was then charged with a "class C misdemeanor of violating the compulsory attendance law."
The circuit court found the single mother guilty, and it gave her a seven-day jail term in Laclede County.
LaRue received a letter after six inexplicable absences as well, and she was subsequently sentenced to 15 days in jail before having her term reduced to two years of probation.
What did the court say regarding child truancy?
"This nonattendance was not excused by any circumstance provided for in the statute," the court noted.
"Given the notice provided to each parent and that each parent was in control of their young child, evidence existed to support the inference that each parent knowingly failed to cause their child to attend school on a regular basis."