Middle Schooler Arrested for Too Many Absences

Townhall.com ^ | December 16, 2018 | Timothy Meads

[Kaslin]

Junior highs are cracking down on truancy across the nation. Some Oklahoma school are going even so far as handcuffing middle schoolers and taking them to the slammer according to NBC 16 WNDU.

Muskogee Public Schools arrested a 14-year-old in Tulsa, OK at school after he missed too many classes. His mother is outraged and says the arrest was an act of abuse.

via NBC 16 WNDU

"It’s my fault! Exactly! It’s not my 14 year old sons fault. He doesn't have a car to get himself there."

Stephanie - who doesn't want to use her last name - says she's upset her son, a student at Alice Robertson Junior High, was treated like a criminal.

"I could visibly see marks on his wrists,” Stephanie said.

Stephanie takes full responsibility for her son's missed absences, but questions why the school had to go to such drastic measures for her son. 

"Even if it's 20, they shouldn't have handcuffed him in front of everybody." But she also said that most of the days he missed were simply from being sick and excused with a doctor's note. As for those that weren't excused, the mother said, "Kids get sick, and they don't always have to have a doctor’s note."

However, the school district says what they did was perfectly legal. 

via NBC 16 WNDU: 

"Four absences in a four week period can lead to a possible citation. That's Oklahoma state statute. It’s been on the books for decades now,” said Steve Braun, Director of Communications at Muskogee Public Schools.

Muskogee Public Schools says they can't comment on specific cases, but Braun says on the fifth absence, a citation is issued and parents must sign, which he says they typically do.

“Parent comes in, signs the citation, and goes about the day."

But Stephanie insists that the experience was "traumatizing" and "unacceptable."

[Mears]

“God gave him 2 legs. He can get to school on those.”

---

Correct.

My kids NEVER got a ride to school. (Except when a 14 year old son had a cast on his knee,thereby HUMILIATING him by being seen getting out of his mother’s car.:-)

.

[BradyLS]

That’s all of it in a nutshell. Half the battle is showing up.

[Frapster]

Yeah - I’ve heard that one before. Unfortunately I had to sully myself by digging into the inference and it took me a while because you’re referencing a completely different word. You are referencing ‘fap’ which is an onomatopoeia for masturbation. Since I suspect you don’t know what onomatopoeia means, I’ll help... it’s the formation of a word from the sound associated with it.

Frapster, on the other hand (pun intended) comes (pun intended) from Calvin & Hobbes. That is a comic strip from the 80’s and 90’s by Bill Watterson. Calvin has an alter ego named Spaceman Spiff. Spaceman Spiff has a ray gun. When Calvin (Spaceman Spiff) shoots the ray gun Bill often indicated the sound of it by using the word ‘frap’ which is also an example of onomatopoeia. It also, most likely, derives from the french word ‘frapper’ which means ‘to hit’.

Doesn’t that feel better? Now you’re less ignorant... but probably still a statist at heart.

[kearnyirish2]

This “joke” is an industry unto itself, a way to redistribute taxpayer money to gubmint workers (the cops and CPS).

Years ago our worst sh!tholes in NJ threatened the public assistance of the parents (actually the single mothers) of children who routinely skipped school. It got them back into school, but that just made the environment worse for anyone actually trying to teach or learn.