…but so will you. Or else. Under a new vision for schools, parents could be fined if their children are unruly in class and their education is unsupported at home.
U.K. Schools Secretary Ed Balls has published a new ”white paper for education,” setting out plans for schools to get annual report cards, similar to New York City’s accountability system. The Guardian newspaper says the plan gives British parents a guarantee that their child will have ”a place at school or college for their child until the age of 18, a promise of one-to-one tuition if their child is falling behind and a personal tutor throughout secondary to give them pastoral support.”
In return, parents will be under new obligations to support their child at school. They will have to sign stricter home school agreements and face fines of up to £1,000, enforced by the courts, if they fail to meet the conditions.
“There must be real consequences for those parents who don’t take their responsibilities seriously,” said Mr. Balls in an interview last week. Interesting concept. Wonder how it’ll be enforced. Or if it can be.
Dallas parents are being hauled into court in record numbers to account for their children’s truancy. In 2008, 750 cases filed by the Dallas Independent School District involved parents being fined for “contributing to truancy” – up from 79 in 2005, the Dallas Morning News reports.
DISD officials say the spike in cases against parents is partially driven by better technology. The district created a centralized computer system about three years ago that tracks truancies. The system helps the district alert parents about absences via phone calls and mail, so they can be held more accountable. The computerized system checks for absence patterns and automatically generates truancy warning letters and court notices.
The paper visits one of Dallas’ truancy courts, which are set up like regular courts. Students are called before the judge, usually with a parent at their side, sworn in and asked how they plead: guilty, not guilty or no contest.
The students aren’t treated with kid gloves – two students were escorted from Judge Douglas Dunn’s courtroom in handcuffs last week. Dunn, who presides in the central truancy court in the Frank Crowley Courts Building, recently told a student that if he didn’t straighten up, he wouldn’t have to worry about being disciplined by his mother – but rather by his “boyfriend in county jail.” He also made the student tuck in his shirt and pull up his pants before approaching the bench.
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