PA mother of seven dies while serving two-day jail term for kids’ truancy violations

The school failed to make themselves attractive to the children. Who's really at fault?

originally posted by: calstorm
I can't find the article now but I read an article that stated the children were not absent but tardy! The mother had recently lost her home and was staying at a relatives home and was having difficulty getting the kids to school on time, but still got them there.

The mother died due to the jail withholding her blood pressure medication.

Attendance is taken in the morning. If a child is not accounted for, the school does not get the allotted money for that child.

That's how it works.

Schools work on a budget. Child not there, money not there. The mother is actually committing theft of tax dollars allotted to the school.

originally posted by: Annee

originally posted by: calstorm
I can't find the article now but I read an article that stated the children were not absent but tardy! The mother had recently lost her home and was staying at a relatives home and was having difficulty getting the kids to school on time, but still got them there.

The mother died due to the jail withholding her blood pressure medication.

Attendance is taken in the morning. If a child is not accounted for, the school does not get the allotted money for that child.

That's how it works.

Schools work on a budget. Child not there, money not there. The mother is actually committing theft of tax dollars allotted to the school.

Not it's not, attendance is taken in every single class. A child is marked for attendance 4-8 times a day, depending on how they schedule, blocks or not.

Each teacher is responsible for making sure each child is accounted for in each period of the day. If it wasn't this way, kids would show up for attendance and then skip and fly under the radar and never get caught.

And arriving late is not "stealing" tax dollars. It takes amazing mental gymnastics to come to that conclusion.

Also, schools are budgeted for their potential capacity, not their actual capacity -- if they weren't, they'd be unable to accommodate new transfers after the school year started.

originally posted by: Laykilla

Not it's not, attendance is taken in every single class.

Not in my school. They may check attendance for each class, but in my school if child is not there in the first half hour -- no money for that child.

And yes, it is theft of school tax money.

originally posted by: kaylaluv
a reply to: WeRpeons

Gee, I have never beaten or even spanked my 12 year old, and yet... she has only missed 2 days of school in the last 3 years. She probably hasn't missed more than 6 days altogether since she started Kindergarten.

I realize it's harder when you are a working single parent (don't know if this woman worked or not) with a bunch of kids, but if you're gonna have 'em and keep 'em, you're gonna have to make sure they get properly taken care of, including their education. If you can't do that, then maybe someone else needs to be taking care of them.

Perhaps we should clone you and solve the worlds problems?? Me thinks no..

The only solution is to be your brother's keeper and be servants out of wisdom vs bondage. Every little judgment we cast out amplifies our misery. Although I do not expect man to get it together this time around.

The mother didn't deserve to spend one day in jail. If we are going to accuse her then we must all accuse ourselves for each pebble thrown into the sea causing it to rage. How did we all become such selfish individuals to where there was no love left? Not love for any painful act but the love that would have prevented it.

originally posted by: Laykilla

originally posted by: LeatherNLace

originally posted by: alienjuggalo
Are we really having to do time because our kids skip school?

Yes we are and yes we should. Minors are the parent's responsibility, period. I think that this should be expanded to include criminal charges for parents of bullies and ESPECIALLY gun owning parents who have their firearms used in school shootings.

Because minors aren't people, and people don't make their own decisions do they?

I'm guessing this is because you're too stupid to realize that kids can do whatever they want regardless of how "Great" of a parent you think you are. You could have been the perfect model AAA dad and then your son skips school for 2 months -- here is the catch, he made friends with the attendance lady first and she marked him present after being marked absent so it flies under the radar until they throw him out of school because he didn't show.

Then you're fined up the ass/jailed because you raised a clever boy.

Nobody should ever be punished for the actions of another, whether or not they are a minor, because we are all people and even Minors can tell you to go "f" yourself.

The point is, you can't control other people, not even kids -- therefor, you cannot be punished for what they chose to do on their own, that is not justice, that is injustice at it's finest.

Also, I didn't realize it was illegal to skip school. It might be a poor decision, but illegal? GTFO.

Absolutely dead on correct...IMHO.Star for you!

"DiNino had no ability to pay her $2,000 fine. She was reportedly unemployed, on welfare, and completely overwhelmed by her children." - EAG news.org.

Who forced the woman to have 7 kids?

Where's the father(s) in all this ?

Everyone looks to blame society for what has happened, but the sad fact is, society isn't to blame.

As a mother she had a responsibilty. She failed. Nobody failed her. She failed herself and her kids.

"The kids ruled the roost" - WTF...Maybe its time to look at sterilisation in change for a car as they do in India, it would cost the tax payer less.

“…it’s the PARENT’S responsibility to ensure their children are law abiding. When they’re not, it needs to be reported. It’s too bad that today’s society has become so pathetically lazy that they don’t want to take responsibility for anything including their own children. They’re always looking for someone else to blame.” – Russ Hillegass

a reply to: andy1972

I actually agree with you.

And there is ZERO reason for anyone to have 7 children today.

originally posted by: WeRpeons
a reply to: kaylaluv

I don't agree that all parents are responsible for their children's poor decisions. There are a lot of outside factors that come into play. You would be surprised how much peer pressure influences kids to take drugs and perform poorly in school. A parent's divorce influence kids and causes them to rebel. Neighborhood influences, poverty and poor role models, lack of a father or mother can also play a big role. TV and video games also cause kids to become lazy and in some cases delusional.

I know some really good parents who are having a difficult time with a child who is very defiant. Some families may have 3 or 4 kids where 3 of them our great law abiding kids except for one.

thankfully a voice of reason. i totally agree with you... sometimes the parents, despite doing the best they can and having other children that turn out "good", have absolutely nothing to do with the way their kid turns out... you can put 100% of the best of everything into them all, yet one can still turn out to be a 'wrongun'... i should know.. i have 2 kids, they are at totally opposite ends of the spectrum, one is reliable, hard working, honourable, and everything everybody says is good in a bloke (not just my view), and the other is a horrible little thieving dishonourable lying swine (also not just my view). they had the same upbringing and love and care, but try as i might i couldn't turn the little sh1t of mine into a decent human being.

a reply to: ladyteeny

I agree with you too. I truly believe people are born who they are, and sometimes a "bad seed" is just a "bad seed".

But, personal responsibility needs to start when kids are very young. Too many parents just let kids grow up and don't really parent.

And no kid better use the excuse "peer pressure" in my house. In my house the term is "personal responsibility".

How do they decide which of the parents gets to go to jail?

Maybe flip a coin or give them a choice? 0.o

originally posted by: Biigs
How do they decide which of the parents gets to go to jail?

Maybe flip a coin or give them a choice? 0.o

It would depend who has primary custody.
There may be multiple fathers for those seven children, fathers in the sense that they provided the sperm

a reply to: ladyteeny

thankfully a voice of reason. i totally agree with you... sometimes the parents, despite doing the best they can and having other children that turn out "good", have absolutely nothing to do with the way their kid turns out... you can put 100% of the best of everything into them all, yet one can still turn out to be a 'wrongun'... i should know.. i have 2 kids, they are at totally opposite ends of the spectrum, one is reliable, hard working, honourable, and everything everybody says is good in a bloke (not just my view), and the other is a horrible little thieving dishonourable lying swine (also not just my view). they had the same upbringing and love and care, but try as i might i couldn't turn the little sh1t of mine into a decent human being.

You're welcome. As a teacher, I talk to parents all the time. No matter what the parent does to change their kids behavior some still rebel. These are tough times we're living in to raise a child. They have too many outside influences causing them to go astray. I see it everyday in my classroom. It's really rather scary!

I'm sorry to hear about your "wrongun". Sometimes they have to learn life the hard way. Hopefully as they get older they see the error of their ways and realize they should have listened to you. Hope things work out for the better.

a reply to: crazyeddie68

I don't think community service would work on my daughter. If my daughter had not turned in her excuses - after the second time, I would start handing them in myself BUT I would still be punishing her. The thing that means the most to my daughter is her iphone. It's her connection to everything. If I take that away from her and ground her, she is totally lost. She can't connect with her friends, she can't listen to her music, she has nothing. I would tell her that this is her new world until she proves to me that I can trust her to turn in her excuses. Knowing my daughter the way I do, after a while of this - the next time she got sick, she would be begging me to let her turn in the excuse.

a reply to: andy1972

Yes to this post!!! I am a big proponent of offering an incentive for voluntary sterilization, or even reversible permanent birth control (pellets inserted under the skin or an iud). I would LOVE my tax dollars going to that. But, I'm also a proponent of abortion if someone gets pregnant and knows they can't handle raising the kid.

originally posted by: LeatherNLace

originally posted by: alienjuggalo
Are we really having to do time because our kids skip school?

Yes we are and yes we should. Minors are the parent's responsibility, period. I think that this should be expanded to include criminal charges for parents of bullies and ESPECIALLY gun owning parents who have their firearms used in school shootings.

yeah, and divorcees. Think how much the kid has lost in a divorce without both parents there for emotional balance. So if you fail the kid through divorce, serve the time. Yeah, thats the ticket. And obesity too. How horific for the kid to have parents that selfish, or parent, whateva. Its for the kids man.

originally posted by: nixie_nox
a reply to: WeRpeons

You can't mention children getting into trouble without some uneducated ding dong advocating that we beat them. Anyone who stars these people are sick and demented.

All paddling teaches children is that adults can't control their anger and the only appropriate response is to immediately react with violence.

There is a reason it is completely illegal in 37 countries and 113 countries do not allow it in school. It forces parents to actually parent instead of taking short cuts to get their kids under control. Using corporal punishment to control children isn't any better than those who are chided for giving hyper children Ritalin to control them.


Study after study has shown that children who are treated with violence become violent teenagers and adults.


Which is why teen violence has dropped since corporal punishment has been banned in schools.

It also removes the chance for the child to learn how to handle problems with emotional intelligence.

Spanking children on the butt is inflicting pain on a future erogenous zone, which creates confusion for children when they become adults and associate sexual pleasure with pain.

Children learn through the parents. Hitting is shown to kids as the only way to handle problems. They don't get an opportunity to learn conflict resolution from the parent. Corporal punishment works against the process of ethical development. It teaches children not to engage in a particular behavior because they risk being beaten. But it does not teach them the reasons and ethics for not behaving in a particular manner.

This is why corporal punishment is mainly practiced in low income and poverty situations. 'The parents are not educated enough to know how to handle children any other way.

Be quiet please, as you have no idea what you're talking about. I'm so sick and tired of these bleeding hearts demonizing what we call spanking. I was disciplined in this way as a child and I am far from violent or aggressive; i'm actually quite the pacifist. And please, spare me any lame explanation of how I am more of an exception instead of part of the rule.

I'm not. A whole ton of people grew up with such discipline and turned out alright. Kids today are a menace BECAUSE of faulty and biased opinions like yours.

originally posted by: kaylaluv
a reply to: CranialSponge

Well, fining the parent is teaching him/her the consequences of being a bad parent. If you don't take control of your children, you are punished. It's supposed to give you an incentive to make sure your kids go to school. If this doesn't work to change the parent into a good parent, how do you think making the kid pick up garbage is going to miraculously rehabilitate the kid? It might work for a little while, but they'll just slip back into their old routine because, well kids can be kinda dumb. Parents are supposed to be adults and are supposed to understand consequences a little better.

What the parents need to do is stay on top of those kids like fleas on a dog, to make sure those kids go to school and PREVENT all the truancy. It can be a hard job when you have a kid determined to skip school, but it's doable. It really is up to the parents, though.

Did you ever stop to think of WHY they are skipping? Why is the popular thing to do with situations like this is to blame the child or the parents? Some kids are delinquents, sure, but not ALL of them skip because they want to.

When I was 12, I had quite a few bullies. I skipped P.E. often as I was always bullied in the class and the P.E. instructor never cared. It even got to the point where the attendance lady at my school yelled at me for missing days and then proceeded to threaten me with going to Juvenile Hall (which is a jail for kids), which made me cry when I got home.

To hell with actually communicating with me and ASKING me why I was not attending as much as I should have, no! We've got to dole out punishments like they're going out of style! To hell with trying to connect with a student and getting to the root of the damned issue!

Being young in such a circumstance, was that MY fault? Was it my parents fault? Or was it the damn schools fault? Many seem to be so damned determined to put the blame on the parents or the student when the school could very well be the problem as well. Schools aren't perfect, schools make MANY mistakes; furthermore, they are hardly a place any kid should even be in these days.

Bullying was bad when I was in school; it's even worse now. Again, did you even stop to think if something like bullying was even a factor?

a reply to: JudgeEden

Did you bother to TELL anyone that you were being bullied? If my child were to tell me she is being bullied, you can believe I would be going to the school immediately to deal with the administrators. That would be my job as a parent.

And yes, if my daughter were to be caught skipping school - the first thing I would do would be to ask her why she is doing that. Unfortunately, most kids would just shrug and say "school sucks". Well, that's not a good enough answer.

originally posted by: kaylaluv
The thing that means the most to my daughter is her iphone. It's her connection to everything. If I take that away from her and ground her, she is totally lost. She can't connect with her friends, she can't listen to her music, she has nothing.

OMG, the iPhone. Can't tell you how many times I've wanted to just grab it and smash it against the wall.

But, yeah, taking it away from my 14 year old granddaughter does seem to be the only thing that works. We also in tandem take away her computer, as we found she gets on chat or FaceTime. Double whammy 'cuz we don't have cable. She watches her favorite shows on her computer.

We have a rule that it's turned off at 10, plugged in, alarm set, across the room from her bed. We've found her talking on the phone in her bed at 2AM. No more phone in bed.

Kids and their phones could be a thread all on its own.