A MOTHER convicted three times of failing to ensure her daughter attends school is facing jail.
Linda Smith, 52, of Copse Drive, Bury, was fined '200 for a first offence in 2004 then conditionally discharged for two years and given a parenting order for a second offence last year.
At Bury Magistrates' Court, mother of three Smith pleaded guilty to her third offence under the Education Act.
The court was told her 14-year-old daughter did not attend Broad Oak High School in Bury between September 21 and November 4 last year.
Magistrates said it was damaging her daughter's future and told Smith that they would consider a prison sentence.
James Parry, prosecuting for Bury council, said Smith had previously been convicted of failing to ensure her daughter's attendance between January 2004 and May 2004 and again between September 2004 and January last year.
Efforts
The court was told numerous efforts by education workers to contact the family and arrange school meetings had failed
Mr Parry said: "It has always been a major cause for concern. There have been problems since primary school. Contact with the family was extremely difficult and, despite advice, she still failed to attend school.
"Everything that can be done to help this family has been done and there has been no co-operation with the parenting order.
"The sad part of this case is that when she does attend school she appears to be a bright student."
The court was told that Smith felt it was "wholly unfair" that she was made responsible for the actions of her daughter.
Sabbir Khatak, defending, said the teenager would barricade herself inside her room and simply refuse to go to school.
He said: "It is not a question of Mrs Smith not wanting her to go to school, quite the opposite. She has done her utmost best to try to get her to go to school.
"Nobody in the family knows why she acts in this way."
Magistrates adjourned the case for pre-sentence reports until March 1.
SHOULD parents be held responsible for their children's truency? Have your say.
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By 'eck, this woman looks as hard as nails - no wonder letters have been ignored.
Stop all the State Benefits she'll be getting, maybe then she'll understand that she's got to send her kids to school.
One word - "Yes".
How is jailing the mother going to help?
Besides the bigger crime, the one that affects hundreds of pupils, is Bury Council's attempts to close the school this girl attends (or doesn't). The deceit used to justify proposals to close three Bury schools suggests fraud charges should follow at the least! Or perhaps Governing without due car and attention?
If that was my child i would drag them to school and hand them over to the teacher. If her benefits where stopped until she complied to the parenting order she would soon get that child to school. It would make more of an impact than sending her to prison.
Not sending your kids to school is a form of child abuse,You are making the kids fure useless without education ?Not sending kids to school is like putting your kids into slavery "No education equals no jobs" In this day and age .give the parents a month in a labour camp "Hard work and getting up early to make the breakfast" That should set them up to make sure the kids go to school .."Lazy parents lazy kids"
You cannot make someone responsible for somebody elses actions, no matter what the situation is, to do so is just plane wrong.
Another thing is that you do not have to put your children through the brainwashing, oops, I mean state education system. You are perfectly within your rights to educate them as you see fit.
It would be totally wrong to send this lady to prison - there are children not on any school register and their parents never get threatened with prison. The system is totally unfair and unjust.
in the cases were the parent just couldnt give a damm whether their child goes to school they should be prosecuted/jailed. but in cases were the parent does everything possible to get them there then no they shouldnt. my daughter refused to go to school and i ended up dragging her there every day and leaving her in reception. i even resorted to going to her first classes, but she absconded as soon as the bell went for a new lesson. i class some of these prosecutions as yet another way for the government to get money off us.
Most of the comments seem to have lost the plot. This woman IS attempting to get her daughter to school. This, however, does not count for anything. It doesn't matter how hard you try, you will still end up in jail (even though this is obviously not condoning the truancy) as at least 10 of the 70 odd parents jailed for this offence can testify.
How about trying another method? Punish her daughter. The girl would soon be back in school if she was the one being dragged to court.
Gaining a conviction for Truancy is incredibly difficult, given the amount of time and taxpayers money that has gone into securing this, the mother should be prosecuted.
Truancy is an incredibly complex issue, but to get to this point every possible issue, reason, support mechanism will have been exhausted. The Mother in some way must have been condoning what the Daughter was doing. It's so easy for parents to say to those in authority but I'm doing everything I can and then let your child sit and watch daytime t.v. What is that truly teaching our youth? Bunk off school and your'll be rewarded by watching TV all day. There's no sanctions at home.
If a healthy attitude to learning and education is not fostered from a young age, by the time a youngster becomes a teenager it's too late. Social lives, friends and trouble are far more glamourous than school and learning. Why would you want to go and have rules, sanctions and discipline imposed upon you? When you've got away with having your own way for an age. This makes for work shy adults.
Parenting from an early age is the key issue here I'm afraid. The mother here should stop bleeting and just accept that Parents are legally responsible for their children whilst they are minors. It's part of the package, if you choose to be a parent. Perhaps a firmer touch from a younger age and bothering to deal with the conflict as the adult who knows better wouldn't have resulted in things being the way they are.
Parents are responsible for their childrens belief systems, morals, behaviours and attitudes, they don't take after strangers. Parents need to invest time in teaching their children values including why learning is so important. Of course there will be children who despite everything will go off the rails, but parents of these children don't throw the towel in and give up. Good parents always accept responsibilty and look for alternative ways to support and aid their children in acheiving and having aspirations. And in all of this what about the daughter, what are her ambitions to sit and watch day time tv for the rest of her life? Come on those around her if you really care find a way to get her engaged in having more out of life!
Peanuts has got it wrong. It is not difficult to get a conviction. In fact I have only seen one case where a court has found the parents not guilty when even the Education Officer said they had done everything they could to get the son to school. Sutton Council's appeal was also lost and the Judge criticised the Council for doing so.
However, although I am not a lawyer, I believe both the Magistrates and the judge were wrong. The is because this offence is an absolute offence for which there is virtually no defence (the only ones for this offence are if the defendant is an itinerant or sick notes are produced).
So any parent who receives a summons from the Education Office is guilty and 99% of defendants are informed of this before they go to court and so plead guilty. It is not therfore the court who decides the guilt of parents but the Education Department. True British justice!
Parents who are unwilling to control their children should have them removed and surgically prevented from having them in future. This woman should go to jail until she wises up.
i Know the family personally and I know full well the youngster refused to go to school. Shes been physically taken and just walks back out. She will not go and nothing any parent could do could make her go. If she does go down, it wont solve anything because it will split a family and the youngster will still not go.
what can this women actually do to make her child go to school? beat her? drag her by hair? theres nothing she can do.but its funny that she will end up in prison for it but if her daughter was having an abortion her mother has no RIGHT to know about it? strange the way the world is going dont you think?
This is why we had borstals. Lock the kids up until the learn to do what they are told
Why is it that when a child abuses a teacher or anyone else for that matter they are made accountable and receive the results of their actions. Yet when a child knowingly misses school, with its parent struggling to get them there, the parent gets punished? How is a child supposed to understand the consequences of their action if you punish someone else?