UPPER DARBY, PA-October 14, 2004 "” Lisa Martucci walked into a courtroom this morning in Upper Darby wondering if she'd remain a free woman, after facing jail time because her daughter was skipping school.
A Delaware County judge has decided not to send the mother behind bars at this time.
The judge told Action News that he opted to keep the mother out of jail because she's taking parenting classes and getting counseling, and there is a plan to make sure the 12-year-old student gets to school.
The girl's grandmother will drop her off in the morning and the mother will pick her up at the end of the day.
The judge has given the student, mother and grandmother 2 weeks to make their plan work. The judge added that if the student is truant in the next two weeks, before Martucci's next scheduled hearing, Martucci would be going to jail.
Martucci thinks the system is not handing out punishment equally.
Lisa Martucci/parent: "If you want to punish the parent, you should punish the child, too, because the child made the choice not to go to school."
The student is a part of a program for troubled students at Beverly Hills Middle school. Martucci hopes that the program will work and keep her out of jail.
The judge tell Action News he sentences about five to six parents a year to jail time. He did say it's surprising to have a 12-year-old student go truant so often.
(Copyright 2004 by the Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
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"Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect."
Lisa Martucci/parent: "If you want to punish the parent, you should punish the child, too, because the child made the choice not to go to school."
Yes, I do think that both should be punished. But as a parent and adult, Ms. Martucci needs to get her head out of her a$$ and realize that she is in command.
My dad was like a dictator when it came to discipline. He loved me more than I could've ever asked for, but when he said to do something, I did it. Nowadays parents expect kids to listen without any real motivation.
Like the 10-10-220 commercial in which Bradshaw asks to take the NASCAR around the block for $1: "Well, that ain't gonna happen!"
Not really enough info. Sure, we can all presume the mother is a drunk, skank, soar-infested crack whoar, but is she? Why is the child behaving like she is? I'm not all convinced the mother deserves jail time.
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We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a civilization, it expects what never was and what never will be.
Not really enough info. Sure, we can all presume the mother is a drunk, skank, soar-infested crack whoar, but is she? Why is the child behaving like she is? I'm not all convinced the mother deserves jail time.
That's how the truancy laws are typically written, no? I specifically remember my mom telling me that if I didn't go to school, she could go to jail. I know she wasn't bluffing then (late 80's, Harford County, Maryland) because I checked up on it.
The bottom line is that kids, by law, are required to attend school until they reach 16 years of age. And who is responsible for seeing that requirement met? Ah, yes, the parents.
I don't have much sympathy because I don't really like kids much, and I like parents who let their little brats walk all over them even less. I see it so much now, and I never saw it once when I was growing up in any household I visited.
I don't have enough detail to speak directly to this mom's circumstances, but I will say I have never been a great fan of our statist approach to education. I do not think the government should have the right to use force to threaten parents into sending their children to school. Americans should be free, as free as possible; and not perpetually held under the thumb of the government.
The only other additional information I could find out about the family was that the mother is a single mother of 3...and the youngest is a little baby.
Not sure is she's a divorcee or a widow or one of those "3 kids to 3 different fathers" kind of gal.
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"Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect."
If I ever skipped school growing up my father would have kicked by behind halfway around the world - not because he was a mean person but because he knew the importance of learning. Government ought to stay out of it but now they can't and it is becoming a vicious cycle - like a catch22.
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If you give a politician an enema you can easily hide them in a bread box.
I don't have enough detail to speak directly to this mom's circumstances, but I will say I have never been a great fan of our statist approach to education. I do not think the government should have the right to use force to threaten parents into sending their children to school. Americans should be free, as free as possible; and not perpetually held under the thumb of the government.
That's an excellent point. Wow, you got me.
While I am totally against the public school system, I don't know how I feel about lifting mandatory education requirements (although I do agree with the principle of governmental non-interference in families). I suppose perhaps I rank education up there with healthcare as something that parents should seek for their children. Kids can't think for themselves, and I'd question the mindset of a parent who didn't think for their kids. An education and the best health possible are important for children.
But even with a repeal of property taxes, I suppose some parents couldn't afford schooling or medical treatment, so what would we do? Hm, I need to think further through this.
Wasn't out to "get" you, Aught Six. I simply am not a statist.
The problem we are facing is the problem created by changing from a virulently statist system to one wherein people are free. Freedom is difficult. It comes with a lot of responsibilities that I think many of us, even those of us who claim to cherish freedom, are unwilling to bear. The longer we remain statists, flirting with public education, public healthcare, public this and public that, enjoying the "benefits" of having the state take the responsibilities that we should take for ourselves, then the more painful it will be to make the switch to true freedom. The promised pain of such a switch is now already too great such that the vast majority of Americans cannot even conceive of enduring the pain to teaching their own children as opposed to having the government do it. This sort of thing has taken us over. America has lost its cotton-pickin' mind.
Property taxes. We claim we "own" our homes, our cars. It is all such a charade. Such lies we tell ourselves.
What do you all think about this?
