Momma Knows Best

Kelley Williams-Bolar, a mother of two from Akron, Ohio, was recently arrested for toying with the education system by falsifying records and lying about her home address to get her girls into a better school. She was sentenced to ten days in prison and will have to serve two years' probation, as well as complete 80 hours of community service.

This is not strange news; growing up I knew a few kids who had to memorize two addresses--their real one, and the one they wrote on their documents so they could attend a particular school. I never told anyone, and I knew it wasn't a good thing for those kids to have to do. It was ultimately the decision of their parents.

Growing up I was in a similar, but not equal, situation. I live in a city that's about 30 to 40 minutes north of any family I have. When the time came for me to start elementary school, there was no one to drop me off or pick me up from school; my mom was working in a law firm in Downtown Miami at the time, and my father worked (and still works) for FPL. It was impossible for them to leave work at the time I finished school. I have no family close to where I live, and therefore could not attend a school in my area. There is an elementary school just minutes from my grandparent's house; my mom was been able to drop me off at my grandparent's house for them to take me and pick me up from school. Here's the problem: it wasn't my home school, so there was the possibility that my parents would have to lie about our address. My mother, ever the honest woman, instead fought long and hard with the Miami-Dade County School Board to get special permission for me to attend a school whose district my family and I were not a part of.

As I said before, this is a somewhat similar situation, but in no way completely analogous. William-Bolar’s primary concern was for her girls’ safety, whereas my mother’s concern was that I had no one to care for me during the time she and my father were at work. According to Williams-Bolar, her house in Akron was once broken into, and after that she felt it was her “duty” to work on getting her girls a better life and education. Here’s a little background information on her and her family that I pooled together from different sources: Williams-Bolar and her two girls live in an area of subsidized housing in her town of Akron. According to her, the three of them live “part-time” with her father, and she is currently working on attaining her teaching license. She works in a special education program for students with disabilities and is on public assistance. As of yet, her teaching license may be in jeopardy because of the felony charge against her.   

Responses concerning this issue range from ardent outrage to regrettable apathy. My initial reaction is too complex for words, but I can’t help but argue first and foremost that Williams-Bolar took the wrong approach to handling her predicament. As an aspiring educator, she more than anyone should know the repercussions of trying to “cheat,” as most like to put it, the school system. As an aspiring educator, she should be aware of the procedure one has to take to enroll a child in a school outside of their district. We cannot argue against the fact that in Ohio, what she did is considered a serious crime. Period. Had she spoken to the principal of the school she wanted her girls to attend, or had she discussed her situation with the Akron Board of Education or the Ohio State Board of Education, I dare say this could have had a more fortunate ending. Had she taken the legal approach first, there is a possibility that she could have been granted special permission to put her girls in a better school. Now, if she took the legal approach and was denied permission by her district or state’s school board, this denial would be sufficient justification for her to place her girls in the school she so desired, against the command of the school system.

By taking the illegal approach from the get-go, Williams-Bolar’s “crime” cancels out her good intentions and casts a dark shadow over her actions in the eyes of some. Williams-Bolar lives in a publicly subsidized home, she lied on signed and sworn school registration documents, as well as on applications for free or reduced lunch and other official forms, and she used her father’s address to enroll her children in a school district for which they do not pay taxes. To express the view of Conservatives, in how many ways and on how many levels is she going to try to circumvent the system? In the words of Bob Dyer from The Beacon Journal, “Fraud is fraud.”

Now on the Liberal side, this is woman who works in the special education system and is seeking a teaching degree and is being disparaged for attempting to provide for her children a better life. There are noticeable racial undertones to this story—about 72% of the students in the Copley-Fairlawn school district are white. There are currently about 30 to 40 cases similar to that of Kelley Williams-Bolar being investigated by the Copley-Fairlawn school district, but her case, the case of a colored family, happens to be the only one that has been taken to court and received nationwide attention. Is she being made an example of? Is Kelley Williams-Bolar the Hester Prynne of fraud?

The media’s presentation of this news piece is skewed to one side or to the other. For example, the title of Good Morning America’s report is, Ohio Mom Kelley Williams-Bolar Jailed for Sending Kids to Better School District. Just by reading the title we can tell whose side Good Morning America is on. Journalism shouldn’t be about taking sides, but about presenting information clearly and fairly, showing all sides of the spectrum. A more fair title would have been, Ohio Mom Kelley Williams-Bolar Jailed for Falsifying Records to Send Kids to Better School District. This title presents the crime she committed and her concern for her daughters’ education and well-being, not just one or the other. The Good Morning America clip greatly informed the public of the measures taken against Williams-Bolar during and after the trial. It didn’t give much background information about her and her daughters or even her father. It is more than clear that this case has become an outrage and that many news outlets are playing up the argument that she’s a mother trying to do what is best for her children. I would have liked to see a more lengthy news clip featuring the thoughts of parents and educators in that school district, as well as a superintendent explaining what measures could have been taken to help Williams-Bolar get the education she wants for her girls, if any.

In an interview, Williams-Bolar stated, “This is not a murder trial.” I am in full accord with her claim. Wanting to protect her children and give them a better education and life is not a crime. When certain crimes are committed, like an actual murder for example, many factors are taken into consideration before indicting or even convicting someone of a crime. Was it a murder for hire? A crime of passion? Was it in self-defense? Was the person mentally ill or under diminished capacity? Was it premeditated? After asking these questions, some form of sentence is given. Some may argue that in a fraud case, no external factors should be taken into account. It doesn’t matter that she’s a mother of two receiving public aid. It doesn’t matter that she helps people with disabilities and is seeking to be an educator herself. It doesn’t matter that she wants to give her daughters greater opportunities than what they can get in their hometown. She lied and cheated and robbed the Copley-Fairlawn school district of $30,000 and she should be punished. Is this my view? Certainly not. Do I think in her case external factors should be considered? Absolutely. If I were a mother would I do what she did? Only after taking the legal way first, and if the legal way failed me, then yes, I would.

I admire Kelley Williams-Bolar for fighting against the system as opposed to just taking her children out of the school like other parents did. However, there are ways of doing things, and then there are ways. I still maintain that she should have tried to resolve her issue by going to the school board and getting permission; with a case like hers it would be difficult to deny it. In the same fashion that children do their homework to learn and be prepared for class, parents need to do their homework before making such potentially life-altering decisions.