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Home > Clayton.Talk > Archives > 2007 > May > 29 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USWould you break the law to get your child an education?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last week, a Cobb County mother was acquitted of falsifying legal documents to put her children in a school outside of the district in which they resided.
Most parents want the best education for their kids but for various reasons, we all can’t live in the districts that seem to provide the best public school system. Parents who can afford private school at least have an option, but parents without options can get creative — which sometimes involves breaking the law.
Henry and Fayette county residents complain their schools are overcrowded and resources stretched thin due to an influx of DeKalb and Clayton students, as well as children of illegal immigrants (whose parents may not be paying taxes at all), illegally attending their schools. Taxpayers in these and other Metro Atlanta counties believe their children’s education is suffering and do not appreciate paying taxes for out-of-district students.
In 2006, Fayette county public schools removed several students from their system, the majority of whom resided in Clayton county. Like Cobb, Fayette attempted but failed to convict those parents. Nevertheless, Henry county taxpayers would like to follow their lead and see an attempt at prosecution.
Like many counties, Clayton has good and bad schools. Jonesboro High just won the National Mock Trial Championship (not including their State Championship win for the second year in a row and fourth time since 2002!).
Oliver Elementary and North Clayton Middle won the MathFest in five different grade levels back in March. I’ll bet there are other good things happening at CCPS but unfortunately the good never gets as much publicity as the negative does.
But the bottom line is, should a child be denied the best education available based on the parental decision to live in a certain area? Would you risk prosecution to ensure your child gets a good education? Could you jail a parent who risked it all to get their child the best education possible?
Permalink | Comments (28) | Categories: Kimberly Allen
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By timmy
May 29, 2007 11:18 AM | Link to this
should a child be denied the best education available based on the parental decision to live in a certain area?
yes, the parent could either save money for private schooling or simply move to a district where they pay taxes to their school of choice
Would you risk prosecution to ensure your child gets a good education?
the question should be… Would you forfeit your cell phones, SUV payments, big screen tv’s so you could afford to send your child to a private school, therefore ensuring your child gets a good education?
Could you jail a parent who risked it all to get their child the best education possible?
Have they really risked it all? (like forfeiting above lifestyle purchases)
By SOG
May 29, 2007 11:32 AM | Link to this
No, I would not. But I would not give my taxes to a county system that is providing substandard services. I used to live in Dekalb. I have since sold my home and moved my family to a county where the schools and the education is better.
By lg
May 29, 2007 11:40 AM | Link to this
she is not the 1st person and she will not be the last. i am an educator and i would do the same especially if i lived in clayton or dekalb counties, but luckily i live and work in the henry county school district.
By its me
May 29, 2007 11:42 AM | Link to this
having lived in Clayton Co for 9 years I must say that my 10 year old have NEVER attended a Clay Co school. I have managed to scrape the $ together to get her in a Private school. Once Clayton Co has passing grades in all years I may reconsider. But I will continue paying my taxes for the many failing schools that we have.
By Clayton resident
May 29, 2007 12:00 PM | Link to this
I’m a lifelong Clayton resident who has “broken the law” to give our kids better education.
I like living in Clayton, always have and not ready to let others run me outta here. We own our land and home here. to find a comparable place in another county could drive us into bankruptcy or homelessness so no thank you.
But won’t let my kids education suffer either. We cant afford private school even scraping by. Unless CCPS gets their act together I’ll continue to get my kids educated outside of this county they will not become a product of their environment if we can help it. for the record, my kids are excellent students, not troublemakers in another district not all kids from Clayton are lost cause.
By shakia
May 29, 2007 12:09 PM | Link to this
its much easier for me to break the law than to save all that money for private school
By lioness74
May 29, 2007 12:24 PM | Link to this
If the value of education in the public school system was equal across the board as opposed to how much money (taxes) a parent does and does not make that would not be an issue. Any responsible parent given the oppurtunity would do what was necessary in order to get their child the best education possible.
By Michelle
May 29, 2007 12:44 PM | Link to this
Parents break the law to get their kids into another school district then wonder why their kids don’t respect the law enough to stay out of jail!! Go figure!
By heather
May 29, 2007 12:51 PM | Link to this
I just tripled my mortgage to move into a better school district. We purposely did not have children until we could afford to do this. If you want your children to have a better eduction in a better school district, you should be willing to move or pay for private school. I did it the legal way, why can’t or won’t you?
By Tracy
May 29, 2007 1:22 PM | Link to this
I live in Clayton county and my 2nd grader attends school in Fulton County.He has been there since Pre-K.He will NEVER attend a school in Clayton County NEVER,NEVER. After his older siblings graduated from Forest Park we learned our lessons.My lodest 2 attended elementary and middle schools in Fulton County and we put them in high school in Clayton BIG MISTAKE!!!!!!!!! Never Again!!!
By JV
May 29, 2007 2:02 PM | Link to this
Clayton County needs to stand up for the schools in the district instead of breaking the law just to get a better education. You want to know why Clayton is where they are, they have hesitated to fight crime and did other thing to preserve the quality of life for the residents. If that happens, once again, Clayton can be a desirable place to live instead a place people want to get out of.
By Zoe
May 29, 2007 2:11 PM | Link to this
[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18757087/?sort=Rank&count=1236&start=0&limit=100&year=2007&Search=Georgia]
40 schools in Georgia listed
2 are from Clayton 1 from Henry 2 from Fayette
Clayton can compete, however one needs to look at the achievements at the top, not the lack of at the bottom.
By SB
May 29, 2007 2:14 PM | Link to this
I think the point is missed. Getting the “best education possible” is not attributed to a school district, teacher, or school. It is accomplished in the home through expectations, reading to your children, ensuring homework is completed and accurate, teaching time and money management, work ethic, assessing your child’s strengths/weaknessess in the classroom and then helping to improve them, etc. Certain schools and school districts do so well because they are a reflection of these students parents whom have a higher level of commitment amd involvement with their children and take greater interest in their child’s education.
If parents rely only on our schools and teachers to do this for them, their children are already behind. The Clayton County School District could be a very good one but unfortunately, its current state is a direct reflection of the parents who send these children to school every day. Little or no parental involvement equals low performance.
By SB
May 29, 2007 2:16 PM | Link to this
I think the point is missed. Getting the “best education possible” is not attributed to a school district, teacher, or school. It is accomplished in the home through expectations, reading to your children, ensuring homework is completed and accurate, teaching time and money management, work ethic, assessing your child’s strengths/weaknessess in the classroom and then helping to improve them, etc. Certain schools and school districts do so well because they are a reflection of these students parents whom have a higher level of commitment amd involvement with their children and take greater interest in their child’s education.
If parents rely only on our schools and teachers to do this for them, their children are already behind. The Clayton County School District could be a very good one but unfortunately, its current state is a direct reflection of the parents who send these children to school every day. Little or no parental involvement equals low performance.
By J
May 29, 2007 2:19 PM | Link to this
I can understand moving to anohter school district just to go to a good school is one thing. But, lying about the address or send the kids to school out of district is not right. Even though I don’t live in Clayton County, I say Clayton needs to get on the ball and find ways to make Clayton a good place to live and go to school. I say to my fellow Metro Atlantans who live in Clayton County, get involved with Coutny Government and with the schools. That could reduce the negitive that you guys have.
By TH
May 29, 2007 2:19 PM | Link to this
I agree with SB. If parents don’t parent and be involved, it doesn’t matter what school they go to.
Safety is another story.
By Bob
May 29, 2007 3:50 PM | Link to this
Sure. Teach kids that the laws don’t apply to them, they’re special. Teach them that only suckers pay for what they use, smart people get what they want for free. Teach them that unless you have special privileges you’ll never get anywhere; so it’s okay to take advantage of others.
By Concerned
May 29, 2007 5:08 PM | Link to this
Lying is wrong. Don’t teach that it is ok to your childern. Get involoved to make the schools better. Cobb has LOTS of parents who volunteer. You can do it too. Then your childern will know you value education. I taught in Clayton for over 30 years.Childern who have parents that expect them to behave and learn will. Those who have parents that don’t care will not care themselves. It all begins with one person.
By whatonearth
May 29, 2007 6:43 PM | Link to this
I live in a County that has a good reputation as far as the school system. I see car’s daily with Clayton Co. tags dropping their children off, is this fair? NO!
My tax dollars are triple of those in Clayton Co. Why cheat the school district? Move - you do have a choice.
By the way - most of the students who are causing problems in my district are those from Clayton County.
By KM
May 30, 2007 11:56 AM | Link to this
You should buy a home or rent in an area with a good school system. I am a Realtor and parents are more concerned with having a large home they can show off to their friends and family instead of being concerned about their kids education. Many clients have told me they did not want to live in certain counties because of the school system but still ended up purchasing homes there because when they could not get the big home in the county with a good school system they forgot all about the education and started asking me to show them homes in the counties they were not even considering in the begining. To be honest with you if any parent really cared about their childs education they would all do private school, especially for middle and high school.
I know teachers in all counties and they all have their own share of problems, some are just not talked about like other counties.
By raja
May 30, 2007 7:02 PM | Link to this
I can see someone wanting ther child in fayette county schools, but henry. I grew up in henry county and have many friends and relatives who are still in Henry. They complain about the schools all the time. The teaching never was that great when I attended. Fayette is one of the best in the state, but Henry County schools not on that level to be complaining about people invading.
By robert johnson
May 31, 2007 9:47 AM | Link to this
I would do the same as the lady did for her children, or course the punishment in this case could have never fitted the crime. It is the responsibility or good parents to ensure their children receive a quality education. The bottom line “many with children should not be having children”, you cannot produce quality from nothing.
By Joe
May 31, 2007 9:57 AM | Link to this
Clayton County has some new commissioners who don’t seem to know thier way to the bathroom. At a board meeting a company wanting to errect a 150 foot high tower was shocked when one commissioner ask, why not just put up three 50 ft towers? You can’t fix STUPID!!!!! That same commissioner wants to hire a county manager. You still can’t fix STUPID
By Joe
May 31, 2007 10:01 AM | Link to this
If you think an appointed government employee will give you the same service you receive from an elected official you have a lot to learn, and I’m not sure you can fix STUPID!
By Shannon, M.Div.
May 31, 2007 4:20 PM | Link to this
This is fascinating. No one seems to have asked the question as to why Clayton/DeKalb schools are statistically inferior to Fayette and Henry. I believe the answer lies in socio-economic class.
Higher incomes in an area leads to better infrastructure, and that better infrastructure leads to better schools (among other things). Products of those better schools are likely to have higher incomes, and live in an area with better infrastructure, etc. etc.
We want to pretend that it’s 100 percent about the home, about the parents, about the family. It’s not. There are external pressures on some families that other families will never have to face. A teenager gets pregnant and has a kid; the dad suffers few consequences and may not be in the kid’s life at all. It’s not the kid’s fault, but the teen keeps the baby (or her mother keeps the baby), and that kid grows up with different challenges and a different value system than the kid across town born to a middle class pair.
So the question isn’t just a question about “lawbreakers” and “law abiders” and getting rid of your TV set so you can afford a higher mortgage. It’s a question of why wealthier people have access to better public education than poorer people. It’s not right. It’s certainly not Christlike.
By the way, I’m a Christian, a graduate of Lovejoy High School, and I hold a master’s degree from Emory with another coming at the end of the summer. I’m married with no kids.
By doinou
June 1, 2007 9:50 AM | Link to this
The education the kid would be getting is to break the law. What do we need laws for if exceptions are going to be made for those who would rather not abide by them?
By payforwhatyouget.
June 1, 2007 9:54 AM | Link to this
Maybe we should all be communists so we could all have the same things or lack of, and no incentive to do better.
By Rachel
June 1, 2007 10:35 AM | Link to this
Shannon, I agree this is an issue more about economics than anything else. It always is. Wealthy parents can demand and expect more from schools than you poor parents who they themselves know very little. The community can’t or can depending on who the community is. The City of Atlanta School, South Fulton, South DeKalb, Clayton and even precious parts of Henry County are full of uneducated or moderately educated parents they won’t demand more AP/Honor classes for their students. Where as, Walton County, North Fulton, Fayette and John Creeks parents are shown to have higher education levels.
Most of the battles in life are drawn on the have and have nots.