HARD LESSON

Parents of Truant Kids Can Be Jailed, Missouri Supreme Court Rules

“Regular” school attendance is mandated by state law—but the term is not clearly defined.

Parents who fail to ensure that their kids attend school on a regular basis can be sentenced to jail, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. The ruling affirmed that school officials were within their rights to take two single mothers to court after their kids were absent from classrooms for more days than district policy permitted. The court said that, contrary to arguments from the mothers’ attorney, school attendance laws aren’t constitutionally vague and that the parents “knowingly failed to cause their children to attend school on a regular basis after their children were enrolled.” Caitlyn Williams was sentenced to seven days in jail after her kindergartner daughter missed 16 days of school in the 2021-22 school year, while Tamarae LaRue was initially handed a 15-day sentence after her first-grader son was absent 13 days, though her sentence was later changed to two years of probation.