Mother Jailed for Letting Child Play Hooky on 101 Days
The mother of a junior high school student has been sentenced to 10 days in jail for allowing her daughter to miss 101 days of school last year.
After sentencing Debra Shaw to the maximum jail time Tuesday, District Judge David W. Young instructed a jailer to give the woman’s two children a tour of the courthouse holding cells.
“Your mother is going to the dirty, funky, stinky Baltimore City Jail because the two of you have played hooky,” Young said. He blamed the children’s truancy on their mother’s laziness, noting that she had failed to show up for several meetings with school officials before charges were filed.
Shaw was convicted on a charge of failing to send 14-year-old Shantres Shaw to school. Young said he had information that Shantres’ brother, James, 13, missed a similar number of days.
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