Parents Sentenced Over Child’s Absenteeism From School

The parents of an 8-year-old boy were convicted and sentenced this week for not sending him to school.

It was the second time in a year that the Glendale Unified School District has pressed for criminal action over a child’s absenteeism.

The father, Timothy Slayton, 35, was fined $30 plus a penalty assessment Monday after pleading guilty in Glendale Municipal Court.

His wife, Peggy Sue Biggums, 32, also was charged with violating the state Education Code, which requires parents to ensure that children from 6 to 18 attend school daily.

That charge was dropped when Biggums pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of interfering with a police officer who in February arrived at the family’s house to investigate why the child was not attending school, Deputy Dist. Atty. David Dahle said.

Biggums was fined $50 plus a penalty assessment and sentenced to one year on probation, Dahle said.

Dahle said Slayton and Biggums told authorities that they had taught their son at home because they were afraid he would be influenced by gang activity and drug use. The family has since moved to Hemet in Riverside County, and the boy is in school there, Dahle said.

A similar charge was filed in November against Julie Birss, 42, after school district authorities discovered that her 15-year-old daughter had attended school only a few days since 1987.

However, Birss proved that she had abided by authorities’ instructions by getting counseling for herself and her daughter, and prosecution was dropped. Authorities said Birss proved that she had tried to make her daughter attend, although unsuccessfully.