Parents of Detroit Truants Told to Get Their Kids to School or Face Jail Term

The parents of Detroit’s most hard-core truants were summoned to meet with a prosecutor Thursday and threatened with 90 days in jail if they did not get their kids to class.

The meetings were ordered for the parents of 66 mainly elementary school students--some of whom missed more than half of the last school year. “We have to somehow wake people up,” said George Ward, Wayne County’s chief assistant prosecutor. “Kids belong in school.”

To some, the idea is absurd.

“How can you fault the parents? If you get them up and send them off, it’s their job to go,” said Carrie Lewis, an unemployed mother of six.

Others welcomed the prosecutor’s efforts.

Cynthia Orlando, who brought her 14- and 12-year-old sons, said: “We’ve got to take this step because they could end up in a life of crime and have no future.”

The state law threatening parents with 90 days in jail has been on the books for at least two decades but has rarely been enforced. Even then, the penalty imposed is generally a small fine.

State lawmakers are proposing to raise the penalty against parents to a $500 fine and up to 50 hours of community service, and suspend or hold up a youth’s driver’s license.