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W. Virginia Bill Would Yank Your Driver's License if Your Kid Misses Too Much School
Filed under: In The News
Pull over, ma'am. No, you weren't driving too fast. Your kid is missing too much school. Credit: Getty
"Look at this note from school! Ten unexcused absences?! That tears it! Don't even think about going out with your friends this weekend. You just lost your driving privileges, Bucko!"
Sound familiar?
Actually, this is not the sound of you talking to your kids. It could be the sound of the state talking to you.
That is, if you happen to live in West Virginia.
The Parkersville News and Sentinel reports State Sen. Erik Wells has introduced a bill to yank your driver's license if your kid misses 10 or more days of school. You'd get a warning after the fifth unexcused absence.
The Democrat tells the News and Sentinel he knows this bill will go over about as well as Rush Limbaugh in a pole-vaulting contest. However, he wants to make a point.
"I think responsibility has to start somewhere, and it is the parents' responsibility as parents to put the welfare of their child first, and one of those aspects is to get the child to school," Wells tells the newspaper.
He adds perpetually absent kids should also lose their ability to participate in band, play sports or enjoy other extracurricular activities.
"There needs to be some consequences," Wells tells the News and Sentinel.
Yeah, maybe. But West Virginia's General Assembly has a lot of other issues nipping at its heels, the newspaper reports, including a bill adding five to 10 minutes to the school day. Lawmakers say this, too, will impress upon parents the importance of education.
All told, lawmakers have 2,000 bills staring at them this legislative session. Only 200, on average, become law. Wells tells the News and Sentinel he's not optimistic about his bill passing.
Nonetheless, he adds, he hopes his effort will spark discussion. It already has. The News and Sentinel reports West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee supports the bill.
"I think that one of the things a parent owes to a child that they bring into this world is to provide an environment to make sure they're in school," Wells tells the News and Sentinel. "I just have a hard time, as a parent, seeing how a parent would neglect their child, and I do think it's neglect ... You are hampering that child's ability to succeed in life by keeping them out of school and that's a disservice to that child."
Bills don't always have to be signed into law to be effective, Wells tells the News and Sentinel. Sometimes it's enough that legislation -- even futile legislation -- is introduced to let people know that lawmakers are doing something.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 27)
1-11-2011 @ 1:04PM
Nora said...If State Sen. Erik Wells thinks it's the parents' responsibility to ensure their children attend school, then why pass a law making it the government's perogative to enforce the parents' responsibility?
Reply
1-11-2011 @ 2:28PM
Cj said...this is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard, this clearly was not thought out properly if they have to get govt. involvement to punish the parents?? some kids are just plain rotten, and an ailing/sick parent cant' keep a 24hr watch on a rotten child, or any child for that matter.
1-11-2011 @ 2:53PM
guest said...punish the kid not the parent this is crossing a line here
1-11-2011 @ 3:05PM
Januali said...Simple answer to that is...the parents are not doing their JOB. I think it is a good idea if nforn o other reason then parents will wake up and figure out that their kids and not them are in chaarge in a lot of cases.
1-11-2011 @ 6:22AM
Terry said...Sounds totaliterion to me!
Reply
1-11-2011 @ 9:20AM
Alia said...Sounds like you missed too many spelling classes, Terry.
1-12-2011 @ 7:14AM
Michelle said...*you're
1-11-2011 @ 6:12AM
LISA said...PRETTY SAD WHEN THE STATE HAS TO STEP IN TO MAKE YOU A GOOD PARENT!!!!! PARENT YOUR KIDS PEOPLE,
Reply
1-11-2011 @ 11:59AM
susie said...Since when does sending children to school make anyone a good Parent? There are a lot of abusive and neglectful parents that perceive the schools as a babysitter. There are a lot of responsible and loving parents who opt to teach their children at home so that God forbid they do not become slaves to the school system and the increasing control they want to have over how children should or should not be raised. If there is a medical reason, cold, flu, or asthma, allergies, collera or family tragedy of any kind that would prevent a child from going to school, who has the right to determine exscused or non exscused?
If the child is passing and is not exhibiting physical or mental signs of distress LEAVE FAMILIES ALONE! I believe there are still truant officers that check up on students whose parents do not call the school to inform them of their childs absences.
1-11-2011 @ 1:05PM
CoronaGeezer said...Now that sounds like a Democrat...
How are the parents going to get their kids to school if they take their drivers license away...
Democrat "rocket science"...
1-11-2011 @ 1:34PM
JIM said...NOW THAT SOUNDS LIKE A SCHOOL BUS. JUST LIKE A REPUB TO BRING THEIR POLITICAL VIEWS. GROW UP.
1-11-2011 @ 1:57PM
Amanda said...haha to the person who said this sounds like a democrat hahaha I can only laugh at that because I 100% agree with Jim on how this idiot sounds like a full blow REPUB!
1-11-2011 @ 2:04PM
King of Stone Mountain said...Nice comeback, Jim! Funny how THEY always turn each & every topic into a political one...Tea-baggin Losers.
1-11-2011 @ 7:30AM
ducky said...No wonder people laugh at West Virginians. LOL
Reply
1-11-2011 @ 10:41AM
MommyBunny said...Yes, seriously! I mean, it's biting their noses off to spite their faces--- not that the Government doesn't do that a LOT in EVERY state... Because it's so brilliant that your kids will miss LESS school after the flipping state takes away your way to GET them there...
1-11-2011 @ 6:18AM
bknott3848 said...THIS IS TOTALLY WRONG. if the kid is sick in a accendent on vacation with parents .the freaking state can not tell the parents what or how it is.unless the state is going to pay the parents housing food medical and everything else. then maybe the state can take control.. you people need to start sueing the states. money talks when you take it away from the state there are other ways to make kids stay in school.make school more interresting, take away the liberal agenda and be more conservitive on teaching. go back to books for teaching , computers should be at home not schools . states make it to easy and kids get bored
Reply
1-11-2011 @ 6:38AM
susan said...it's UNEXCUSED absences that they are going after. if your kid's out of school for 10 days, that would probably mean the child has a doctor's excuse.
1-11-2011 @ 7:03AM
ken said...Wow. Have you seen the technology in some schools????? It's fabulous. BKNOTT IT'S UNEXCUSED ABSENCES. AND THE WAY TO MAKE YOUR KIDS GET TO SCHOOL IS TO KICK THEIR BUTTS IF THEY ARE NOT IN SCHOOL. THE PARENT NEEDS TO BE A BETTER PARENT. THAT IS OBVIOUS JUST BY LOOKIING AT MOST OF THE KIDS THESE DAYS. MOST PARENTS TODAY ARE DOING A HORRIBLE JOB IN MY OPINION. IT'S SCARY TO THINK THAT THEY ARE THIS COUNTRY'S FUTURE.
1-11-2011 @ 7:19AM
Duane said..."take away the liberal agenda and be more conservitive"
Uh no, this is your right wing neo nazi conservative aganda at work. You right wingers claim to want government out of your private lives then turn right around and push your agenda right into people's private lives. We don't need it.
1-11-2011 @ 7:39AM
Laura said...Do you actually think that kids would find studying out of textbooks rather than learning from computer activities MORE interesting, and that this would cause them to want to go to school? And why should the parents be taking children out of school to go on vacation? Schools provide approximately 3 months of vacation built into the school year, and that's when responsible parents schedule vacations. Yes, you cannot schedule a death in the family in advance, but family emergencies should be a rare occurance, and at least in my state (Texas), schools excuse 5 days for a funeral.
I'll agree with you that it's a shame a state has to look at such extreme measures to get parents to do their job, but all of society suffers when our future adults are trained that you work when you want to, and there are not consequences for failure to do your job. After all, school is the equivilent of work for kids.