Mom of Autistic Son Facing Jail Time for Tardies
A Michigan mother of an autistic boy faces up to three months in jail after a truancy charge stemming from more than a hundred separate incidents of absences and tardiness over the last few years.
Andria Candice Black, 27, has been charged with the misdemeanor offense after officials of the Fitzgerald Public School and Macomb Intermediate School Districts stated that her son, 7-year-old J’Rez Tarrant, was prevalently absent or tardy. The officials also claim he arrived without notification at Westview Elementary School, according to The Macomb Daily.
One of the lawyers representing Black has stressed that prosecutors have not considered that she is a single mother raising an autistic child.
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"Some days he will just shut down on me and not want to go," Andria told WXYZ.
Deano Ware , Black’s attorney said: “Prosecution should never be the answer unless there’s a case where we don’t know where a child is at or there’s some health or danger going on. This is not going to solve anything,” as reported by The Macomb Daily.
The absences and tardiness date back several years to 2008 and her attorneys stress that it would be unreasonable to ask her to think back and explain the tardiness. Her lawyers are also demanding a complete list of the days in question.
J’Rez’s attendance troubles started in the 2008-09 school year. He enrolled half way through the year in first grade. School officials allege he was absent or late a total of 128 of the 144 school days.
The next year, reports show J’Rez was absent 31 days and tardy 129 times. And in the 2010-11 school year was absent 21 days and was tardy 99 times, according to WXYZ.
District Judge, John Chmura, gave the defense two weeks to file any motions in the case. The Macomb County Prosecutors Office will then have two weeks to respond.
A person convicted of violating the Michigan Compulsory School Attendance Act can be sentenced up to 90 days in jail.
The judge is scheduled to rule on the arguments on Feb. 16.
