Jailed Ohio Woman Just Wanted Her Kids to Have a Better Education

If you live in a crime-ridden neighborhood where your home has been broken into a dozen times and your children's school is considered low performing, wouldn't you take drastic measures to ensure they get a quality education?

That's exactly what Kelley Williams-Bolar did, pulling her 12-year-old and 16-year-old daughters out of the decrepit school they attended in Akron, Ohio, and enrolling them in a suburban district where her father lived.

Williams-Bolar used her father's address, where she alleges she lived part time. Yet the Copley-Fairlawn school district felt she was lying about being a resident. The district hired a private eye to follow her, videotaping Williams-Bolar leaving her public housing home and dropping her children off at the suburban school.

They confronted Williams-Bolar and demanded that she repay the district $30,000, saying she didn't have the right to have her daughters in the district since she wasn't a taxpayer.

When she refused, Williams-Bolar was indicted on two felony charges, found guilty and sentenced to 10 days in prison. As a result, the aspiring schoolteacher will never be able to enter the classroom due to the felonies on her record.

Once the story hit the national media, it led to significant coverage and angered folks nationwide. Some see this as an issue of race: the mother and her children are black; the district is largely white.

But that really isn't the fundamental issue. What this problem should highlight for anyone is the clear disparities in urban and suburban school districts and how we have an education system that is unequal and unfair.

Too many Americans are delusional in thinking we have a national education system that is fair. It isn't. We all know that you can go from community to community and see some elementary, middle and high school campuses that look like college campuses, while others look like prisons. Those districts with money hire teachers with master's degrees and Ph.D.s; districts with little money rely on those with just teacher certificates. Those with money can invest in iPads and laptops; those without money are thankful just to have enough chalk, erasers and pencils.

It's so bad that teachers nationwide often dip into their own pockets just to purchase school supplies for many of their students.

Did Williams-Bolar break the law? Yes. Was her sentence fair? Of course not. When faced with a school system that will put our children further and further behind the learning curve, I dare say that many of us would have a "by any means necessary" focus to ensure they had the best chance to succeed.

In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama presented his bold vision to transform our nation's education system, but when the bulk of dollars come locally due to property taxes, there isn't much the federal government can do. And that means if you live in a well-off neighborhood, you're likely to see thousands more dollars being spent on education in that district, as opposed to districts where the property values are much lower.

The jailing of Williams-Bolar also raises the controversial issue of school choice. The Obama administration says it fully supports school choice, but that is limited to charter and magnet schools. I've long contended that all choices should be presented to parents, including vouchers, allowing those from the worst performing schools to be able to take the dollars allocated for their child and enroll in a private or parochial school.

If we are going to truly confront the education crisis in this country, nothing should be off the table. Whether we like it or not, there's not one way to educate a child. Take your pick: public school, private school, home school, charter schools, technical schools, college preps, ROTC academies, magnet programs, all-male, all-female, even online-only schools. You name it, I'm for it.

All Williams-Bolar wanted was for her kids to have a shot. And at the end of the day, that's what we all should want. But it is going to require men and women of conscience to stop with our attitude of protecting what we see as ours. We must be willing to create an education that is truly one this nation could be proud of.

Roland S. Martin is an award-winning CNN analyst and the author of the book "The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the White House as originally reported by Roland S. Martin." Please visit his website at www.RolandSMartin.com. To find out more about Roland S. Martin and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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