A Pennsylvania mother claims her 5-year-old son’s school is taking her to court over days she’s let him miss at kindergarten. This might sound outrageous at first, since kindergarten isn’t mandatory in the state. However, because the mom enrolled him before age 6, she may be responsible under the compulsory-attendance law. That said, she’s gotten herself into quite a pickle handling how her son attends school, so she’s detailed her predicament on r/legaladvice.
Under the username Honest_Disaster_3908, the mother says her 5-year-old has been diagnosed with autism level 3, ADHD, and traumatic brain injury, all of which cause him to have trouble sleeping. As a result, she’s kept him from going to kindergarten for his well-being’s sake. But when the school recorded that he missed 19 days, the staff called CYS on the mother.
“The principal wanted him to be there every day, regardless on how he slept,” Honest_Disaster alleged. “And I feel like she’s power tripping because we didn’t make him go when he was sick.” That said, OP believes the school is illegally “miscounting days” for her son and doesn’t think the principal should have gotten child services involved because of his diagnosis. It should be noted that, although the school allegedly said it would try to accommodate the 5-year-old, it doesn’t have an IEP for him and claimed it can’t update things for him “because he hasn’t been going regularly.”
Honest_Disaster also adds that she thinks the teachers are physically abusing her non-verbal son, based on scratch marks on his leg. Now, with a notice to appear before the local magistrate over his lack of attendance, along with alleged poor communication from school staff, the mom is at a loss as to what to do. While Redditors in the comments aren’t supportive of the school’s supposed shady actions, they also feel OP is at fault.
Reddit Turns the Argument on the Mother and Her Handling of Her Son’s Attendance
“The decision of when to keep him home is not up to your feelings of his sleep quality or quantity, and is legally required to be based on documentation and data acquired by the school or trained professionals such as doctors,” explained a user. “Based on your post, it seems YOU are the one breaking the law here.” Another Redditor added in a reply that keeping a child home from school could hinder his development. “It’s a huge disservice to him to not make him go to school,” they remarked.
“I am not saying the kids conditions don’t cause sleep issues, but you can’t randomly decide when/when not to bring the kid to school based on that,” agreed a third. One person even supported the idea of the mother having CYS involved with her son’s issues. “We got reported for truancy for mental health issues and it was the best thing that happened for my son,” the user wrote.
In the end, the mother has already decided to let the school be involved legally after letting her son attend. But with his absences, it’s as one commenter says, “The school cannot help your child if he does not attend. Putting structure in his world benefits him.” Unfortunately for OP, she isn’t convinced the school is doing what’s right, based on her response: “I just feel like we are getting bullied instead of everyone trying to help my son.”
