Kelley Williams-Bolar’s Long, Winding Fight to Educate Her Daughters
http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/05/kelley_williams_bolar_school_choice.html
This 42-year-old single mother from Akron, OH, who had never had trouble with the law prior to this, is currently serving two years on probation all for using her father's address to send her daughters to the Copley-Fairlawn School District instead of Akron Public Schools. In the article you will read what dangerous incidents and tough circumstances prompted the mother to use her father's address to begin with. You will also read how Copley-Fairlawn School District were able to find about about Williams-Bolar's falsified documents, what legal, political and social support she had during the incident and what life after her sentence has been like as she has now become a activist for school reform.
I thought this article was very well written and newsworthy. It's pretty extensive, but there was a lot of background to cover and questions to answer. This story and article stuck out to me because I personally thought she shouldn't have falsified on documents, but I understood why she did and thought actual criminal prosecution was extreme. I also believe it brought to light the school reform issue, which to me isn't discussed enough at times. So I pose the question: Do you think Kelly Williams-Bolar's story was newsworthy and did she receive the appropriate punishment for her actions?
I think this is a good article to open up some people's eyes to the multiple problems that we have within our school systems. It is definitely needed and the author does a good job covering all of the angles and gathering information. However, I do agree that prosecution was the right action IF the district is being honest that prosecution only occurred because Williams-Bolar did not take appropriate actions.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very well-written article overall and it touched on an important issue in our society today. What Williams-Bolar did was technically wrong and illegal, but she did it to help her kids escape an underperforming public school education, which has been a problem in America since the "No Child Left Behind" Act. Public education has been dumbed down to make sure every student will be able to graduate high school and all we are really doing is limiting the students with the most potential and dumbing down our country's education overall. I feel like the author provided great details throughout the story and it was an interesting read.
ReplyDeleteI am a bit surprised to find this as news right now. I am from Copley, and I remember this being a big news story, but a few years ago. It is interesting to see this story, as a bit of a follow up. The law is the law, and she broke it. While that may be true however, I do not believe with all of the punishment that she received. A fine and some community service is fine in my opinion but I believe the drug tests and such are way overboard.
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ReplyDeleteKYLE WIGGERS: Quite an article. Certainly insightful, in a retrospective sort of way. And for the most part balanced, too, for which I give the author credit, because it's very difficult not to take sides in emotional issues such as this.
ReplyDeleteConcerning Kelly's question, I definitely think this person's story was and is newsworthy; you hear about poor, disadvantaged, single mother "education stealers," but to read about one in particular is something else entirely. As far as Williams-Boler's actions, I believe they were warranted but unsustainable, more a symptom of than a cure for than the problems plaguing the nation's public school systems.
I think this article is lengthy but filled with informative information. Not only do they talk about the case itself but they go into the issue at large. The issue is education reform and what extent parents will take to commit a crime. It is questionable as to whether this really is a crime and I find it interesting a mom was even sent to jail for it. Either way the topic is controversial and the article sticks to telling facts. The article gives many details which I find fitting for this topic because it is so controversial the readers wants to follow everything that is happening. I read the entire article and wanted to read it again to go back and catch all the details. That is a good news story if the author can intrigue the reader past the topic and into the details.
ReplyDeleteI liked the way this article was set up as more of a story opposed to an article. This helps keep attention from the reader which is obviously necessary as the article is quite long. This story is very newsworthy and, I agree, needs to be discussed a lot more. Should this woman really be getting jail-time and such extreme punishments for trying to better her children's education, getting them in a safer area, or both? I honestly think it is very ridiculous and something needs to be done to fix the problem.
ReplyDeleteI think this tory had an interesting descriptive lead that lead to the story tone it had. I feel like this approach made it more relatable to the readers and gave it a humane feel. I believe this story is very newsworthy. I think the punishment was completely unnecessary and this women should instead have been applauded for trying to give her children the best and safest education possible. I don't see why she is being punished for something so trivial. It seems to me, a more appropriate punishment would be simply to take her kids out of that school. I'm glad the story brings to light the problems with school systems, something i seldom hear anything about. I really enjoy in depth stories such as this one and think it was very well written.
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DeleteI believe that the punishment that Kelley Williams-Bolar received was unfair. She just wanted the best for her children. With that being said, she did break the law and the consequences of her actions were clearly laid out. She took a risk, and it didn't pay off in the long run. The article was a little lengthy, however, I feel like the author did a great job of conveying the entire story so everyone knew exactly what was going on in this quasi complex case.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the way that this article was written. It's different from our usual inverted pyramid and takes a more story-like approach, and so is able to get into a lot more detail without starting to feel tedious.
ReplyDeleteI thought this article was newsworthy. Like you said, you heard about this from a mother who has children going to school. This directly relates to her, and other mothers like her. I understand why Kelley was punished, but I do think the punishment was somewhat unfair. Once you understand her circumstances, her motives are more evident. I thought this article was well written. Even though it didn't directly relate to my every day life, i wanted to keep reading it.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the article is too lengthy for the normal newspaper, it provides such extensive information that is has more of a short story word length. Education in United States has faltered within the past twenty years and Kelley Longs' gives a reader the perpective of parents' reactions. I love human interest stories such as this one because the focus is one individual's problems but a large audience can relate to his/her issues. I found this piece very newsworthy and I think her repercussions of sending her children to a different school were completely unfair. Great read; I plan to share it!
ReplyDeleteI agree this article was a little lengthy for the average news article. The information in it was was interesting. The way the story was set up really caught my attention and made it easier for me to read. It wasn't too pertinent to my life yet I agree that it was a good piece.
ReplyDeleteThe article gives a personable account of a struggling mother who would risk it all to better the lives of her children. It is touching, and eye-opening as to what problems lie within school systems and what exactly the justice system classifies as "justified."
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