Mother of two ordered to keep children in school|[9/21/06]
Published 12:00 am Thursday, September 21, 2006
A Vicksburg woman arrested last month for failure to comply with the Mississippi Compulsory School Attendance Law has pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency or neglect of a child.
Diane Marks, 36, 3801 Washington St., was arrested in August after she attempted to enroll her 9-year-old son in the Vicksburg Warren School District. The boy had not previously attended public or legitimate non-public school. Several days later, authorities found a second child, a 16-year-old girl at the home. She, too, had not attended school, said Judge Johnny Price of Warren County Court, who accepted the plea.
“Her explanation was of a cultural nature,” he said. “She said her father wanted the children specially taught. He died last year, and that’s when she decided to enroll the boy in the school district.”
After the initial arrest, Marks could not be contacted and did not return calls to her home, but a man who identified himself as her husband and the father of the children said they chose not to enroll the children earlier because schools were not safe.
The man said the children had a tutor for seven years. He declined to identify the tutor, but said she was approved by school district officials. He wouldn’t identify the officials.
School Superintendent Dr. James Price said he was unaware of any approval.
Although the superintendent wouldn’t comment on this specific case, he said there was a procedure to follow in this situation.
“We design a program based on the individual student’s needs that would be the most efficient to bring them up to their appropriate grade level,” he said.
Judge Price said a teacher who had tested the children said they both seemed to function at a first-grade level.
“Both children are extremely well-mannered and polite,” he said.
He sentenced Marks to a six-month suspended jail term and placed her on unsupervised probation for five years. He also ordered Marks to have the children enrolled in Grove Street School for special educational services and in any other instructional services the school district deemed necessary.
Marks was also ordered not to take the children out of jurisdiction of the Warren County Youth Court and ordered her to pay all court costs and guardian ad litem fees.
A separate trial regarding the well-being of Marks’ children was heard in Youth Court last week. In Youth Court, all proceedings and records are kept confidential. Price is the judge of both courts.
He said a case like Marks’ is rare.
“We’ve had this pop up before, but we usually catch them in first or second grade- usually before they’re this age,” he said.