Jerri Collis: North Carolina Mom Sent To Jail After Her Child Misses School For 10 Days

Jerri Collis, a mother from Brunswick County, North Carolina was sent to jail after her child missed school for more than 10 days. According to WWAY News, Jerri has been charged with attendance law violation – a law that has been made to protect children. Attendance law violation is categorized under misdemeanor and eventually, Collis was sent to jail for 10 days, her husband confirmed when contacted by WWAY.

According to officials from the local police station, Collis’ child is a student at the Cedar Grove Middle School and had missed attendance for over 10 days. Following an attempt made by the principal of the school to contact Jerri to explain her child’s unexplained absences, the unconvinced school officials decided to have law-enforcement agencies to issue a criminal summons against Jerri. She was arrested shortly afterwards. According to the school officials, Jerri was given warnings on several occasions. They decided to contact the police after the number of unexplained absences got to 10.

In fact, the Principal of Cedar Grove Middle School confirmed that she had met with Jerri to let her know about the law and told her about the things she should do to comply with it. However, even after the meeting, seeing no change in the mother’s attitude, the school officials decided to complain against her.

According to Jennifer Ordonez, a social worker with Brunswick County Schools, the law under which Jerri has been charged has been made to protect children. It is not intended to punish the parent.

“If they are missing academic instruction, they are missing class work, and they are missing homework, they are missing tests, their grades are going to drop, and that’s a part of it we generally see. We do have multiple interventions that we utilize before having to make a decision to charge a parent.”

Meanwhile, MyFox8 reports that Jerri’s husband when contacted over phone revealed that the chid missed school because of health concerns – although he did not clarify what those concerns were. He also alleged that the child was recently bullied at school and that was one of the reasons for missing school for 10 days.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, a Georgia mom was recently sent to jail after she admitted to hosting a wild drug and alcohol party for her teenage daughter.

[Image Via WWAY News]