Kelley Williams-Bolar, Ohio Mother, Convicted Of Felony For Lying To Get Kids Into Better School

Ohio mother of two Kelley Williams-Bolar was released from jail on Wednesday after serving nine days for falsifying records so that her two daughters could attend a better school.

Williams-Bolar was convicted by a jury of using her father's address to claim residency status that would allow her children to attend a higher-performing suburban school.

While her sentence was light in terms of jail time, Williams-Bolar was put on probation for two years and ordered to complete 80 hours of community service. The conviction may threaten her ability to get the teaching license she was working on.

According to NPR,

And the judge felt strongly enough about it in this case that the judge has written a letter to the State Department of Education saying this woman has no record, please don't make this a reason to pull her license.

The case has struck a cord across the nation with many sympathetic to the struggle of a mother trying to get the best education for her children. The racial undertones of Williams-Bolar's case have also not gone unnoticed.

Syracuse University Professor Boyce Watkins, who has written about the case, told HLN,

"I felt that the sentence was draconian and really, the case of Kelley WIlliams-Bolar, it's such a microcosm of everything that is wrong with America when it comes to access to educational quality, when it comes to economic inequality and when it comes to inequality in the criminal justice system."

Although many parents lie about residency, Williams-Bolar's case is unique because other parents never land in court. According to NPR, the mother fought to keep her children in the school, while other Ohio parents quickly removed their children from the school if they were confronted by district officials over residency issues.

Williams-Bolar plans to appeal the case. Efforts to support her have sprung up quickly.

The Beacon Journal reports,

The Akron chapter of the National Action Network, led by the Rev. Al Sharpton, was leading an effort on Facebook to raise money to enable Williams-Bolar to afford an appeal of her case. Donations were to be sent directly to her.

WATCH:

Comments

[Andrew FingerlickingGree]

01:43 AM on 02/11/2011

This is so ridiculous on so many levels. People lie about their residency all the time, people lie... people lie. When did lying become a crime?

Being contrained to go to a particular school because of where you live is absolutely absurd. How does this differ from the school segregation of the past. The worst schools are in improvished, low income areas, the better schools are in middle class neighborhoods. How on earth do we expect the cycle of poverty to end.

[flameworker]

03:35 PM on 02/14/2011

Lying has always been a crime. Perjury, for example, is a crime.

Schools are funded by federal and your LOCAL taxes and allocated according to school district census data. When School District X expects 100 students based on their data they hire enough teachers, purchase enough books, food for the cafeteria, etc. for those students. When 25 kids from another district just show up because "they want a better education", who pays for them? The kids already attending the school, that's who. Their classes are more crowded and other resources less available. Furthermore, there are many federal programs that help funnel money into needier districts such as Head Start and Title 1.

[DPuig]

07:49 PM on 02/09/2011

This article did not state all the facts. Ms Williams-Bolar along with other families enrolled her children at the school although they did not live within the proper district. The school confronted all the families. The other families paid the school the cost but Ms Williams-Bolar chose not to pay and go to trial and lost. She was sentenced to 10 days in jail (she served 9), probation and community service. Her father is also having legal problems because he filed documents for Ms Williams-Bolar and children. His problems are worse, he is also being indicted for knowingly falsely filing documents to receive monetary, medical and food assistance from the Dept. of Job and Family Services.

[SYLVIA999]

08:23 PM on 02/08/2011

Now we know why Obama is going to win his second term as president! :)

[Jina Koffi]

12:42 AM on 02/05/2011

This is a crazy situation because the Governor of Ohio AND the judge on the case do not want to see her lose her license. However, what she did was wrong and there should be a SUITABLE punishment for her crime. This type of thing happens all the time, yet this young lady had to be made an example. I do hope everything works out for the best. If only they could combine two independents' salaries, then maybe her kids wouldn't have qualified for those free lunches (federal program, FYI)!

[mmqmui]

12:48 PM on 02/04/2011

that suburban school was probably racist. so many parents get away with using false addresses so their kids can go to a better school here in the city of chicago. inorder for a school to investigate they need the funds. why would a school use valuable money to hurt the well-being and care of a child.

[flameworker]

03:42 PM on 02/14/2011

"why would a school use valuable money to hurt the well-being and care of a child." Why? Because schools do not have infinite resources and the presence of her kids takes away from the well-being and care of the children actually live in that school district.

Actually, your house is nicer than mine and your kids have nicer clothes so you wouldn't mind if I just sent my three over to live with you and claim you're their daddy or mama? Seems fair to me, I just want them to have a better life, okay?

[Richie MuadDib]

11:09 PM on 02/02/2011

The school has most likely benefited from the "fraud" by accepting thousands of dollars in state and federal funding based on these girls' enrollment. So, will they be keeping the stolen money that they received on behalf of Ms. Williams-Bolar's fraud? Or will they be indicted as accessories after the fact?
Think about it, if you KNOWINGLY keep money obtained through fraud (stolen money), you could be convicted as an accessory...even worse, is it okay for you to keep the State and Federal money that YOU claim were obtained through fraud?

[flameworker]

03:48 PM on 02/14/2011

I'm afraid you're incorrect Richie. Schools are required to perform a census by mail or in person (I was an enumerator for my local district several years ago) and funding is based on that, not the enrollment. So basically, Ms. Williams-Bolar was stealing from the taxpayers and their children who actually lived there.

[Richie MuadDib]

02:21 AM on 02/16/2011

Do you think the school is returning the money they received from the federal gov't on behalf of the free/reduced lunch program?

You are alleging that the school did NOT receive federal and state funding for these girls...but you are basing this on the idea that the girls MIGHT not have been included in a school census.

If you turn in your tenant for defrauding the gov't, but you don't return the rent money he gave you, what does that make you? You turned him in, but you want to keep the money because he owed you rent? That isn't going to fly.

And keep in mind, that town received the grandfather's taxes, so their complaint that his granddaughters don't live with him (and therefore aren't entitled to his tax-funded school) is a bit much.

[Richie MuadDib]

11:03 PM on 02/02/2011

So, the school would have been perfectly happy if this lady and her daughters slept each night at the grandfather's house? Either way they wouldn't be getting anymore tax dollars! Was that one of the options offered to Ms. Williams-Bolar?

She took her girls out of the school BEFORE the 2009 school year (yet tried and convicted in 2011). Basically, the town wanted to keep Mr. Williams-Bolar's taxes but NOT educate his granddaughters under the technicality that they lived 10 miles from his house.

And why did they have suspicions about these two girls in the first place?

[Steve Pugh]

08:17 PM on 02/02/2011

The problem here is the liberal wackadoos cannot, under any circumstances, allow school choice of any kind, otherwise they would have to accept school reform the Republicans have been pushing for years that would allow parents the opportunity to send the kids to better schools.

[Richie MuadDib]

12:07 AM on 02/03/2011

I don't know what the liberal v. Republican thing is, but it seems we should be somewhat offended when two towns with a combined population of 20K, profit from Federal and State funding (forming a school system that isn't big enough to warrant a separate system from the county), yet then attack one resident for allowing his granddaughters to "free-ride" off his taxes...and two years after the girls stop going to school there, they press criminal charges (?).

Come on, bro, you know this doesn't smell right. These "hamlets" didn't lose money, they just want to keep granpa's money and refuse to educate his grandkids, but then demand money from his daughter as if he hasn't already paid them (along with the thousands they received from you and me, and the rest of Ohio). These are greedy, exclusive townspeople that feel entitled to create a separate school system in a county that could clearly use the property taxes of these two hamlets.

[C Morse]

05:22 PM on 02/01/2011

To bad you don't want the facts.

You may be interested to know her conviction was not entirely for what the title of the article says. She lied (the jury decided) on her application for school lunches. Her children were receiving free or reduced cost lunches for at least two years. Add it up, that comes out to a tidy sum. But they dropped the grand theft charge, gave her a 10 day sentence and probation. When she serves this short term charges will then be reduced to a misdemeanor.
This will not ruin her career, as some have surmised. No, but it will serve as a wake up call to play by the rules.

[colamonkey]

06:48 PM on 02/01/2011

What, you mean play by the rules created and maintained by a very rac ist system?


Kelley Williams-Bolar did the best she could for her kids despite the disadvantages forced upon her by an unfair, unjust, and rac ist system.

[Richie MuadDib]

11:14 PM on 02/02/2011

Where are you getting these "facts" ? I haven't read anything anywhere about her charges being dropped. How would that happen anyway? There was no plea deal that I have heard and I don't think you can just drop a felony to misdemeanor after a jury trial.
And as for school lunches: I don't think city taxes pay for that, I would bet that is funded by state and federal taxes. This city doesn't seem like the type that would fund school lunches...that was probably the "tip" that the girls didn't belong there: they were poor.

[Tauna Rogers]

01:43 PM on 02/01/2011

From the Washington Post, Valerie Strauss:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/equity/not-a-rosa-parks-moment.html#more

[Ariel Bonzai]

01:12 PM on 01/31/2011

http://www.perdaily.com/2011/01/kpfk-spends-3-days-showing-the-national-scope-of-lauskd-white-chalk-crime.html#more

This outrage reflects the insidious nature of school reform. Racism, discrimination and abuse of power will undermine Public Education and Democracy will be sold off to the highest bidders. Listen to people doing something revolutionary: telling the truth

[max08]

12:20 PM on 01/31/2011

I'm with the mother. Nine days in jail? No white woman would have got that treatment?

(And please, no comments below mine about her breaking the law, blah-blah. Not interested.)

[Ariel Bonzai]

01:15 PM on 01/31/2011

She got a felony! They said others did but she is the only one charged. If anyone broke the law it was the schoo and court system. Her teaching career I'd ruined.

[bicycle66]

02:35 PM on 01/31/2011

You all need to find out the facts of this story. There were a couple dozen of families who were confronted with the same crime. At least 12 of the families were WHITE. Of all the families who were charged, Williams-Bolar was the ONLY one who refused to cooperate with authorities and the school board. Every other family complied with the law by paying the fines and either removing their kids from the school, or finding a way to get them in legally. Williams-Bolar ignored all letters from the school board. She lied not only on the documents for school registration about her residency, but she also lied on the federal documents for free and reduced-cost lunch.

[bicycle66]

02:38 PM on 01/31/2011

"No comments . . . about breaking the law, blah blah. Not interested." Not interested in the facts, apparently. "No white woman would have got that treatment" -- a fact? Really? She was the only one whose case went to trial because she was the only one who continued to either lie about her residency, or to ignore the letters and warnings from the school board. There were many families charged -- at least 12 of the families were white. They all paid the fines and removed their kids from the school, or found legal means to keep them there.

[goodmarina]

10:29 PM on 01/31/2011

how would the others find "legal means" -- and this woman not?

in other words -- they had the money and connections to make it "go away".   this woman did not.

[mdbobb]

11:05 AM on 01/31/2011

yes, don't let the facts get in the way.

[goodmarina]

10:31 PM on 01/31/2011

so tell us ... what's your interest in this story -- since you've been posting your thoughts as fact -- with no back-up (i.e. posting links)

[bicycle66]

09:20 AM on 02/01/2011

Every single fact that mdbobb posted can be verified by simply reading the actual news, and not just blog posts by people who only know what they've read in other blog posts. Want a link? I'll give you one to the Akron Beacon Journal. http://www.ohio.com/news/first/114889499.html

I don't know what mdbobb's interest is in the story, but I'll give you mine. I live in Akron, so I'm well acquainted with the community, I work in a neighboring school district and so anything to do with education and school funding is a high priority, my kids attend Akron Public Schools.

[mdbobb]

11:02 AM on 01/31/2011

* Williams-Bolar was caught on video tape gaming the system by dropping off and picking up her children so a Copley-Fairlawn bus could pick them up each morning, just not from the AMHA home the family inhabited in Akron. Even with the claim of safety for her children, the fact remains her daughters still lived in the home Williams-Bolar now says was unsafe;
* Williams-Bolar admitted to investigators from Copley-Fairlawn and AMHA that she misrepresented herself verbally and in writing;
* Williams-Bolar and her family submitted documents the Summit County Juvenile Court system later found were not true;
* At one point, Williams-Bolar even sent one of the school district's letters back with a handwritten note insinuating that the addressee was serving overseas, a despicable misrepresentation that should outrage any member of the military and their family truly deployed in service to this nation.

[lawgrrl]

09:17 AM on 02/01/2011

Oooooh, she's soooo EVIL . . . how dastardly! What an outrage! She's no better than someone gaming the welfare system! She should go to PRISON!! (sarcasm in case anyone reading this is obtuse).

[bicycle66]

02:17 PM on 02/01/2011

Nothing adds to a serious discussion about a serious issue more than sarcasm instead of facts and reason.