Mom Faces Jail for Making Son Walk to School

[Jello Biafra]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/mom-faces-jail-making-son-walk-school-232106412--abc-news.html

An Arkansas mother is being charged with a misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a minor after she made her son walk 4.6 miles to school in order to "teach him a lesson."

Valerie Borders, 34, told police her 10-year-old son had been suspended from the bus for a week and she was making him walk to school as punishment.

A bank security guard spotted the boy walking alone in 30-degree weather on Monday and called police.

When the boy spoke to the responding officer, he told him: "Please don't take me home. Mother will beat me," the police report said.

The officer took the boy to his mother's workplace, only to be told she was on vacation. They found her at home, where she was cited for child endangerment.

"There were a number of things that could have happened to the child," said Lyle Waterworth, a spokesman for the Jonesboro Police Department. "The child could have been injured, abducted."

ABC News affiliate KAIT spoke with the boy, who made an impassioned plea on camera to keep his mother out of jail.

The boy's mother did not speak on camera.

If convicted, she faces up to one year in jail and a maximum fine of $1,000.



Makes for a good debate.....

[surrealAmerican]

1. This kid needs help.

It's not about the walk to school: it's about the threat of beating.

[Confusious]

6. Was the beating real?

Or something the kid said?

My mother beat me. But I also knew kids, who If they could, would have said something like that to get their parents in trouble,

Why was the kid suspended from the bus in the first place? troublemaker?

[JSnuffy]

16. Doesn't mean that he actually is being beaten...

[surrealAmerican]

18. It might not, but it does seem to indicate that ...

... he's been threatened. It's a serious accusation that bares serious investigation.

[Kellerfeller]

26. Possibly, but it just be an expression

In our house we talk about beating the kids but never do.

For example, when my daughter was about 5, we had a social worker come out for a an annual home visit as we were foster parents in the foster-to-adopt program. The worker sat the kids down and asked them about us.

Social worker: "So, what do you like about your parents"

Daughter, giggling: "I like it when my dad beats me!".

Me: *facepalm*

I then had to explain that sometimes when she did something ornery (but not bad), I would tell her I was going to beat her and chase her around the house giggling crazily.

Yes, they continued us on as foster parents.

But my point is that even now the kids would probably say we were going to beat them if they got poor grades, smoked, whatever. But we never have.

As for the 10 year old walking the 4.5 miles, it depends on the area and the size of the kid. If I wasn't afraid of the kid being abducted, I would have no problem with it. Walking 4.5 miles isn't going to hurt the him.

[AverageJoe90]

33. I agree.

To Keller:You may have been joking around but I'm afraid this boy's mother may be for real.......

[leftofcool]

2. This is a tough one

Kids used to walk to school all the time in my day regardless of the weather. 4.6 miles is a bit much for a grade schooler though. Before school buses, our parents walked to school.

[Confusious]

4. I was being bullied in school

I walked home about that far every day for a month.

Is it nice to do? no. Do I think a lady should go to jail for it? hell no.

It was alaska to. 30 degrees is springtime there.

[moriah]

32. I thought it was Jonesboro, AR. Or are you saying you walked in Alaska? ;)

30 degrees is a bit chilly here but not terrible.

[Confusious]

37. I'm not the person in the article

I'm jut relating my experience, which applies to why I think the entire thing i.e "Woman goes to jail because son walked home from school" is stupid.

[moriah]

41. Agreed, I was just confused on the Alaska thing.

Wasn't sure if you were saying you lived in Alaska in elementary school, or if you thought this occurred in Alaska (where 30 degrees would be quite a warm day for winter).

Edit to add: the article says Jonesboro, Arkansas -- which is on the other side of the state from me, but is slightly warmer generally than I am up in the northwest corner of Arkansas.

[liberal N proud]

10. Uphill both ways and through 2 feet of snow

Our parents walking to school.

It didn't hurt the kid one bit to walk to school, as a parent though, I would have tailed the kid to make sure nothing happened to them and that they actually went to school.

The comments about the beating could just be the kid over-reacting to what he precived his mothers reaction would be. When my daughter has gotten herself into trouble, she probably wished I would just beat her and be done with it because I make her life a living hell for a day or two depending on the severity of the situation. Getting kicked off the bus, would have warrented a day of reading her the riot act because her actions caused me to have to change my schedule to take her to school.

There are wose things the kids will do, but you have to deal with these little things in hopes they don't grow to bigger things.

[izquierdista]

24. Schools used to be closer than 4.6 miles

But nowadays, the best place to build a school seems to be 3 or 4 miles from the nearest housing.

[Justice wanted]

3. Let's ask a few questions here... 1) How many of those Police officers walked to school when they

where younger? 2) MORE importantly HOW MANY of Arkansas prisons are PRIVATELY own by a corporation who demands that the state provide a certain number of occupants to get money?


This is freakin BS

[Jello Biafra]

7. Ding, Ding, Ding.....I think we have a winner.........

[Selatius]

5. With the thousands of kids who go missing every year, maybe it's not a good idea anymore.

There are other ways of punishing a child that don't necessarily put him in danger of being abducted, hit by a vehicle, or exposed to the possibility of hypothermia.

[Justice wanted]

9. IF you use that arguement than theoretically a child should NOT be NEVER left alone because the

child can be taken from his own yard OR his own bedroom.

[Selatius]

11. I believe the point still stands there are less dangerous ways of punishing a child.

I think making a child walk 4 miles alone may make him more visible to potential abductors vs. having him in your car.

[Justice wanted]

13. And my thought is that -at least the kids around here-play further than that. The problem is

people who are sick enough to abduct a child will find a way to do it no matter what.

[XemaSab]

14. Your kid is more likely to be molested by a friend or family member

Also, kids have been molested throughout time.

I don't think it's more dangerous to make him walk to school now than it's ever been before.

[LAGC]

21. There are no more stereotypical kidnappings now than there were 50 years ago.

And only around 100 per year, nation-wide, out of a population over 300,000,000.

Your kid has a better chance of being hit by lightning.

[AngryAmish]

23. There are not thousands of kids who go missing every year

Urban myth. Used to happen more often in the 70s for example.

Most "missing" kids were taken by a parent in a child custody dispute.

[Vinca]

8. Actually, that was a logical punishment for acting up on the school bus,but

the mother should have tailed him in the car to be sure nothing happened to him. As for the beating allegation, that needs to be looked into.

[TheMadMonk]

25. Yeah, ALL kids should be raised in full cotton batting.

Then fed to the world at eighteen.

You know what? It would be kinder to shove them feet first into a woodchipper.

[Vinca]

27. Kids have been known to disappear on the way to school, never to be seen again.

[moriah]

36. Yes, in sight of their parents, even:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping_of_Jaycee_Lee_Dugard

[TheMadMonk]

39. They are more likely to be struck and killed by lightning...

...than snatched on their way to school.

The less contact parents allow their kid to have with the real world, the less prepared they are to cope with it once they have no choice.

[joshcryer]

40. She should've tailed him for a mile and then drove him the rest of the way.

Other than that I think that the whole walk is a tad bit excessive.

[Ilsa]

12. As a parent, I think I would have

driven him most of the way to school, then have him walk the last half mile with me in the car following him. He would learn a direct consequence to being expelled from the bus without being put in danger. Taking him most of the way and following him in the car indicates that you are not abandoning him.

[XemaSab]

15. For the people who say that mom should have driven him or tailed him

His mom has a job. She was out that day, but there's nothing to say that she wasn't working the rest of the week.

That's why he was taking the bus to school.

[DetlefK]

17. 4.6 miles? That's almost 2 hours! In winter!

[midnight armadillo]

20. Depends on the roads too

Some places 4.6 miles to school can be done on sidewalks. Other places, 0.25 miles to school could be hazardous due to a combination of highly car-centric roads and aggressive, insane drivers (lookin' at you, Florida).

[MannyGoldstein]

19. 10 year old. 9 miles each day. Alone. In winter.

The mother is an idiot and a menace to her child.

[treestar]

22. People need to be very careful about the Endangering Charge

It can pop up in the slightest sets of circumstances. Things that happened to older generations of people when they were children would get their parents charged with abuse today.

[RebelOne]

31. Yep, I lived in South Florida as a child.

I biked 2 miles to the elementary school. Then we moved when I got to junior high school, and I had to walk 3 miles to school every day. And other then the scorching summer heat, didn't bother me. And there was never any 30-degree weather that I can remember.

[AverageJoe90]

34. True. However, though, this kid DID express fears that his mother could beat him.

And I believe that one thing I mentioned does deserve some further investigation.

[lumberjack_jeff]

29. Sensible in principle. Excessive in practice.

Kids need consequences.

[belcffub]

30. if we missed the bus we had to walk

just over 3.5 miles... did not mater time of year... and we get real snow in the winter...

did not miss the bus more then once or twice when I was a kid...

in highschool we could ride our bikes... that was not to bad...

[Jennicut]

35. I have a 7 year old. They don't let kids walk this far to school by themselves anymore.

It's a different world out there and you need to keep your kids safe. Sorry but true. Now that you can know if sexual abusers live near you, you are more aware as a parent. It is not the cold you need to worry about.

[Liberal_in_LA]

38. comments following the article support the mother

[ncteechur]

42. according to my dad, everyday he walked three times that far with a sweet potato in a paper sack

for lunch