Homeless Mom Sentenced To 5 Years In Prison For Using Friend’s Address To Enroll Son In School
Felicity Huffman‘s 14-day sentencing has spotlighted school-related cases of parents who received longer jail time in comparison to the actress’ role in the college admissions scandal.
A homeless woman from Bridgeport, Connecticut, was sentenced to five years in prison for enrolling her son in a school district where he did not reside.
In 2011, Tanya McDowell wanted a better education for her then 5-year-old son Andrew, and enrolled him in an elementary school in the neighboring town of Norwalk — using her son’s babysitter’s address for registration papers. At the time, she and her son were living out of her van and homeless shelters, and spending nights at an apartment in Bridgeport, the Connecticut Post had reported.
The mother was arrested and charged with first-degree larceny and served five years behind bars for the “stolen” education, according to The Hour.
“Who would have thought that wanting a good education for my son would put me in this predicament?” McDowell, who also had prior drug charges, said in court at the time of her sentencing. “I have no regrets seeking a better education for him, I do regret my participation in this drug case.”
On Friday, actress Huffman was sentenced to 14 days behind bars for her role in the college admissions scandal, which included paying $15,000 to admissions consultant William “Rick” Singer and his nonprofit organization, Key Worldwide Foundation (“KWF”), who then facilitated cheating on Huffman’s daughter’s SAT test by having a proctor correct the teen’s answers after the fact.
Critics pointed out the stark contrast in the consequences between these two cases, arguing that it exemplified a disparity that continues to put underprivileged communities at a disadvantage.
Similarly, in 2011, Ohio mom Kelley Williams-Bolar was sentenced to 10 days in county jail and was convicted of lying about her home address to get her daughters into a different school district. Williams-Bolar refused when officials asked her to pay $30,000 in back tuition, and she was convicted of falsifying residency records.
Earlier this year, The Washington Post reported that a new study showed white school districts received $23 billion more in government funding than nonwhite school districts in 2016, regardless of the fact that they had the same number of students.
Photo Credit: start.att.net