USA Today reports that an Ohio father, Brian Gegner, was sentenced to six months in jail after his daughter failed to get her GED. Two years ago, he was ordered by a judge to make sure his chronically truant daughter, Brittany, passed the exam. She still hasn't, so he's stuck in jail on grounds of contributing to the unruliness or delinquency of a minor. You can watch a video of the teenager explaining why she should be punished, not her father, here on CBS.
But the whole judgment seems ridiculous. Brittany is now the mother of an 18-month-old and engaged to be married. Does she necessarily need to have a GED right this second? She could always go back to school later if she wanted to. We're not really seeing the urgency.
And it definitely seems cruel and unusual to lock up her father, who's now in danger of losing his job of 15 years.
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 2)
1. I teach in Ohio, and while a lot of parents are to blame for their children's shortcomings, this is way too far. But I have a question, how old is she? If she's 18, it shouldn't be his problem.
Even the student says it's not her father's fault. I can understand trying to make an example out of somebody. Fine. Go to Columbus, Ohio and jail all the parents who ship their students around school to school trying to avoid bill collectors, parents who kick their children out because they can't handle the behavior problems, and blame the teachers for not doing enough. Jail the parents who allow their children to join gangs with violence and drugs.
Throwing this guy in jail because his daughter is an idiot is just this side of lunacy.
Strados at 11:50AM on May 14th 2008
2. If the guy didn't want to accept responsibility, he should have told the judge that two years ago.
Bob at 12:06PM on May 14th 2008
3. I don't understand the outrage...Judge to man "Man, git yer daugter to git a GED or yer goin' to jail" Man to judge "OK judge" Judge to Man "Man, yer daugter git a GED yit? huh? Does she?" Man to Judge "No judge" Judge to Man "Off you go to jail then, I don't make rulings' to hear myself speak"".
It's not rocket science.
Mat at 12:24PM on May 14th 2008
4. Earth to Mat... we must have some spare common sense around here for you.
not-pboyfloyd at 12:55PM on May 14th 2008
5. Strados,
The daughter is 18 - almost 19 according to the linked article. The article says she was a minor when the charges were first filed. The girl is a legal adult now - so how can the father be held responsible? As soon as she turned 18 he couldn't MAKE her do anything! When she hit legal age it should have been out of his hands. I hate frivulous law suits, but this man needs to get a lawyer and fight this.
K at 1:07PM on May 14th 2008
6. I can understand the frustration - I worked in Children Services for a number of years, and there were teens who were habitually truant and parents who didn't give a crap. This case is different in that she is 18 and no longer legally the father's responsibility - so the judge is wrong. But I have to ask - this was going on for two years, meaning she was a minor then skipping school. At that point, she WAS Dad's responsibility. I am not trying to judge without knowing the man, but she was obviously truant as a minor - and managed to end up pregnant.
Well?
David S. at 1:15PM on May 14th 2008
7. A high school girls gets handcuffed for her prom dress. A guy gets ticketed and thrown off a public beach because a cop doesn't like the guy's speedo. A man faces jail time because his adult daughter hasn't achieved a G.E.D.
The phrase, "Land of the Free," is taking a real beating these days.
Captain Negative at 1:38PM on May 14th 2008
8. K- I couldn't agree more, she's a legal adult now, why is this all of a sudden an issue?
Captain Negative- I agree with you, too. It's becoming really scary. I'm half expecting to be told which books I should be burning next.
Strados at 2:16PM on May 14th 2008
9. First of all, why don't judges hold ALL court orders up for judgement. I can't begin to tell you of all of the mother's whose child support orders are swept under the rug unless the single mother has tons of money to feed into the system. Secondly, I agree that parents should be held responsible for their children's educations. There are too many parents who send their children's lack of conformity onto the public.
Diane Clark at 3:05PM on May 14th 2008
10. While I agree that parente need to be accountable for the actions of their children... to a point... I am the parent of a 19 year old who followed a similar pattern, and like the father in this case did try to the utmost of my ability to make sure my sone was in school, could no mor force to stay in school, or better yet as this situation points out, force him to learn when he was there... this judge has gone over the edge. Maybe we should look at the parents who do nothing at all with their children. Oh wait then we'd be overloading the system.... go figure. and its not like she did not try, she did attempt trhe test and has trouble with math... so do many people in this country, maybe we should jail them oaa!
jeff at 3:54PM on May 14th 2008
11. The courts are pulling this crap all over. California is the worst of the bunch. They catch a kid smoking they get a ticket,if they get with a lighter,a book of matches they get the same thing. 150.oo dollar ticket and smoking school which the parent has to attend. Ballet dancers are not allowed to carry matches or a lighter burn the shoe strings. They will get a ticket.
You child is truant, you get letters ,go to meetings.The see the D.A. if they don't stop. Drive the kid to school make sure they go inside and poof they go out the back door. YOU go to court,YOU get fined because this kid has no respect for you or the court system. They send you to jail if the kid doesn't take a test. You are to go sit with them in school and also to take these tests. YET they hand out condoms to kids in middle school. The long and short of it is..they don't care to punish the offending kid as long as the parent can pay the FINES. They don't care if kids that are 11 and 12 are having sex, but they may not smoke after sex.!!
This is why our kids get away with murder. As long as they can make the parents responsible for the kids NOT doing as they are told the courts are happy. Someone has to pay and as you know we are not allowed to punish our children. When are voters going to do something about the GOVT telling us how to raise our kids? They dress like hookers,smoke drink do drugs skip school and have sex at 11. Why? because we let them. We give them everything. Tv's Ipods mp's,cars,credit cards. They work for nothing, we hand it to them. SO I guess we may as well go to jail for them too. I guess until the GOVT let's us raise our kids the way our parents raised us we will be paying for them for the rest of our lives. The mere fact that this girl has a child out of wedlock,no high school diploma,was a truant tells us something about the kid. She can have sex but can't use birth control, she isn't capable of taking a GED test but she can and will have one kid after another and be on welfare. Some kids are just born stupid and this is one of them. She should be in jail not the father.
JUDY at 3:59PM on May 14th 2008
12. "Does she necessarily need to have a GED right this second? She could always go back to school later if she wanted to. We're not really seeing the urgency."
No, I can't see the urgency either. I mean, how urgent should it be to get an education and become a productive member of society? How urgent is it to get an education so that you may provide for your child? Who is supporting them? The father that has just been sentenced to jail? The fiancee? Without a diploma or GED, I can't imagine that she'd have a well-paying job so that she might support herself. No... I can't see the urgency either.
Captain Negative, I can understand how those things would seem scary, but we have to remember that the media rarely gives both sides of the story - there's ALWAYS more! Granted, there are cases of ridiculous arrests and ridiculous court orders, but I doubt it is as bad as the media would have us believe.
Diane, for 14 years my mother fought with my father to receive the proper amount of child support. Now a friend of mine is going through the same thing, so I whole heartedly agree with you - they should uphold all court orders!
Marti at 4:04PM on May 14th 2008
13. If people don't like the rules or laws that are passed in any given arena - you have a right to protest - what you don't have a right to do is ignore the rules/laws. This father was told to do something by the judge - which is the law - he didn't and so he went to jail. He had two years and couldn't get his daughter to pass the G.E.D. something a monkey can do??? As for the girl arrested at her prom - she was given the dress code in advance - she decided she was something special and could break the rules arriving like a tramp and so she wasn't allowed in. She wasn't arrested for the dress she was arrested because of her response to not being allowed into the prom. This has nothing to do with freedom. The freedom is the choice to either go to the prom obeying the dress code OR not going - that's freedom. This isn't the land of "Freedom to violate laws at will" country.
SLBushway at 5:27PM on May 14th 2008
14. SLBushway, if you think a man should lose his job and be deprived of his liberty because his adult daughter (who doesn't live with him) cannot or will not pass a G.E.D. exam, you are part of the problem.
I might agree with you if you could show that the Ohio legal system treated others the same way they are treating this man.
But maybe you can show me an example of an Ohio judge sentencing a mother to six months in jail because her daughter was an academic under-achiever.
Or maybe you can show me an example of an Ohio 18 year old (male or female) being incarcerated for six months for failing to pass a G.E.D.
Or maybe you can show me an Ohio law which requires 18 year olds to have a G.E.D. or high school diploma at all.
Your words,"arriving like a tramp," tell me where you are coming from. I haven't seen a detailed report of the, "Prom girl" saga. I doubt that you have either. Was she charged with a crime? Surely there was a better way to handle the situation than having the girl taken out in handcuffs. Others have suggested some. She may well have violated a published school dress code, but since when do cops arrest people for violating school dress codes, especially when the kid isn't on school grounds?
And the cop ticketing the speedo wearing beach reader and ordering him to leave (and not return) to a public beach is beyond argument. A cop took it upon himself or herself to play "fashion police." A judge promptly dismissed the matter.
But your reply is, "OBEY!"
Quite, "Orwellian." With your all too common attitude, it's no wonder our only remaining civil liberty is the right to keep a low profile.
Captain Negative at 5:58PM on May 14th 2008
15. Bull****, That same court gets in your stuff and says spankings wrong.If you spank your kid or yell its child abuse. We must all learn to tickle our children into good. Some kids you might not have to spank. Some kids you might not have to hollar at you can talk to them. Unfortunately that won't work on them all. And now this fellows daughter is an adult.How's he gonna force this adult to do anything?
Jail a man over everything seems to be the trend we are in. That seems to be adult abuse to me. And aint it funny we gotta build more prisons all the time. Watch out Americans I smell tea in the harbor.
ramblingeo123 at 6:10PM on May 14th 2008