Mary Ann Shiech lives in the Lincoln Public School District
and is the single mom of three sons.
Mary Ann suffers from a serious immune deficiency illness, which is
exacerbated by stress, and leaves her unable to work outside the home. In spite of that, she is a college-educated
community activist who doesn’t hesitate to devote her time and talents to
speaking out against injustice. Mary Ann
bravely shares the story of her ordeal with Lincoln Public Schools, which
turned her non-truant child into the county attorney, not just once, but three
years in a row. Each year, Mary Ann was
prosecuted by the Lancaster County Attorney and had to retain legal
counsel. As is common with the Lancaster
County Attorney’s office, each of the unfounded cases were dragged out until
the last minute and then dropped right before trial. The stress on Mary Ann’s family and the toll
on her health have been enormous. Here
is her story.
The first of three truancy charges
came after my son Jeramiah’s last year of elementary school had already ended. Jeramiah was attending Everett Elementary and
had been the victim of bullying for years. The abuse came to a head when he was
stabbed in the back with a pencil by the same child who had been constantly
bullying him for years. The school did not even call me to inform me of the
incident. Since Jeramiah had been
victimized for two years and the school had made zero progress in dealing with
the issue, I took him to the police station, had his wound photographed, and
filed charges. I then called Lincoln
Public Schools administration, told them about the incident, and informed them
that as a parent, I could not send my son to school unless they could guarantee
he would be safe. I checked in with administration and the school daily while my
son kept up with his school work at home. They refused to remove the other
child from the classroom or offer any action that would assure me the situation
was being taken seriously or that any changes would be made.
When I realized that Everett
Elementary was not going to resolve the problem, I put Jeramiah into McPhee
Elementary, where he finished the year with no issues. After the school year
had ended, I discovered that the school had turned me in to the county attorney
and the county attorney had filed truancy charges.
That first time, it wasn't required
that I bring Jeramiah for an initial appearance; our attorney took care of
that. After a proper investigation,
charges were dropped, as it was found I was acting in my child's best interest
and the school was not. My question is,
why isn’t an investigation done before charges are filed? Isn’t that how it’s done with all other
crimes? There was no reason to ever
bring my family into court.
The next year, my son began having
stomach aches and missing school. This culminated in him being admitted to Bryan
Hospital. He had enlarged lymph nodes in his mesenteric pouch, in the bowels,
and they were literally "twisting" his bowels. He was hospitalized
and given morphine to manage the excruciating pain.
Due to his absences because of this
illness, the school turned me in to the county attorney before Jeramiah
had even missed 20 days, and the county attorney filed truancy charges before
he had missed 20 days.
I was horrified that, this time, I
had to bring my son in for the judge to terrorize him by saying that he might
be removed from his home until he was 19 years old. Jeramiah was scared to death and didn’t
understand why he might be taken from his mother because he was sick! We were assigned a lawyer at the initial
appearance, but when we didn’t give in to the pressure to “volunteer" for
the truancy diversion program, I was told he could not represent me. We didn’t “volunteer” because why should my
son have to go to diversion when he was sick?
What was he supposed to be diverted from? So we got another lawyer, the county attorney
held on to the case for a long time, and shortly before trial, the case was
dropped because all of his absences were due to illness and all the
documentation was there. Everyone knew
from the very beginning of this process why he was absent, and everyone had the
documentation from day one, so why was he ever turned in and why were charges
filed?
This last year, charges were again
filed before Jeramiah missed 20 days, I believe "in
anticipation" he would miss the required amount of days necessary to
substantiate the charges. That year, Jeramiah missed a week of school due to
Strep A infection, which was first thought to be a West Nile infection. He was
sent home to recuperate, then the second Strep test came back positive and he
could not go to school until he had been on antibiotics for a certain amount of
time.
Also that spring, my mother,
Jeramiah’s grandmother, passed away. We took a week off of school to spend with
her, to be with her as she passed. Once again, charges had already been filed before
he had missed 20 days, and due to this I did not even attend my own mother’s
funeral. Terrified they would take my
child, they stole my final goodbye.
Many of the absences reported to the
county attorney were for just one class or a partial class. When I reviewed the
attendance records, I found that in those instances he was in school, just in
another place with the teacher’s permission. The incompetence of those keeping
record of attendance is unbelievable and the result is that innocent children
end up in court. After dragging the case
out for months and getting another attorney, the unfounded charges were once
again dropped.
This invasive law and Lancaster
County’s “truancy program" take away a parent’s natural right to decide
what is best for their child. I wanted
to be there when my mother was buried, but fear of losing my child into the
system kept me from taking him out of school any longer.
Personally, I feel that because I
would not "comply" with what I believe is a cash for kids program,
initiated at Park Middle School, I then became a target for harassment. My
parenting choices were being questioned at every turn. He was bullied, he was sick, and his
grandmother died. I made the right
decisions for him every step of the way, like good parents do. My kid doesn’t need a psychologist or a
social worker and I don’t need a parenting class. I’m a good parent and my child doesn’t have
mental health issues, so stop trying to pull us into the “system.”
Now that the school district has
figured out they’re not going to get me for "truancy," they have
begun digging into other areas of my life.
This is all part of the bigger picture created by this law, which gives
more authority over our children to strangers such as school employees and
county attorneys, than to their own parents who love them and know them best.
Lincoln Public Schools and Lancaster County are misusing this law to abuse innocent families and sick children. This has been very damaging and detrimental to my health. We have been hurt badly by this law, and we believe it needs to be changed.
Lincoln Public Schools and Lancaster County are misusing this law to abuse innocent families and sick children. This has been very damaging and detrimental to my health. We have been hurt badly by this law, and we believe it needs to be changed.