The story of Kelley Williams-Bolar is a sad one. At least I think it is. And, and it’s a good one. The story is about a flawed mother who, in this case, is simply looking to do right by her kids.
In America, that’s about as noble as it gets.
Our story begins with Ms. Williams-Bolar, an aspiring teacher, being arrested for enrolling her kids in a district that she doesn’t live in. Rather she enrolled them in the school district her father lived in. And she was caught.
And arrested.
And tried.
And convicted of 2 felonies and ordered to serve jail time. Ms. Wailliams-Bolar was not at all pleased with that outcome, as you can expect.
And then a strange thing happened. The Left mobilized around this woman:
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.
Of course, because I am conservative and suffer from all forms of “isms”, I suspect another reason such a cord was struck:
The racial undertones of Williams-Bolar’s case have also not gone unnoticed.
Be that as it may, I was then and continue to be now, surprised at this reaction. After all, it is America’s Left that is the most ardent supporter of public education. That state delivered education is the only way in which our kids can get the proper learning they are entitled to. And any effort to shape this philosophy is immediately attacked.
School choice? No way.
Vouchers? Gotta be kidding me.
Manipulating the system? Ugly.
But for some reason, this case, this woman, trumps education.
Weird.
Anyway, she was sentenced to 9 days in jail and 2 years on probation. However, she has 2 felonies and most likely will not be able to teach on account of those two wraps.
But here is where the story gets interesting. A massive “right-wing nut loon” of a governor in Ohio has granted her clemency. Her felonies are gone and she is now free to achieve her goal of becoming a teacher.
And why did he do this?
It seemed to me that the penalty was excessive for the offense,” Kasich said in a statement, adding that the felonies could have excluded her “from certain economic opportunities for the rest of her life.
Yeah, no shit.
That’s because “right-wing nut loons” believe that you should be able to send your kid to the school that you think best educates your kid. It’s the Left in the nation that wanna restrict that concept, that wanna limit the method and the means in which a quality education is delivered. It’s the Left that wants to deny choice in this spectrum. If only we would allow ALL of the Williams-Bolars of the country send their kids to where ever they wanna send them, we might find that we have more well-educated children.
But whatever.