Interview: Jailed for switching her daughters’ school district

Kelley Williams-Bolar, 41, a single mother from Akron, Ohio, was convicted of two felony crimes in January and jailed for nine days after she falsified documents so she could enroll her daughters—one a third grader, the other in junior high—in a neighboring, higher performing school district, reports the New York Times. This month, Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio reduced the convictions, which were for records tampering, to misdemeanors. He said the original punishment had been too harsh. Ms. Williams-Bolar, who works as a teacher’s aide in an Akron public school, is pursuing a degree in family child development. A criminal felony would have hindered her chance of getting a teacher’s license…

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Schools boost efforts to ID fake student addresses

Williams-Bolar says she's hoping for a pardon.

Kelley Williams-Bolar, alarmed after her home was broken into, yanked her two daughters out of their urban Akron, Ohio, schools and enrolled them in her father’s suburban school district nearby, using his address.

That way, said the single mom and teacher’s aide, they could come to a safer home after school.

Her peace of mind proved costly. Officials in the Copley-Fairlawn district challenged the residency of her girls in 2007, when they were 9 and 13 years old. Williams-Bolar was charged and convicted of felony records tampering.…Read More