(WWJ) As parents and teachers struggle in a pandemic to figure out the rules for distance learning, Pro Publica, a nonprofit newsroom committed to social justice, made waves with a report in Freep.com and Bridge Magazine about a girl who was sent to juvenile hall for failing to complete her online homework.
Supporters believe racism is behind her incarceration.
The 15-year-old, a Birmingham, Mich., student named only as Grace to protect her identity, was sent to juvenile hall in May for violating her probation for failing to finish online assignments. She was on probation for theft and pushing her mother.
Her mother was devastated by the judge's decision, and a month after her only child's incarceration said, "every day I go to bed thinking, and wake up thinking, 'How is this a better situation for her?'"
Pro Publica cited court records that found Oakland County Judge Mary Ellen Brennan found Grace "guilty on failure to submit to any schoolwork and getting up for school." The judge called Grace a "threat to (the) community," because of the theft charge and a previous attack on her mother.
"She hasn't fulfilled the expectation with regard to school performance," Brennan said as she sentenced Grace. "I told her she was on thin ice and I told her that I was going to hold her to the letter, to the order, of the probation."
Michigan's schools went from in-person to online under order of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to help prevent the spread of coronavirus. The decision sent schools scrambling to come up with lessons and equipment, and made parents, even those who had to work, into de facto classroom instructors.
Not everyone has thrived, according to Nicole Turner Lee, a technology expert from the Brookings Institute, who told NPR that she's "in agreement with some of the folks that have looked at this short period of time as somewhat of an abject failure for our children."
And to see a child go into the custody of law enforcement over online homework drives home that the system is rigged against minorities, according to Jason Smith of the nonprofit Michigan Center for Youth Justice.
"It is clear that kids of color are disproportionately involved and impacted by the system across the board," Smith said. "They are more likely to be arrested, less likely to be offered any kind of diversion, more likely to be removed out of the home and placed in some sort of confinement situation."
