From NPR:

The case of an Ohio mother who served a ten day jail term has sparked an intense debate about education, and race and fairness. Williams-Bolar was convicted of falsifying records, so that her two daughters could attend classes in a better-performing school district in suburban Akron. Authorities say her actions amount to theft. Host Michel Martin speaks with Williams-Bolar and her lawyer David Singleton about the case and its implications.

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MICHEL MARTIN, host:
I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News.

The Grammys are a few days off. We'll preview that celebration of the music industry later in the program.

But first, we have a conversation with a woman whose 10-day jail sentence has sparked an intense debate about education and race and fairness in this country. Kelley Williams-Bolar is the mother of two. She is a teacher's aide and studying to become a teacher. She served nine days of a 10-day jail sentence because school and law enforcement authorities say her children don't really live with their grandfather in the high-achieving Copley-Fairlawn school district where they were registered.


The authorities say they actually live in Akron, next door and that Kelley Williams-Bolar's actions amount to theft of about $6,900 per child per year. Her case has spawned intense feelings about her and about the way she was treated. Now, last week we heard from the superintendent of the Copley-Fairlawn school district who defended the decision to prosecute Kelley Bolar-Williams. We were not able to speak with her then. But she's with us now. Thank you so much for joining us.

Ms. KELLEY WILLIAMS-BOLAR (Teachers Aide): Thanks for having me.

MARTIN: I should also mention that we have her attorney, David Singleton, on the line with us as well. Thank you for joining us.

Mr. DAVID SINGLETON (Attorney): Hi, Michel. Thank you.

MARTIN: So Kelley, first, if I may ask, how are you?

Ms. WILLIAMS-BOLAR: I'm doing fairly well. You know, I have my moments. I have a lot of anxiety. I just have it hard sometimes, you know, thinking about, you know, the whole aspect of it.

MARTIN: I wanted to go back over what happened, to the degree that you can talk about it, and then Mr. Singleton can jump in if he feels it necessary. There are different reports about why you decided to send the girls to that particular school. By one account your home had been burglarized and you were worried about their safety. By another account, you just felt that you wanted them to live with your father.

Can you tell us why you initially enrolled them in the Copley-Fairlawn district?

Ms. WILLIAMS-BOLAR: What happened was, in 2006 my home had been burglarized. Actually, that morning my daughter wasn't feeling so well, but I'm glad that she went on to school. But whoever this was, he just destroyed my home. It was just it was a hard time for me. I was in school. I was trying to, you know, I had objectives, I had goals to meet. I was trying to finish college so I can be productive with my girls. So that fall, you know, I had enrolled the girls in the Copley-Fairlawn city schools in '06. And, you know, that's how everything had got started.

MARTIN: Well, the school officials and then, of course, the prosecutors say that they actually live with you. What is your understanding of this? Is it your understanding that they lived with their grandfather, your father, during the week and that they live with you on the weekends? What is your argument?

Ms. WILLIAMS-BOLAR: First of all, my dad's home is - that's my family home. And my dad always told me that his home, you know, is my home. And that's how, you know, that's - I've always, it's my daddy's house. I've always, always been like that.

MARTIN: But to the specific legal question of where your children reside, what is your - what's your answer?

Ms. WILLIAMS-BOLAR: They reside with me.

MARTIN: Well, to that point though, the argument that the school district is making is that if they live with you and if you live in Akron, that they're not eligible to go to that school. So what's your answer?

Ms. WILLIAMS-BOLAR: I enrolled them. We got the grandparent power of attorney.

MARTIN: So your argument is he has power of attorney so therefore in essence he's a co-parent.

Ms. WILLIAMS-BOLAR: (Unintelligible) power of attorney. Yes.

MARTIN: In essence you're saying he's a co-parent.

Ms. WILLIAMS-BOLAR: He has grandparent power of attorney. Grandparent power of attorney, it doesn't say that they're co-parents. It says that they're the grandparent - grandparent power of attorney. That's just what it is.

MARTIN: David, can I bring you in here?

Mr. SINGLETON: Absolutely.

MARTIN: And ask you, what is your understanding of this here? Because when we talked to the school officials at Copley-Fairlawn, their argument was that this is very clear, that in essence the children reside with her and therefore they're not eligible to live in that district. So what is the grandparent power of attorney and what is the relevance here?

Mr. SINGLETON: Well, first of all, I think what Kelley was saying, that her daughters reside with her now. They definitely reside with her now, because the two daughters are not staying with grandfather anymore and they're not attending the Copley-Fairlawn school district anymore. When this initially became an issue, my understanding is that the children were staying some of the time with their grandfather and there'd be some nights when they would stay back in Akron.

But when this first got raised as an issue from the school district's standpoint, one of the things that they said that she could do is get a grandparent power of attorney. She did that. She thought the issue was resolved and it turned out it wasn't.

MARTIN: ... So let me go back to the superintendent, Brian Poe. We talked to him last week. This is what he had to say about your case. Here it is.

(Soundbite of archived recording)

Mr. BRIAN POE (Superintendent, Copley-Fairlawn School District): We worked on this case from 2006 to 2008. I had numerous contacts and sent information to the family, had a residency hearing with the family. And really, where this came to light was when the parent filed a grandparent affidavit in juvenile court. Juvenile court ruled that that affidavit was void and said specifically that the children resided outside of our district, in Akron.

So acting on that court ruling, we took a look at that and the parent at that point still contended that the residence was in Copley with her father. And so after looking at some conflicting documents, we had some concerns over that and decided to turn that information over to the prosecutor's office.

MARTIN: So David, the legal question I would have for you is, why was that affidavit void? Do you know? What is your understanding?

Mr. SINGLETON: The reason why it was void was the biological father had not signed off on it. And that's my understanding of why the court voided it. And bear in mind, I was not involved in the case at that standpoint. But reading the court documents, that's what voided it.

MARTIN: So Kelley Williams-Bolar, can I ask you, why - does your former husband object to your daughters staying with your grandfather during the week?

Ms. WILLIAMS-BOLAR: No, no. My ex-husband, he really didn't have a say. I had full custody of my girls.

MARTIN: Do you feel that you were trying to mislead the Copley-Fairlawn school district? Because when I asked them about whether they felt that the way you were treated was appropriate, you know, the issue that came up was - well, two - they're saying one is that there's a service that you weren't eligible for or that you could've paid for but didn't. So their argument, one, is you could've paid tuition, or two, that in essence they're saying that you misled them about what they think is the truth. So what do you say to that?

Ms. WILLIAMS-BOLAR: Well, first, I want to also mention, with the grandparent power of attorney, it was denied in June, that the girls had less than a week left of school when the judge looked back at it in June of 2008. So just to let you know that.

Mr. SINGLETON: And Michel, I think the reason she pointed that out is because then she pulled her daughters out of Copley-Fairlawn school district, and then there wasn't an indictment until November of 2009.

Ms. WILLIAMS-BOLAR: Right. Eighteen months later.

MARTIN: OK. So what you're saying is that they were already out of that school district at the time that you were indicted.

Ms. WILLIAMS-BOLAR: Yes. They were long gone.

MARTIN: So tell me again though - do you feel that you were misleading them? Did you feel that there was an intent to mislead the Copley-Fairlawn district about where your children really resided?

Ms. WILLIAMS-BOLAR: No, no. There was no intent, no.

MARTIN: Do you feel that you were honest?

Ms. WILLIAMS-BOLAR: Yes.

Please read the rest of the transcript in which Kelley Williams-Bolar, jailed Ohio mom, defends her decision on NPR.