Mom faces criminal charges for her son’s absenteeism

By Andy Pierrotti

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    NEWTON COUNTY, Georgia (WANF) — Keeping kindergarteners focused in the classroom is never easy, but Larkin Davidson struggles more than most.

The seven-year-old suffers from multiple learning disabilities and mental health challenges.

“He says, ‘I’m not smart. I wish I could talk right. My mouth doesn’t work right,’” said Melanie Starrett, his mother. “It breaks my heart that he’s been made to feel that way.”

Starrett said Larkin can’t identify all the letters in the alphabet and has outbursts in class. “He’s a handful,” she said, “and I can’t imagine what his teacher has gone through the last two years.”

To get help, the Newton County mother sent her son to doctors and specialists for psychological evaluations and speech screenings over the past few months. That means missing school to make the appointments.

All but one of the absences in Larkin’s attendance records show the days were excused, which is why Starrett was shocked when his school, West Newton Elementary, withdrew him for chronic absenteeism in November.

In December, the Newton County School Board also recommended “educational neglect” charges be filed against Starrett for failing to keep Larkin in class. The crime carries fines and up to 30 days in jail.

It’s unclear what information the school district provided to the district attorney’s office, but according to Larkin’s attendance records, nearly all of the unexcused absences on his record were marked after West Newton Elementary withdrew him from school.

Larkin was marked with 22 days of total absences since August 2023. Ten were marked as excused, and two unexcused. The remaining 10 are identified as unexcused, but these unexcused absences were marked after the school had already kicked him out.

“The document looks like I was just not sending my child to school, but he was actually disenrolled from the school,” Starrett said. When she pointed that out to West Newton Elementary, Starrett says she never received a response.

“It was an assault on my character is what it felt like,” she said.

The Newton County School District declined requests for an interview, but did send a prepared statement. “The District cannot comment on ongoing or pending litigation,” said district spokesperson Sherri Paree in an email.

“However, it is the mission of Newton County Schools to provide educational excellence to all students. In pursuit of that mission, students are our first priority, and the District has set goals for itself to ensure student achievement and success.”

“This isn’t an isolated problem,” said Stephen Owens, education director at the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. “This is a statewide, nationwide issue that’s going to take a bigger response than, let’s take parents to court.”

Records show the Newton County School District removed at least 453 students for absenteeism since 2020. Fifty were from elementary schools.

Those figures fall in line with other similar-sized districts. According to the Georgia Department of Education (GADOE), nearly a quarter (23%) of all students in the state were chronically absent from school last year.

Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% or more of school days, whether excused and unexcused absences. According to the GADOE, research shows missing more than five days of school each year can impact student academic performance.

Owens said the problem impacts low-income families the most, like Starrett, who works a few days at a restaurant. “It’s an issue of resources, not an issue of how much the parent cares,” he said. “The parents do care. They want their kids at school, but a lot of times, they may not have reliable transportation, and they may not have health insurance.”

This isn’t the first time the Newton County School District has been accused of being heavy handed.

Last year, Atlanta News First Investigates uncovered the district kicked out at least 33 students from the Newton County Theme School on the same day because their parents violated the school’s contract, like not completing required volunteer hours.

“It’s not like we wanted to ignore and neglect the fact that we had to do this, these hours, but we were given no reminders,” said Liz Harris, a parent of a student enrolled at the time.

Newton County’s school district former superintendent said the district had the right to expel the students, but regretted how school officials handled the incident.

Starrett’s court hearing lasted three minutes, 10 seconds. The judge didn’t ask her a single question about the circumstances of her son’s absences.

Instead, Starrett was ordered to return to court in 60 days to check on the status of a temporary homebound teaching program in which her son is now enrolled, to which the district agreed after recommending criminal charges.

“It’s been a very hard, long road to finally have resolution now,” Starrett said.

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