What Is So Hard About Doing A Little Online Schoolwork?

Technology access was not a problem in this case.  It seems the only problem was the student's lack of doing what she was supposed to do:

The 15-year-old wasn't in trouble for fighting with her mother or stealing, the issues that had gotten her placed on probation in the first place.

She was incarcerated in May for violating her probation by not completing her online coursework when her school in Beverly Hills switched to remote learning...

By the time Grace turned 13, the arguments had escalated to the point that Charisse turned to the police for help several times when Grace yelled at or pushed her. She said she didn't know about other social services to call instead. In one incident, they argued over Grace taking her mother's iPhone charger; when police arrived, they discovered she had taken an iPad from her middle school without permission. At her mother's request, Grace entered a court diversion program in 2018 for "incorrigibility" and agreed to participate in counseling and not use electronic devices. She was released from the program early, her mother said...

(Judge) Brennan admonished Grace for the fights with her mother, her thefts at school and behaving in a way that required police to come to their home. "Police," she said. "Most people go through their entire youth without having the cops have to come to their house because they can't get themselves together."

But, citing the pandemic, Brennan decided not to remove Grace from her home and instead sentenced her to "intensive probation." The terms of the probation included a GPS tether, regular check-ins with a court caseworker, counseling, no phone and the use of the school laptop for educational purposes only. Grace also was required to do her schoolwork.

"I hope that she upholds her end of the bargain," Brennan said at the end of the hearing...

Days after the court hearing, on April 24, Grace's new caseworker, Rachel Giroux, made notes in her file that she was doing well: Grace had called to check in at 8:57 a.m.; she reported no issues at home and was getting ready to log in to do her schoolwork.

But by the start of the following week, Grace told Giroux she felt overwhelmed. She had forgotten to plug in her computer and her alarm didn't go off, so she overslept. She felt anxious about the probation requirements. Charisse, feeling overwhelmed as well, confided in the caseworker that Grace had been staying up late to make food and going on the internet, then sleeping in. She said she was setting up a schedule for Grace and putting a desk in the living room where she could watch her work.

"Worker told mother that child is not going to be perfect and that teenagers aren't always easy to work with but you have to give them the opportunity to change," according to the case progress notes. "Child needs time to adjust to this new normal of being on probation and doing work from home."

Five days later, after calling Charisse and learning that Grace had fallen back to sleep after her morning caseworker check-in, Giroux filed a violation of probation against her for not doing her schoolwork.

Giroux told the prosecutor she planned to ask the judge to detain Grace because she "clearly doesn't want to abide by the rules in the community," according to the case notes...

Grace's teacher, Katherine Tarpeh, responded in an email to Giroux that the teenager was "not out of alignment with most of my other students"...

Grace and her mother testified that she was handling her schoolwork more responsibly — and that she had permission to turn in her assignments at her own pace, as long as she finished by the end of the semester. And, Charisse said, Grace was behaving and not causing her any physical harm.  ("[N]ot causing...any physical harm" is a pretty low standard--Darren)

The transition to virtual school had been difficult, Grace testified, but she said she was making progress. "I just needed time to adjust to the schedule that my mom had prepared for me," she said.

Brennan was unconvinced. Grace's probation, she told her, was "zero tolerance, for lack of a better term."

She sent her to detention. Grace was taken out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

After another hearing:

At the hearing, both Grace and her mother pleaded with the judge to return her home. "I will be respectful and obedient to my mom and all other people with authority," Grace said. "I beg for your mercy to return me home to my mom and my responsibilities."

The judge, however, sided with the caseworker. They agreed that Grace should stay at the Children's Village not as punishment, but to get treatment and services. She ordered her to remain there and set a hearing to review the case for Sept. 8. By then, it will be a week into the new school year...

She has since been transferred to a long-term treatment program, where she has a bit more freedom. Still, she tells her mother, it's difficult to think about what she's missing.

"Everyone is moving past me now and I'm just here," she said during the Zoom call.

The caseworker, listening, tried to be encouraging. "You are doing very well right now," she said. "Whatever happens, it looks good. You are respectful, you are following the rules."

Toughlove?  A valuable lesson?  Does the fact that she's in Special Education mitigate her crimes and require kid gloves?  Would it really have been so hard to go to bed at 10pm and get up in time for classes?  Do we accept too many excuses from people who claim it is too hard?  Can the answer to some of these be "yes" and the punishment still be excessive?

I'd have much emptier classes if kids who didn't do their schoolwork got locked up--but my students usually don't have the additional baggage that "Grace" had, either.