Kelley Williams-Bolar Sentence Reduced

Tuesday was the first day of school in Canada and many areas of the United States so it was indeed fitting that Kelley Williams-Bolar had her felony convictions for sending her kids to a safer and better performing school district reduced to misdemeanors.  

The Akron, OH mother was in the news back in January for being convicted and sent to jail for nine days for wanting to send her children to the suburban Copley-Fairlawn district in which her father lived and using her father's address to do so.

Ohio Governor John Kasich (R) overrode a September 2 Ohio Parole Board decision in which they unanimously and callously voted to recommend the governor not parole her for falsifying documents so her daughters could attend school in the better ranked suburban district instead of the Akron one.

She was working as a teaching assistant in the Akron district and studying at the University of Akron to become a special needs teacher, and the felonies would derail her chances to get her teaching certificate.

The unfairness of the sentence galvanized The Tom Joyner Morning Show, Change.org  and Color of
Change.org to mount a petition drive that garnered over 180,000 signatures seeking to secure a pardon for Ms. Williams-Bolar..  When the word of the negative parole board hearing got out, mobilized TJMS listeners and supporters around the country flooded the offices of Governor Kasich with calls..

Gov. Kasich overruled the Ohio Pardons Board and said in a statement:  :When I first heard about this situation, it seemed to me the penalty was excessive for the offense," Kasich said "In addition, the penalty could exclude her from certain economic opportunities for the rest of her life. So today, I've reduced those felony convictions to what I think are more appropriate, first-degree misdemeanors. No one should interpret this as a pass - it's a second chance."

“Right now Kelley is ecstatic,” said David Singleton, a lawyer with the Ohio Justice Institute who represented Williams-Bolar.

“Now that this is not hanging over her head, she can resume her studies at the University of Akron and continue working toward becoming a teacher,” Singleton told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

Williams-Bolar also called the TJMS this morning along with her attorney to thank the listeners of the show for their support of her.  

Justice finally prevailed for Ms Williams-Bolar.   But the imbalance of funding between urban and suburban school districts in many states, the disparity in education between districts, and the diffence in education policy between Democrats who support public schools and Republicans who don't will continue to be a contentious issue into the future.