Update on Kelley Williams-Bolar Case

Yesterday I posted about the inexplicable felony prosecution of Kelley Williams-Bolar for sending her children to schools located in her father's town (back at the home house as some of us would say) of Copley rather than those located near her home in Akron Ohio. Here is additional information on the case:


Ms. Williams-Bolar, according to the Akron Beacon Journal, had moved her children in with her father after her apartment was burglarized.


Additionally, negotiations with the school district seemed to indicate that the matter had been settled.  Judge Patricia Cosgrove stated she had tried to get the Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh to reduce the charges to misdemeanors.  During sentencing Judge Cosgrove seemed to imply she wanted Ms. Williams-Bolar's current teaching assistant credentials suspended and any future full teacher credentials denied.  Judge Cosgrove, who is an elected official (as is Prosecutor Walsh) stated in  in today's ABJ:


The judge said the Ohio Department of Education will hold a hearing and make the final decision ''whether or not they will revoke her license.  I have nothing to do with that as a matter of law. Once she was convicted by a jury of any felony, that conviction has to be reported to the state, and then it's up to the state at that point in time to decide whether or not they're going to revoke her license,'' Cosgrove said. ''This is the Ohio legislature who wrote this law, not [this] court.''


Cosgrove said her reading of the statute leaves open the possibility Williams-Bolar can be a teacher ''because she was not convicted of an offense of violence [or] offenses of moral turpitude.'' Because Williams-Bolar had no previous felony record, Cosgrove said she will write a letter to the state Board of Education asking that Williams-Bolar's license not be revoked.


''I will do everything I can, as far as sending a letter, asking them not to consider it,'' the judge said.
Cosgrove also indicated she would consider expunging the felony conviction if Williams-Bolar successfully completes a minimum of six months of probation.


''I suspect she will,'' the judge said.


You can sign a petition at Change.Org but for my Akron Ohio brothers and sisters who may be reading this, remember, elected officials come, and elected officials go.  I'm happy to come home and campaign for whoever decides to run against Sherri Bevan Walsh.