Unbelievable story out of Akron, Ohio. It shows the lengths that some will go to in order to maintain the inequities of the public school system.

“Those dollars need to stay home with our students,” school district officials said.

UPDATE: Here’s quite a few more details from CNN:

Kelley Williams-Bolar, 40, of Akron, illegally registered her two daughters at her father’s address in suburban Copley Township to get them into the Copley-Fairlawn school district rather than the urban Akron district, a jury decided.

The Akron City school district met only four of 26 standards on the latest Ohio Department of Education Report Card and had a 76% graduation rate. Copley-Fairlawn City Schools met 26 of 26 standards and had a 97.5% graduation rate.

Summit County Common Pleas Judge Patricia Cosgrove sentenced Williams-Bolar last week to five years in prison, but suspended all but 10 days. Williams-Bolar also must serve 80 hours of community service and will be on probation for three years.

The Rev. Lorenzo Glenn of Macedonia Baptist Church had asked the judge for leniency, saying he had known Williams-Bolar for more than 20 years, the Akron Beacon Journal newspaper reported.

“This is a serious matter,” Glenn said, according to the paper, “but by all means, it was done to help her children.”

Williams-Bolar told CNN affiliate WEWS-TV that she and her children considered her father’s house one of their homes.

“My primary residence was both places. I stayed at both places,” she said in an interview at the Summit County Jail.

Williams-Bolar’s father, Edward Williams, told CNN affiliate WJW-TV that the children did live with him, so he believed the family was within the law.

He said his daughter’s Akron neighborhood – where she lives in government-subsidized housing – isn’t safe.

“She had 12 police reports that her house had been broken in, so what am I supposed to do? Just leave them there?” Williams said to WJW-TV. “I mean, I can protect them better if they was with me.”

Williams-Bolar, a single mother, works as a teacher’s aide at a high school in Akron and is just 12 credits away from earning a teaching degree at the University of Akron, according to the Beacon Journal.

Her felony conviction will bar her from being licensed to teach in Ohio.

Copley-Fairlawn Superintendent Brian Poe told WJW-TV the case cost the district $30,000 in two years of lost tuition and $6,000 it spent on the investigation.

He denied that Williams-Bolar was singled out because she is black and the Copley-Fairlawn district is 75% white.

It’s session time down in Little Rock, which, among other things, signals the arrival of a certain amount of legislative silliness.

First, we have State Sen. Bruce Holland, (R-Greenwood), who reportedly led a sheriff’s deputy on a high speed chase yesterday, reaching speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour.  Did the act land him in jail?  Nope.  Was he issued a hefty ticket?  Nah.  The deputy who finally got him to pull over was mistakenly under the impression that state legislators had immunity from traffic laws while they travel to and from legislative sessions.

Next, Senator Jim Jeffress (D-Crossett) is making national headlines for his plan to ban pedestrians from wearing headphones.  According to the LA Times, Jeffress’ bill would ban pedestrians from wearing headphones while “close to a street, intersection, or highway.” 

I suppose with State Senator Bruce Holland tearing up the streets, wearing headphones may limit a pedestrian’s ability to get out of the way in time.  Then again, maybe Jeffress should focus on his fellow legislator’s driving habits, and leave pedestrians alone.

Finally, Rep. Jim Nickels (D-Sherwood) wants to force contractors into playing the role of immigration agents.  House Bill 1013 proposes to revoke the licenses of contractors if they hire illegal aliens or hire sub-contractors who hire illegal aliens.  So, presumably, every contractor would have to check the documentation of every employee of every subcontractor (plumbers, electricians, roofers, cement companies, painters, etc.) before doing business with them.  As contractors have pointed out, such a requirement places an undue burden on them, and it is unfair to impose this burden only on contractors.

What the contractors aren’t comfortable saying (though I’m sure plenty of them believe it) is that a lot of this whining about how illegal immigrants take jobs away from Americans is nonsensical.  Contractors (and everyone else) should be able to hire whoever they think can deliver the highest quality work for the best price.  We aren’t doing ourselves any favors by limiting who is allowed to work in this country.  But, like we saw in last year’s Senate race, hating on immigrants is still considered a winning political strategy.

You wouldn’t want to piss off these guys, would you?