Diane Tran, Honor Student At Texas High School, Jailed For Missing

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Diane Tran, Honor Student At Texas High School, Jailed For Missing
Published May 28, 2012 - FoxNews.com

A Texas honor student with two jobs has been jailed for missing too much school.

Diane Tran, 17, an 11th-grade honor student at Willis High School near Houston, was sent to jail for 24 hours Wednesday by Judge Lanny Moriarty, KHOU 11 News reports.

It’s unclear how many days Tran missed, but state law permits only 10 absences in a six-month period, according to the station.

Tran works full-time at a dry-cleaning business and part-time for a wedding planner, KHOU reports. She has been supporting her brother and sister since her parents separated and her mother moved away. Tran’s father often works too late to come home, the station reports

"I can understand if a child is staying out of school, running around, a bad kid, getting into trouble, taking drugs," Mary Elliot, one of Tran's bosses, told ABC News. "I can understand why he would slap them into jail for 24 hours. But Diane doesn't do that. All she does is work and go to school."

Elliot says that Tran is a straight-A student, but that she sometimes oversleeps because of her hectic work schedule, and misses class.

Judge Moriarty told KHOU 11 News that he intended to make an example of Tran.

"If you let one run loose, what are you going to do with the rest of them? Let them go, too?" Moriarty asked the TV station.

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Diane Tran, Honor Student At Texas High School, Jailed For Missing School & she was fined $100

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Nhận được tin mừng:

-Nhờ Đồng Hương &Những người Sắc Dân khác ký tên vảo Thỉnh Nguyện Thư.
-Nhờ Sự can thiệp của LS Nghị Viên Hoàng Duy Hùng

Quan toà Lanny Moriarty đã hủy bỏ Hồ Sơ Hình Sự cho cháu Diane Trần vào trưa nay 30/05/2012.

Chúc mừng cháu Diane Trần.
Cám ơn tất cả những người đã ký tên vào Thỉnh Nguyện Thư.
Cám ơn LS Nghị Viên Hoàng Duy Hùng.

Nam Chi

Community Comes to Aid of Jailed Texas Honor Student
By JOHN SCHRIFFEN | Good Morning America – 9 hours ago, 05-31-2012

A 17-year-old Texas honors student who was jailed for missing too much school because she had to work two jobs to support her siblings, refused to accept the more than $100,000 a website raised for her.

"We saw her trying to work and trying to go to school and trying to do all these things and then to have the judge put her in jail for missing school just seemed a little harsh," said Paul Dietzel, who helped raise the money for Diane Tran. HelpDianeTran.com is a project of the Louisiana Children's Education Alliance.

But Tran didn't want the money: "There's some other kid out there struggling more ... than me," she said.

The 11th-grader's story sparked national outrage last week after a Houston judge charged her with contempt and sent her to jail after 10 unexcused absences in a six-month period, which is the law in the state of Texas.

"If you let one of them run loose, what are you going to do with the rest of them?" Judge Lanny Moriarty told ABC News affiliate KHOU. "A little stay at the jail is not a death sentence," he said.

After Tran's parents got divorced, supporting her older brother and younger sister fell to her. Her mother relocated out of state and her father often worked too late to come home, according to Mary Elliot, Diane Tran's boss at her weekend job.

After going to school from 7 a.m. – 2 p.m., Tran worked full-time at a dry cleaner's. On weekends, she helped Elliot throw weddings. Tran said that some mornings it was just hard to get out of bed.

"I can understand if a child is staying out of school, running around, a bad kid, getting into trouble, taking drugs," said Elliot. "I can understand why he would slap them into jail for 24 hours. But Diane doesn't do that. All she does is work and go to school."

Tran's attorney, Brian Wice, told ABC News that he met with the Moriarty and convinced him to reverse his decision and drop the contempt charge, hoping to clear Tran's record.

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Today is a good day for Diane Tran, Happy for you Diane.

Judge dismisses contempt charges against truant honor student Diane Tran
by Sherry Williams / KHOU 11 News Houston, 2:30, 05-31-2012

CONROE, Texas – A Montgomery County judge has dismissed contempt charges against a 17-year-old honor student at Willis High School.

Diane Tran was sent to jail for a day, after missing about 18 days of school this year.

Her case gained international attention after the public learned about Tran’s situation – she said she makes all A’s, but she works two jobs to help support her siblings. Sometimes, Tran said she’s simply too exhausted to attend class.

But in Montgomery County, officials – like Judge Lanny Moriarty, who sent Tran to jail—are tough on truancy.

The law is clear: students between the ages of 12 and 18 cannot miss more than 10 days of school in a six-month period.

Violators can be charged with truancy, a Class C misdemeanor. But students like Tran, who was previously ordered by the court not to miss any more school, can face more serious charges, like contempt of court.

KHOU 11 News talked to Montgomery County Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace James Metts, who said he’s received thank-you notes from parents and students who’ve been on the wrong side of the law with the county’s tough-love truancy policy.

Metts said if Tran had showed up in his court, he might have done the same thing Judge Moriarty did.

Metts said it all depends on the factors in the case.

"How many times she’s been here, what the school has done prior to her being here… If she’d been before me numerous times, she’d have probably gone to jail for three days instead of one," Metts said. "Where will you draw the line? How many breaks are enough? How many times should you skate? If you give this kid a break, you’ve gotta give them all a break."

But now, it looks like Tran will get another break. She retained the services of noted Houston attorney Brian Wice Wednesday, and hours later, she learned the charges against her were dismissed.

Wice said there was a third-party fund collecting money -- purportedly for Tran -- but noted that he and his client have no control over it. He did say, however, that any money Tran does receive will be donated to someone less fortunate than she.