Suffolk, Va. - Sixty-two missed days of school landed one elementary school student's mom in jail.
"Obviously him missing them days didn't come to a point where he didn't learn cause he passed. So it's all being blown real out of proportion," Stacey Warmack said.
Suffolk police arrested Warmack, the mother of a 12-year-old student at Booker T. Washington Elementary.
"I don't think he's missed 62 days of school but if that's what they're saying I'm not gonna say no," she said.
Warmack told us today the school bus doesn't come to her house, and she couldn't take him because she had back surgery.
And he wanted to be with his mom.
"He would not leave me. He would not leave this house for nothing in the world. He wanted to be up on his mom, being with me and everything and that's just how my son is. He's a Mothers boy," she added.
Police tell NewsChannel 3 they sent several notices to the home to let Stacey know about all the absences, but she says she never got them.
She told us the school only sent letters home with her son.
But school officials say they sent several to the home, and even hand delivered a letter asking her to meet with them to discuss the absences, but she never showed up.
"I went to her home and handed her the letter. And had her sign for the letter so I don't know what else to say other than it was done and I know it was done because I personally did it," said Chief of Operations for Suffolk Schools, Kevin Alston said.
And, they would have helped her get him to class.
"We aren't ogres, we are trying to help students. If someone has extenuating circumstances, were definitely going to try to help them, but they've got to at least respond to us so that we can offer assistance," he said.
Warmack will be in court next month, and as for the upcoming school year...
"Next year he will be on the bus. Period. He will not be missing days," she said.
