Last modified on Wed 17 Mar 2021 11.51 EDT
It was the Monday morning before Thanksgiving when a police officer showed up on Tracie Higginsâs doorstep and handed a $439 fine to her teenage son for missing too many days of remote school during the pandemic.
But the bulk of her son Markâs repeated absences, the Wisconsin mother protested, were the result of faulty school technology, including a Chromebook that wouldnât charge. Debra Pratt, also of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, faced a similar situation this school year with her son Jason, who was fined for racking up 28 absences that the school district marked as unexcused â including the same day in late September that he tested positive for Covid-19.