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Some things just don't go together. You know what I mean. Oil and water. Toddlers and sharp knives. Your mother-in-law and tequila. A child abductor and a spot on the school board. Oh wait, that last one is really up for consideration in a California school district.
And Alvina Sheeley thinks people will really vote for her. After all, before she snatched four children from their bus stop and tried to drive them from their Illinois home to California, she was a high school teacher. She cares about children, don't you see?
OK, so Sheeley got off on reason of insanity. And she spent (court-ordered) time in a psychiatric hospital. She was discharged from psychiatric care in 2008 -- 10 years after the actual kidnapping. It's been 13 years since she took four scared kids away from their parents. She's been loving her some counseling ever since.
She did the crime, but she did the time. I still wouldn't want her repping me on my school board. No sirree bob.
You can call me mean-spirited for not just forgiving and forgetting, but let me remind you, Alvina Sheeley went off the rails, grabbed four children from their bus stop, and tried to drive them across the country. She took away those kids' parents' power to make decisions about their own kids and instead made her own, that she could give them a "better life" in California. Now she wants the power to make the "best decisions" for a whole lot more than four kids as a board representative for hundreds of parents -- and based on the "legal requirements to be a candidate," she's getting close.
A school board member may just be a local office, but it's one of the most important. They make decisions about the future of our country on a local level. The job is too important to be handed over to someone just because you feel bad about what they've gone through or to make a political point about the criminal justice system.
This is not a matter of giving an ex-con a break and letting her flip burgers or stock shelves. It's putting someone who has shown a blatant disregard for kids' basic needs in the driver's seat of their education.
When we talk about forgiving criminals and letting them get on with their lives after they serve their time, we can't help but need to be cognizant of what they did wrong. It's part of who they are. And Alvina Sheeley hurt kids. Letting her back into a school system just doesn't seem right.
What do you think? Does this woman deserve a second chance?
Image via KB35/Flickr
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