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Press Release #3


NEWS RELEASE
Wednesday, Oct 5, 2005

FAIRFAX, VA - A Virginia Father faces up to one year in jail for attending his handicapped son's class party at Springhill Elementary in McLean on June 17th.

Mr. Smith was arrested in front of his 8 year old son, Liam, who has Down Syndrome. Mr. Smith was held on a trespassing charge for the entire Fathers Day weekend in solitary confinement at the Fairfax County Jail (ADC-Adult Detention Center) before being released on a $1,000 bond.

Mr. Smith lives in Dublin VA and drove over 4 hours (one way) in order to attend his son's class party. There was no court order that prohibited him from attending the school event, his wife sent him an invitation to the party (as required per court order) and did not attend herself.

Both state law VA CODE 22.1-4.3 and school Regulation 2240.3 require the school to allow non-custodial parents to attend their children's school events. Mr. Smiths son was happy to see him and even stated several times that he loved his father and was glad he came to the party. Mr. Smith was not disruptive and was well received by teachers, parents, and students yet school principal Roger Vanderhye had Mr. Smith was charged with trespassing and arrested in front of his son and other first grade students and their parents.

Mr. Smth stands trial Wednesday October 5th at The Fairfax County Circuit Court and if convicted of trespassing could be sentenced to up to one year in jail - a pretty stiff penalty for trying to be a good parent and show his son that he still cared about him.

The Public Defenders Office has refused to represent Mr. Smith and to properly present his case so Mr Smith, who is not an attorney is forced to defend himself without the help of a professional attorney. For whatever reason the Public Defenders Office was adamant that they were not willing to present state law 22.1-4.3 that gives Mr. Smith the legal right to attend his son's school events. They also refuse to present relevant trespassing case rulings that show if you believe you have a right to be there, you can't be convicted of trespassing. 

More information about the incident including recordings of it and the first trial in District Court, photo's, and court motions, etc is available at:
http://www.liamsdad.org/court_case/trespassing/trespassing.shtml

Schools discouraging or preventing non-custodial parents, especially fathers, from participating in their children's school events is a common statewide problem. While state law and school written policy supports access, some schools such as Fairfax County Public Schools have an unwritten policy to the contrary and instruct their staff to not allow non-custodial parents to participate in school events.

While spending fathers-day weekend in jail was unpleasant, Mr. Smith is working to make something good come out of it. Mr. Smith wants to use the experience to encourage Virginia schools to follow state law and written school policy to allow non-custodial parents access to their children at school in order to make it easier and a more pleasant experience for other non-custodial parents to participate in their children's activities at school.

Mr. Smith wants to make sure nobody else has to go thru the same experience of being arrested and that no other children are left thinking their fathers/mothers didn't attend a school event because they don't love them.

For information about what a cute boy Liam is and some of the activities he has done with his father look here: http://www.liamsdad.org/liam/liam.shtml

------------ relevant law and regulation excerpts --------------------

VA CODE 22.1-4.3
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+22.1-4.3
Participation by and notification of noncustodial parent.
Unless a court order has been issued to the contrary, the noncustodial parent of a student enrolled in a public school or day care center (i) shall not be denied the opportunity to participate in any of the student's school or day care activities in which such participation is supported or encouraged by the policies of the school or day care center solely on the basis of such noncustodial status...

For the purposes of this section, "school or day care activities" shall include, but shall not be limited to, lunch breaks, special in-school programs, parent-teacher conferences and meetings, and extracurricular activities.

Fairfax County School Regulation 2240.3
http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/Directives/R2240.pdf
... A noncustodial parent retains rights to participate in the special education process, to receive information about the child, and to participate in certain school activities unless a valid court order specifically removes or limits those rights.

...noncustodial parents have the same rights to attend events at the school (e.g., lunches with children, classroom visits, school productions) as the enrolling parent. No parent, including the enrolling parent, may limit the other parent's attendance at such events, or access to the student at school, unless a court order specifically precludes that parent from attendance at school or access to the student at school. Visitation schedules contained in custody orders do not constitute a specific limitation on a parent's access to schools.
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For more information or interviews, please contact:
Wesley Smith
5347 Landrum Rd Apt 1
Dublin VA 24084
(can't afford a phone, but if you send e-mail I could call you back)
liamsdad@liamsdad.org
http://www.liamsdad.org/court_case/trespassing/trespassing.shtml

Fairfax County Circuit Court
4110 Chain Bridge Road
Fairfax, Virginia 22030

Fairfax County School Board
10700 Page Avenue, Fairfax, Virginia 22030
703-246-3646
schoolboardmembers@fcps.edu

Roger Vanderhye
e-mail: Roger.Vanderhye@fcps.edu
Spring Hill Elementary
8201 Lewinsville Rd
McLean, VA 22102
703-506-3400
http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/SpringHillES/
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Liam's Dad - Wesley Smith
http://www.liamsdad.org
liamsdad@liamsdad.org

Some of those opposed to equal shared parenting reform argue that the Mother should be the primary caregiver because she is... well... the Mother. Such an argument is devoid of reason and no more accurate, or less insulting, than to say that 'Mommy should be at home barefoot in the kitchen'.
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Just think back to segregation in the South in the 1950's. It had been a way of life for generations. If you were black, you sat in the back of the bus, you used a different bathroom, you even drank out of a different water fountain. Imagine that! There were laws that enforced this; Appellate decisions that upheld it as good law. "That's how it is, just accept it and go on with your life." Today fathers are deprived of their children by the courts due to the same type of senseless discrimination and told by the judges to just accept it and go on with their life. Legalized discrimination hasn't been eliminated, its just targeting different victims.