Seventeen-year-old Texas honors student, Diane Tran, carries a full course load at Willis High School. “Dual credit US History, duel credit English degree, college algebra and Spanish III” Tran lists her current classes she enrolled in. Most of these being duel credit collage level courses. Keeping her grades up to the honor roll level would be tough for any teenage girl, but Tran has it a little tougher as her classmate Devin Hall explained to a reporter from KHOU11 out of Huston, Texas.
Hall detailed Trans schedule as such “She goes from job to job from school, she stays up until seven in the morning doing her homework.” Tran works two jobs apart from full time school, she works part time at a wedding venue and full time at a laundry mat in order to send support to her two other siblings. She has been doing this since her parents divorced and moved away leaving her to live with the family that runs that wedding venue and her younger sister with another local family.
Tran was warned in April about missing so much school, but she missed again and was sent before judge Lanny Moriarty who sentenced her to a night in jail and a $100 fine. When questioned f he had known about the extenuating circumstances before passing judgment on the young girl Moriarty stated “If you let this on run then what are you going to do with the rest of them, let them go to?” he went on to say “a little stay in jail is not a death sentence”
He was then asked if he didn’t think perhaps this was a case were justice perhaps, could be tempered with mercy Moriarty agreed, although further explaining that if he excused one student due to personal circumstances he would appear soft on the issue.
Texas law states that if a child has ten or more unexcused absences within a six month period that that district may turn the student over to the juvenile court system. It will then be up to the courts to decide the appropriate course of action regarding that child individual case.
Since her story was shared online dozens of news outlets throughout the country have picked up on it, bringing attention to the young student’s particular plight. The Louisiana Children’s Education Fund has partnered up with Anedot and Gatorworks to raise a sum of $28,000 to help with trans bills and education.
Change.org has an online petition that has gathered more than 25 thousand signatures to have her sentence revoked.
