Mom Was Mad.

Neely was never charged with a crime. “It’s a fundamental idea in the American judicial system . . . that you can’t punish one person for the misdeeds of another even flit would be efficient to do so,” says Northwestern University criminal-law professor Dan Polsby. Civil libertarians argue that the sentence, which the judge also gave to two other mothers, discriminates against women. “I’d like to see a white male who makes $200,000 a year receive a sentence like this,” says Benjamin Wolf of the Chicago ACLU.

Mr. Wolf, be careful what you ask for. Some school administrators give the judge an A for creativity and wouldn’t mind seeing more parents in class. “We’re not trying to be punitive,” says Dan Williams, a dean at Rolling Meadow’s. “The judge is trying to show the kids that it’s important to come to school.” Neely, who owns a trucking company with her husband, gamely took her paper-work with her to Nicole’s classes for 30 days. She even went to gym and home economics, but quickly decided to take her daughter off campus for lunch. Now, Nicole insists that she won’t skip class again. “My mom was mad,” she says.