A southwest Missouri woman will spend two days in jail because her 13-year-old son missed nearly half of the 2006-2007 school year.
Kathleen Casteel of Walnut Grove was sentenced yesterday to the two days of ``shock time,'' ordered to take a parenting skills class and undergo two years of unsupervised probation.
She was convicted in April of violating the state's compulsory attendance law, a misdemeanor.
The judge also ordered Casteel to put the boy back into a public school -- she has home-schooled her son since his enrollment was revoked from Springfield Public Schools.
Defense attorneys challenged Greene County prosecutors' argument that Casteel was not home-schooling her son in compliance with state law.
Assistant Greene County Prosecutor Joe Knipp said the sentence might be the first time a parent has been jailed in Missouri for truancy charges.
