Court Frees Michigan Teen Who Was Held for Skipping Online Schoolwork

The case, which was reported by ProPublica, immediately drew condemnation.

The release came more than a week after an Oakland County Circuit Court judge ruled that the teenager, who violated the terms of her probation by skipping coursework when her school switched to remote learning because of the coronavirus pandemic, should remain at the juvenile facility. The judge said the decision was intended for the girl’s own good.

“I think you are exactly where you are supposed to be,” Judge Mary Ellen Brennan said to the girl, who is Black. “You are blooming there, but there is more work to be done.”

The judge said that the police had been called three times over confrontations between the girl and her mother, adding that “she was detained because she was a threat to her mother.”

But the teenager was not placed in detention or incarcerated after any of those previous encounters, a lawyer for Grace told The Times last week. One of the girl’s lawyers said she had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and received special education services, which made it difficult for her to shift to online education.

The girl had been on probation after she pulled her mother’s hair and bit her finger in November, the judge said. The police referred the case to the Oakland County court, and an assault charge was filed against the girl. A few weeks later, she was charged with larceny after she was caught on surveillance video stealing a cellphone from a fellow student at Birmingham Groves High School in Beverly Hills, northwest of Detroit, according to ProPublica.