Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


A bill that would close the gap when students move from one school to another – ensuring that the student does not fall through the cracks – is expected to be introduced in the state Legislature as soon as next week.

Oakland County legislators from both the House and the Senate are expected to introduce a bill to amend the school code that would tighten the procedure for enrolling and unenrolling a student who moves from one school to another.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard proposed the change in response to a recent abuse and neglect case involving three Pontiac children who did not attend school for several years.

One school in Pontiac requested the transcripts of the children from the school where they were current students. They never actually moved to a new school and neither school had them enrolled. The school where they had previously been enrolled dropped them from the rolls, presuming they had moved.

Bouchard said “This wasn’t a crack these children slipped through, but a deep cavern from which they did not emerge for years. We must find a process to ensure that any potential handoff between schools is verified with written confirmation to ensure no children are lost in the future. I greatly appreciate the bipartisan legislative effort to change the school code to prevent such a tragedy going forward.”

Rep. Tom Kuhn (R-Troy) and Rep. Brenda Carter (D-Pontiac) are expected to introduce a bill to the House while Sen. Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield) is expected to introduce the bill in the Senate.

The Oakland County delegation in the House and Senate are expected to join as co-sponsors.

The Office says the school code gives scant guidance on actual procedures for un-enrolling/re-enrolling students.

The proposed legislation would require a confirmation of enrollment of a student before the student’s previous school would be able to unenroll them.

In this case, the Office said the previous school received a records request from the new school, but the children never actually enrolled in that school so both schools thought that they were at the other school. The bill would close that gap in the law.

The gap came to light after the arrest of Kelli Marie Bryant, a 34-year-old Pontiac mother who abandoned her son, 15, and two daughters, ages 12 and 13.

The children lived alone in “absolute squalor” for years while their mother dropped off food on the porch every month. The boy said he and his sisters lived alone in the home as his mother had abandoned them in 2020 or 2021.

Bryant lived in a different location in Pontiac.

A release states “Deputies learned of the neglect after the landlord said he had not heard from Bryant since December, and she had not paid the rent since October. Deputies were sent to the residence on a welfare check. Upon their arrival, deputies found a home in deplorable shape. Garbage was piled as high as four feet in some rooms, mold and human waste was found throughout, with the toilet overflowing and feces in the bathtub. Deputies checked the residence for occupants and found the boy and his sisters. The girls had locked themselves in the bathroom but opened the door when asked”.

The children are now living with relatives while under the supervision of Child Protective Services.

Bryant is charged with first-degree child abuse and is being held in the Oakland County Jail on a $250 (m) million bond. She’s set to appear in court again on March 4th for a probable cause conference. Her preliminary examination is set for March 11th before Judge Gross.