CHEBOYGAN, MI -- A Cheboygan County mother is going to jail for not sending her child to school.

Jennifer Specht will spend at least two days behind bars, with a possibility of up to 90 days.

She pleaded guilty to a truancy charge for not sending her six year old to school.

There have been cases of truancy in Cheboygan schools, but usually, they're settled by the school and liaison officer paying a visit with the parents and discussing the resources.

But when that doesn’t work, the courts get involved.

Cheboygan County Sheriff's Deputy Ron Fenlon is the Cheboygan Schools resource and liaison officer.  He says last year, there were 27 cases of kids missing school, or truancy cases, within the district, and there wasn't a single case that made it to the judge.  30 year old Jennifer Specht will spend time behind bars because she didn't cooperate and she failed to get her six year old to school.

"Bringing a case into court is absolutely the last resort," said Cheboygan County Assistant Prosecutor Aaron Gauthier.

Gauthier says the last time a parent has been criminally prosecuted for truancy was back in 2007.  In this case, the mother was given several chances to get her kid to school, but she failed.  The student missed 22 days.

“If the parent does not provide that educational opportunity for the children, we're going to take that very seriously," said Gauthier.

In Cheboygan Schools, Superintendent Mark Dombroski says a student is considered truant when he or she misses 10 days of school unexcused.  The district sends a letter to the parents and schedules a meeting.  When a student misses 15 days, it gets a little more serious.  The school sends a letter saying the courts could be involved, the family is visited by the liaison officer, and it acts as a last warning.

"If there is reason a student is being gone 9, 10, 15 days, then we want some medical documentation that says there's other reasons," said Dombroski.

"I’m not there to take them to court; I'm there to be used as a resource," said Fenlon.

And with the help of the school liaison officer and the resources he can provide to parents and children who are having a problem, the hope is to not have these cases reach the courts.

“We want to make sure kids are coming to school," said Dombroski.

"By having them refer these kids to me, at an early stage, whether it is a 10 day letter or 15 day letter, it's making a big difference," said Fenlon.

Fenlon says the problem is usually at the high school level -- kids not coming to school.

But he says every once and a while, there are the cases like this one, where the parent doesn't bring their child to school.

You can find a complete list of truancy numbers for school districts across the state HERE. 

Truancy can have a wide reaching impact on a student and the community.  To see the causes and effects of truancy CLICK HERE.

To view the Truancy Prevention Program information for Grand Traverse County CLICK HERE.