What type of punishment would a parent get for severe educational neglect?

[menw]

We live in North Carolina. There is a woman who has let her two girls miss over 15 days of school so far this year, 35 last year and 45 the year before. The school will not do anything to her. The girls do not have health problems and the mother will not have meeting with the school. Could she lose custody of her children for this? Isn't the school bound by law to do something about this? I have reported this to Social Services yesterday including the fact that her mother and boyfriend have drug related backgrounds and they live in a 3 bedroom home with 9 people. I got an email back asking about the drug background as if this s.s. person didn't even care about the educational neglect. Does anyone have any opinions on this situation or what usually happens to parents who do this?

[michelangelo]

In my state (CT) kids must complete 180 days of school a year and are allowed to miss 20 unexcused days (which I think is too much) THe parents should be reported to the truancy department in their town and the kids should be investigated by children's services; which in turn will investigate the entire family.