CT - Homeless women arrested for sending her son to school

[txsvicki]

For a long time I've felt that school systems in this country are becoming like dictators taking over our lives and children. The woman in most states, would be able to get a transfer based on where her babysitter lives. She gave her babysitter's address, which means that she did or does have a job, and the child stays there many hours per day. The woman lived out of her van and stayed at the homeless shelter part of the time in the town that is charging her with felony larceny. This could indicate that she had savings, is working, or at least looking for more work in that very town. Most shelters won't let people stay there full time, but make them leave after awhile, so she may come and go to the place. The article didn't give enough information, but it sounds like the woman is very resourceful and trying. IMO, the school system and prosecutor are just causing her child even more problems by taking him from her and placing him with relatives in the other town leaving the mom with a record, heavy fines, and legal fees. Money that could have went for the care of the child. Who knows, maybe the woman doesn't want to live with those relatives or can't find a decent job in that town. This should be a matter between the woman and the school and not the law, IMO. From the law that the other poster quoted, it sound like the school system is breaking federal law, which is no huge suprise. Schools do this to families all the time with heavy fines for almost grown teens skipping school. Younger kids suffer and the whole family suffers for something that should not involve police, and didn't years ago.

 

[kgeaux]

What makes this womans child any different from the other children that live in his area. This mother is teaching her son to cheat,lie and to disobey the law at a very young age. Is her child any better than her neighbors child. why not just let the county he is enrolled in pay the tax bill the rest of the country.

The child in question is very young. I don't think he even realized that he was attending the school illegally. I'm not even convinced the mother knew it was illegal. Homeless means no permanent place to stay, no permanent address, and she may have thought her child could attend "any" school. What district are homeless children assigned to? The district where they last lived? The district of the shelter? The district of whatever relative he stays a few days with? Do they need to switch schools weekly as their place of shelter changes?

Homeless kids have enough to deal with, and I think attending school can provide a sense of stablity in an otherwise unstable life.

 

[Wendy101]

I disagree with the bulk of posts on this thread. I live in a district that spends an average of $14,000 per student, per year. It's supposed to be an "exceptional" education. I don't think so. My property taxes are over $8500. a year. I chose to send my own child to a private school at one third the cost the district is spending per child and he receives a far far better education.

I have a neighbor who allows a relative, that lives out of the district, to use her address. The relative drops her two children off everyday to be picked up by the bus. They are stealing. No different than the "homeless" woman.

If our taxes go up much more we will be moving. Does it sound fair that I want to live where I want to live and educate my child where I want him educated without footing the bill for freeloaders? Children whose greatest feat in life will be the ability to say, "You want fries wth that?" we should spend thousands of dollars a year, per child for that? Really?

So how do you feel for the disabled chilrden in your area that attend this particular school? You know the children who feat in life is REALLY "Do you want fries with that?" Do you think it is worth your tax dollars that the diabled child be educated in your area?

Poor does not mean the child will be unsuccesful.
Rich does not mean the child will succeed.

Giftedness or lack of, knows no boundries.

 

[Tinsamd]

I read this article today at work, & it of course sparked complete outrage amongst those I work with because I just couldn't keep it to myself.

No other parents were charged.... No one but the homeless mother. REALLY!!!?!??!!??!!

Seriously, bless her heart.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/0...conn-students-expelled-using-false-addresses/

At least 26 Connecticut students were kicked out of their Norwalk public school for illegally enrolling by using a phony home address, a district spokesman told FoxNews.com. But none of the parents involved will face legal charges, even though a homeless Norwalk mother was criminally charged last month for the same offense, according to the official.

Bruce Morris, human relations officer with Norwalk Public Schools, said Friday that the students were forced to withdraw from their public school after it was found they were not legal residents of the city.

“It’s absolutely not fair,” Gwen Samuel, founder of the Connecticut Parents Union, told FoxNews.com. “They should dismiss Tanya’s case.”

Morris argued that McDowell’s case is different because it “was handled outside of the school district.”

“Her case was referred by the Norwalk Housing Authority to the police to the prosecutor,” he said. “We [the school district] never report this to the police … We would not prosecute criminally.”

That explanation, however, doesn’t sit well with others, including Samuel.

 

[tlcya]

ty for posting that Tinsamd, I can see why you and coworkers were outraged. My friend and coworker and I have discussed this case but today was a really busy day so we both missed this new development. Can't wait til Monday to tell her, she will not believe it.

Samuel is right, this case should be dismissed. Lets hope she rallys the rest of the Parents Union to hollar and scream til that happens. It is completely unfair that this homeless woman is being prosecuted for this when no one else who has engaged in this practice is. Utter BS.

 

[Tinsamd]

I still cannot believe what I read!

I just re-read the article that I posted on here, & I had missed the part that if she's convicted she faces up to 20 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[tlcya]

right?!? I had to post your linked article to my FB page. Couldn't wait til monday to hear my friend's rant about this. This is just so wrong. If the prosecutor was going after all who did this I could maybe understand. Fairness etc. but just her? And the excuse that its all the babysitter's housing authority's fault. Total carp!

 

[tlcya]

any word on who the DA is that opted to file these charges? Whoever (s)he is they seem to be trying to make a name for themselves. Unfortunately the name I came up with [expletive] I can't post here as it is not allowed.

 

[Tinsamd]

Here is another good article that I just found.

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/26-Students-Illegally-Enrolled-in-Norwalk-121425634.html

I’m very concerned," McDowell’s attorney Darnell Crosland said. "I’m not concerned that these other 26 should be prosecuted, it’s that Ms. McDowell should not be prosecuted."

"Miss McDowell’s been asked to pay back $15,000 while her child was in school and no one is seeking restitution from those 26 families," Crosland said. "Why didn’t the school say to police you guys don’t have to handle this? We have a policy; we’ll take care of this."

Meanwhile, McDowell said her son has had a tough time adjusting to his new school in Bridgeport.

"It’s hard on my son," McDowell said. "Now he has nightmares like I drop him off at school and I’m not going to come back and pick him."

Crosland wants the charges to be dropped.

The NAACP will hold a march to support McDowell later this month.

 

[Tinsamd]

Ok, so this situation has just about consumed me completely because it is so wrong on so many levels.

I hadn't even heard about it until yesterday.

While I do disagree with some of the comments that have been made on here, what it comes down to for me, is that the punishment should be the same across the board; not one set of rules to be primarily followed for the majority of these cases, & subsequently to make an example of a homeless mother just trying to get her son an education.

She's flippin homeless, where is she supposed to seek an education for her baby!?

The other 26 "guilty" parents have a roof over their heads at least, & a school district in their area, even if they want a better one... Tanya McDowell didn't even have that much.

20 years!?!? Come on!?!?

What about murderers & rapists that don't get that much time....

http://news.change.org/stories/activists-call-for-firing-of-prosecutor-in-tanya-mcdowell-case

If anyone is interested, there is a link at the bottom of this article to stop Tanya McDowell's prosecution.

I'm off to sign...

tlcox, the prosecutor's name is Suzanne Vieux...

More than 13,000 Change.org members have signed a petition telling Norwalk, Connecticut to drop charges against Tanya McDowell, a homeless woman who's being prosecuted for sending her son to the "wrong" school. But now, the people behind the petition are saying that dropping the charges against McDowell isn't enough - the prosecutor who brought the charges, Suzanne Vieux, should be fired.

Anthony Crisci, the Norwalk community organizer who started the petition, said initially, it wasn't clear where exactly the charges against McDowell - which he calls "senseless" - came from.

"We later found out that this action was orchestrated mainly by the State Attorney's office, and particularly by Assistant State's Attorney Suzanne Vieux," said Crisci. "We felt that Vieux's handling of the case was not only irrational, but an arrogant waste of taxpayers' dollars."

 

[Shear22]

One of the best articles I've seen about this with some information that is being underreported elsewhere:

"Under federal law, Ms. McDowell would have been allowed to keep her child at Brookside had she been homeless, but officials said that she never claimed to be homeless and that they were unaware of any evidence that she was homeless while he was enrolled."

It doesn't make it right that the district has singled her out, and not prosecuted other cases, but it does show that this case is more complicated than it seems at first.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/n...-inequality-at-heart-of-connecticut-case.html

 

[burbqueen]

20 years? O.K. let me get this straight you can molest a child and get like 4-5 years here in Texas, but god forbid you send your kid outta district to school?? Ummmm....I'm confused? And by pursuing this case the Tax payers are paying how much???

As for me I was raised in the hood and grew up on welfare. My mom and I moved to Texas and to Plano. Which is one of the best school districts in the state. Without a good education I wouldnt be where I am today. My husband grew up in Dallas school district and went to one of the worst schools in dallas, Carter High School.

I can tell the serious differences in our education. We are both successful, but my DH has had to work harder in College to catch up. His education was behind. The things he was learning in 12th grade was what I learned in 10th grade. So yes, education does matter. How many students give up when they go to College? They get frustrated cause they cannot keep up. Add poverty to the mix, bad parenting and lack of resources to the mix and you have a future that might end up in a prison stint or 4 babies by 25.

And of course my husband shouldnt have been drowned in a bucket! Whyaduck your comment had me laughing!

 

[tlcya]

ty for the link to petition tinsamd, signed and delivered. will be posting the link to it on my FB for my friends to sign.

 

[nanny2five]

i was homeless for awhile. a lot of us on here have been at one time or another for whatever reason. when you live on literally nothing extra, events can unfold very quickly and your situation can take a turn for the worse. somebody mentioned paying 8500$ in property taxes. i didn't even make 8500$ last year. after 6 semesters on the presidents honor roll with a 4.0 gpa in computer science/programming, i serve food for a living. maybe i should have foregone the financial aid that allowed me that education, since in the long run i made a choice to do something a little more personal for a living. food is what we put in our bodies so we can continue to live. if we are going to eat out, as millions of people do, every single day for every meal, we had better hope that the people who serve it have a little respect for us. all i am saying is you should not judge the people who serve your food as lower that you on any level. and we should not judge this mother for doing everything she could to see that her child could have a stable education and hopefully know how to get a better life for himself, even if he chooses food service as a profession.
jmo, mho, imo and all that jazz

 

[Kimberlyd125]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/06/13/homeless-connecticut-mother-facing-new-drug-charges/

Homeless Connecticut Mother Facing New Drug Charges

NORWALK, Conn. – A 33-year-old homeless woman in Connecticut accused of stealing public school services for her 5-year-old son has a date in court on separate drug charges.

Tanya McDowell was arrested Friday after allegedly selling crack cocaine and marijuana to undercover officers several times in Norwalk and Bridgeport.



***More at link***

 

[reen]

Oh no. This poor child is hitting obstacle after obstacle to a better life...now mom's going to jail on top of it all. Hoping he can get into a more stable situation soon.

 

[peeples]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/06/13/homeless-connecticut-mother-facing-new-drug-charges/

Homeless Connecticut Mother Facing New Drug Charges

NORWALK, Conn. – A 33-year-old homeless woman in Connecticut accused of stealing public school services for her 5-year-old son has a date in court on separate drug charges.

Tanya McDowell was arrested Friday after allegedly selling crack cocaine and marijuana to undercover officers several times in Norwalk and Bridgeport.



***More at link***

Big Surprise there!!!
Best thing that could happen to that kid is getting away from his so called mother.. UGHHH

 

[kgeaux]

Big Surprise there!!!
Best thing that could happen to that kid is getting away from his so called mother.. UGHHH

I guess I am naive! Because I actually am surprised. She seemed to care so much that her child attend school, even while they had no steady place to stay, that I am very surprised that she is dealing drugs.

 

[Melanie]

I guess I am naive! Because I actually am surprised. She seemed to care so much that her child attend school, even while they had no steady place to stay, that I am very surprised that she is dealing drugs.

I have to agree with you. She went to some lengths to get her son enrolled in school. As a homeless person she could have just carted him around all day.

I am suprised, however, that she is dealing drugs. That's kind of an oxymoron in my opinion. You care for your son so much, but on the other hand you're out there selling drugs?

Some things I will never understand.

MOO

Mel

 

[tlcya]

disappointed to hear this. It does not however change my opinion about her prosecution for "theft of services."

She should be prosecuted for the drug offense, but I remain convinced that it is completely ridiculous that she be prosecuted for the school thing. If she is prosecuted for that offense then every one of those individuals discovered by the school to have been doing the same exact thing should also be prosecuted.