Class Wars: Homeless Woman Arrested For Sending Her Son To School

A homeless woman faces criminal charges for sending her 6 year old son to school; they are accusing her of stealing around $15,000 dollars from the district.

The apparent crackdown may have something to do with the city’s tightening budget.

Mayor Richard Moccia said that he was aware that an investigation was proceeding in the case and that an arrest was possible.

“This now sends a message to other parents that may have been living in other towns and registering their kids with phony addresses,” he said.

While Moccia said it was sad the case involves a woman who appears to be homeless, he pointed out that if she had been living at the Norwalk shelter and registered her child there she would not be facing charges now.

Do I really need to outline the wtfuckery of this mess?

The ridiculous claim of budgetary necessity? Do they really expect us to believe that they expect this woman to somehow manage $15,000?

I’m curious, would they charge her son with truancy and her with neglect were she to not have sent her child to school?

Relevant To Today’s Interests: Student Experiences of Day of Silence

Here are a few comments we’ve received this morning. It’s strong reminder of why the Day of Silence is so important.

By 10 am this morning more than 30 students had already benn called to the office for participating in the Day of Silence. They were told to participate they had to go home with an unexcused absence, but they were an educational distraction to be silent all day.

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School personnel are telling me that I cannot support it by putting a printed piece of paper on my shirt telling why i am not talking. And an attendance clerk said to me “I am not playing these stupid little games.”

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Administrator sent an e-mail saying to bring all the students participating in the day of silence to the office.

Read full article here.

Just in case you were wondering why these movements are necessary.

DID YOU KNOW…?

• Nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT students experience harassment in American schools each year.
• 60% of LGBT youth feel unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation.
• Nearly 1 out of 3 LGBT youth missed school in the past month because of safety concerns.

signal boost: Day of Silence

From the website:

On the National Day of Silence hundreds of thousands of students nationwide take a vow of silence to bring attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in their schools.

From the blog:

Four Things You Should Know about Student Rights and Day of Silence (2011)

1. You DO have a right to participate in Day of Silence and other expressions of your opinion at a public school during non-instructional time: the breaks between classes, before and after the school day, lunchtime, and any other free times during your day. If your principal or a teacher tells you otherwise, you should contact our office or the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

2. You do NOT have a right to remain silent during class time if a teacher asks you to speak. If you want to stay quiet during class on Day of Silence, we recommend that you talk with your teachers ahead of time, tell them that you plan to participate in Day of Silence and why it’s important to you, and ask them if it would be okay for you to communicate in class on that day in writing. Most teachers will probably say yes.

3. Your school is NOT required to “sponsor” Day of Silence. But Day of Silence is rarely a school-sponsored activity to begin with – it’s almost always an activity led by students. So don’t be confused – just because your school isn’t officially sponsoring or participating in Day of Silence doesn’t mean that you can’t participate.

4. Students who oppose Day of Silence DO have the right to express their views, too. Like you, they must do so in a civil, peaceful way and they only have a right to do so during non-instructional time. For example, they don’t have a right to skip school on Day of Silence without any consequences, just as you don’t have a right to skip school just because you don’t like what they think or say.

More info at the blog post!

Linkspam (4/7/11)

Figured a link round-up may make up for a lack of posts today.

Read on!:

• Excerpt & commentary of a Newsweek article on military rape-culture || Shakesville
• Seven Immigrant Youth Arrested in Atlanta for Demanding Higher Ed Access || ColorLines
• On Teachers Calling Kids “Future Criminals” and the School to Prison Pipeline || Racialicious
• Anti-Childhood Obesity PSA Shames Fat Children || Sociological Images
• Hypersexualizing Little Girls So As To Discourage Hypersexualizing Little Girls || Sociological Images
• Gender disparity in global newsrooms: New findings and continued concerns || Sociology Lens
• Breaking Down the GOP Budget Plan to Cut Medicaid and Medicare || ColorLines
• Face to face with Chile’s abortion law: One woman’s story, many women’s reality || Gender Across Borders
• Changes in Indiana Abortion Law Suggest We Are Out of the Frying Pan and Into a Fiery National Hell || Abortion Gang

As always, stay informed and knowledgeable.

Related Articles

• You Should Be Reading: Linkspam! (theramblingfeminist.wordpress.com)