Former School Official Says Tonya McDowell Arrest is “Absurd” and Unprecedented During His Administration

 

From the Connecticut Post

The response by Norwalk officials, from top to bottom, in the matter of Tanya McDowell and the son they yanked out of kindergarten on a non-residency charge is nothing short of atrocious.

McDowell was arrested and charged with stealing from the city of Norwalk some four months' worth of kindergarten education for her now-5-year-old son, Andres Justin "A.J." Paches, a larceny of the first degree, a charge that carries the potential of 20 years in prison.

A former Norwalk public schools official came only close when he described as "absurd" the arrest of the 33-year-old homeless, single mother, and the demand that she repay $15,686 for stolen educational services.

Yes, her decision to use the address of a babysitter in Norwalk's Roodner Court housing complex may have been ill-advised, but when she enrolled A.J. in preschool the year before, McDowell had used the Merrit Street address of the Norwalk homeless shelter where they were living.

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