Okay. Let’s examine something. Tonya McDowell has been sentenced to five years in prison for enrolling her child in a better school outside of her district. Meanwhile, Trent Mays & Ma’lik Richmond, the rapists from Steubenville, Ohio, got a collective three years of time in a juvenile correctional facility between the two of them, & they’re being made out as the victims because they had “promising futures.” What the ACTUAL FUCK is going on.

CT Governor Dannel P. Malloy: Pardon Tonya McDowell For Kindergarten Educational Theft

change.org

Please sign this and pass it on!

Last year, Tonya, a single mother from Bridgeport who was struggling to give five-year-old son a great school was charged by the Norwalk school district for sending her child to one of its schools. Tonya was trying to provide her child with the kind of opportunities you have supported this year through the proposed expansion of high-quality charter schools. But because of residency laws that restrict those choices, Tonya found herself faced with a choice: Send her child to a failing school that wouldn’t meet his needs – and make her child one of many kids damaged by the state’s worst achievement gap – or do what she can to help her child get into a school that would.

As a result of fighting fiercely for the future of her son, as any mother should do, she faced criminal charges– and now she faces an unfair sentence.

Tonya does not deserve this unfair sentence for education theft. So on her behalf, and on behalf of every parent, mother, father, and grandparent faced with a lack of quality opportunities to learn, I ask you to support Tonya’s full pardon for educational theft. With this pardon, you are once again sending the message that Connecticut will put the educational and life needs of children first!

& some recent news in the case:

A Connecticut woman who was homeless has pleaded guilty to fraudulently enrolling her son in the wrong school district.

Tonya McDowell entered her plea Wednesday in Norwalk Superior Court under the Alford Doctrine, meaning she doesn’t admit guilt but concedes the state has enough evidence to convict her.

She also pleaded guilty to selling narcotics. She faces about five years in prison at sentencing.

NAACP helping Tanya McDowell, a homeless mother who was arrested for allegedly sending her son to a school outside of her district.

ABC News: Tonya McDowell’s Case Attracts Attention of Civil Rights Leaders

From ABC News

The NAACP is stepping in to help Tanya McDowell, the Connecticut mother arrested for allegedly sending her son to a school outside of her district.

McDowell will be arraigned Wednesday on charges that she stole educational services from Norwalk Public Schools by allegedly lying about her home address.

Tanya McDowell, 33, was arrested April 15 and charged with first degree grand larceny for allegedly stealing $15,686 in educational services from Norwalk Public Schools. Her 6-year-old son was enrolled in Brookside Elementary School in Norwalk, Conn., from September of last year until January of this year.

“The NAACP doesn’t like that they’re trying to attack somebody whose poor and doesn’t have a good support system,” said Scot X. Esdaile, president of the Connecticut State Conference of the NAACP. “This is discrimination.”

McDowell claims that she’s homeless and was floating between a homeless shelter, a friend’s apartment in Norwalk and a home in Bridgeport when she registered her son for school. McDowell registered her son under her babysitter’s address in Norwalk. McDowell told The Daily Norwalk that she simply wanted the best education for her son.

Under federal law, children can continue to attend classes in a school district where they began their education if the family was homeless.

Norwalk Mayor Richard A. Moccia refused to talk to ABC News, but defended the arrest to other media outlets.

Homeless Mother Jailed for Sending Son to Public School with Fake Address

  • A homeless woman in Connecticut has been sentenced to prison for using a fake address to enroll her son in a public school outside of her former district. Tonya McDowell, who is black, listed her babysitter’s address so her son could attend a school in Norwalk, instead of Bridgeport, where she used to live. Now living out of a van, McDowell occasionally has stayed at a homeless shelter in Norwalk. She was accused of stealing over $15,000 in “free” educational services for her son. Coupled with other charges for selling illegal drugs, she was given a 12-year sentence in prison, suspended after she serves five years. Her attorney, Darnell Crosland, said: “You shouldn’t be arrested for stealing a free education. It’s just wrong.”

source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/18/tanya-mcdowell-homeless-w_n_850571.html

Homeless mother who sent six-year-old son to better school in the wrong town jailed for five years

A mother who pleaded guilty to fraudulently enrolling her six-year-old son in the wrong school district has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Tonya McDowell sent her son to an elementary school in Norwalk, Connecticut, instead of her home city of Bridgeport.

The 34-year-old, who was homeless when she was charged with felony larceny last year, said she wanted the best education possible for the boy.

McDowell last week entered her plea at Norwalk Superior Court under the Alford Doctrine, which means she does not admit guilt but concedes the state has enough evidence to convict her.

Authorities told the hearing that she used a babysitter’s address to enroll her son in kindergarten in Norwalk when he should have attended schools in Bridgeport, her last permanent address.

Her case drew national attention and support from civil rights leaders and other advocates who wanted the charge dismissed.

McDowell told police she was living in a van and occasionally slept at a Norwalk shelter or a friend’s Bridgeport apartment when she enrolled her son Norwalk’s Brookside Elementary School.

Police said McDowell stole $15,686 worth of ‘free’ educational services from Norwalk.
She also pleaded guilty to four counts of sale of narcotics, which will be included in her prison sentence.

In a separate case, she pleaded guilty on February 7 to selling drugs.

McDowell’s lawyer, Darnell Crosland, said she agreed to accept a plea bargain rather than continue fighting the charges even though she insists she is not guilty.

Mr Crosland said: ‘You shouldn’t be arrested for stealing a free education. It’s just wrong.’

McDowell was sentenced to 12 years in jail, suspended after she serves five years, and five years probation.

Article found here: 

http://copcop.net/homeless-mother-who-sent-six-year-old-son-to-better-school-in-the-wrong-town-jailed-for-five-years/

What are YOUR thoughts on this?

CT Governor Dannel P. Malloy: Pardon Tonya McDowell For Kindergarten Educational Theft [petition]

change.org

please pass this around and sign/call if possible.

I just signed the following petition addressed to: CT Governor Dannel P. Malloy and called his office at (800) 406-1527 and asked him to pardon Tonya McDowell for educational theft.

————————
As governor, you have shown that you will stop at nothing to ensure that all Connecticut children have access to high quality schools. And now, you have a new opportunity to show that commitment by pardoning Tonya McDowell, a mother who nothing more than gave her five year old child a school that could meet his Kindergarten needs.

Last year, Tonya, a single mother from Bridgeport who was struggling to give five-year-old son a great school was charged by the Norwalk school district for sending her child to one of its schools. Tonya was trying to provide her child with the kind of opportunities you have supported this year through the proposed expansion of high-quality schools. But because of residency laws that restrict those choices, Tonya found herself faced with a choice: Send her child to a failing school that wouldn’t meet his needs – and make her child one of many kids damaged by the state’s worst achievement gap – or do what she can to help her child get into a school that would.

As a result of fighting fiercely for the future of her son, as any mother should do, she faced criminal charges– and now she faces an unfair sentence.

[READ MORE & SIGN PETITION]

more contact info for Gov. Malloy [via Malloy’s website]:

STATE CAPITOL
210 CAPITOL AVENUE
HARTFORD, CT 06106
 
TDD: (860) 524-7397
FAX: (860) 524-7395
 
Send Email To Governor Malloy (link)

and here are some online free faxing places if you want to fax the Gov. about this:

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