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.
