February 14, 2007

What Did He Do?

Austin's court hearing went very well. We waited our turn, which comes quickly since they push families with bawling babies to the top of the pile. (Thank you, Brandy!) The judge didn't remember Austin, thankfully, but the officer did and he isn't overly fond of my kid. I went armed with letters from 2 of his teachers and his report card to show how he has improved since the last incident.

We left the 5th grade Valentine's day party early, made it to court before three in spite of a train, and survived the trip through the brand spanking new metal detector that the cops kept playing with (my god, are cops in Texas HUGE!!) I was very surprised to see Mrs. P, the assistant principal who called the cops on Austin in the first place, and whose (so called) character reference didn't even make it into the judges hands. I saw her a dozen times today at the school and she did not mention she would be attending. The second surprise she gave me was when she stuck up for Austin in court, which I believe really helped his case! This time the judge was aware that Austin is disabled. I was encouraged to seek doctoring and medications, and Austin and I have to go to two 1 hour classes at the court house next month.

Can do!

What did Austin do to land in court? He refused to do his classwork and totally disrupted class. Then he hid in the time out room under a desk, and the cops had to lift it up to get him out. "Austin is very disrespectful to AUTHORITY!" said the cop.
"Austin is doing better in school, but when he has bad days, he completely shuts down," Mrs. P said.

Welcome to my world.

8 comments:

The Lazy Iguana said...

That is it? He hid under a desk and they called the cops? For this you had to go to court?

You know, I think that was a waste of police time, a waste of court time, a waste of your time, and so on. The Assistant Principal probably showed up (and did not say anything to you) out of embarrassment over the way this was handled.

Rowan Dawn said...

Yup. He refused to work and he hid. He is disabled, on an IEP and she didn't even try to contact us first. We had a little chat right afterwards and the next day about it. In texas, 3 strikes and you're out. If he gets another ticket, he goes to juvenile, which is JAIL!

She is to call myself, my husband or Austin's grandparents next time first, and get our permission to call the police or cal them if WE can't be contacted.

It was a total waste of time and money, I will tell you what!!!

Zanthera Degore said...

I still can't believe it. It's all surreal to me to call cops on an school kid, not even a highschool kid. Kids will be kids.

Here you get suspended by the school and three times you get expelled. Usually for worse things too. No cops.

Anonymous said...

if they called the cops on my son in the 5th grade BEFORE Me i would have their jobs

by the way, i need a persistent link to your shoe post, and i don't see one with this template, can you help

Gail said...

Did you get the phone numbers I sent you? Rachel said they had no right to do that and wanted to know if they use physcial force? Those numbers are for advocates for you as the parent and for Austin. I think is rights were violated. Please call these people so you know your rights.Love Mom

katy said...

Dear God. What a waste of time for everyone. And people wonder why it's so hard for kids in the system, kids who need parents like you, to get some help and attention.

Anyway, glad he didn't get expelled or some silly stuff like that. Hope he's doing well.

yellowdoggranny said...

what a crock..all that time, money misery for a kid who sat under a desk. no wonder the crime rate in texas is so high...that judge's time and the cop's time and your time could have been better spent..
soo sorry...

Margaret said...

Vista has been frying a few computers lately by overheating. (Hubby is a tech and has been on a strange amount of service calls.) Keep that in mind just in case.

Gosh, the stuff with your son is really driving me more toward homeschooling. Calling the police on kids for a victimless behaviors? That's a bit extreme.