On the Eve of a Court Hearing, New Twists in the 'Homeless Mother' Case

The case known in news headlines as Norwalk's "homeless woman" story may or may not involve a homeless woman—that description of her is a central part of what is at issue—but that is only one jarringly unusual facets of a story that has both Norwalkers and people across the country talking.

Those unusual facets were coming to light on Tuesday, the same day that the state and Norwalk NAACP organizations announced they were becoming involved in the case, according to The Advocate of Stamford, one of the news organizations invited to a news conference Tuesday.

The NAACP organizations announced, according to The Hour, another news organization invited to the news conference, that Attorney Darnell Crosland, would now step in to defend Tanya McDowell, 33, a black woman from either Bridgeport or Norwalk, homeless or not, who had given an improper address when she enrolled her five-year-old boy in Brookside Elementary School last September.

Late Tuesday evening, Steven Colarossi, who has a unique perspective in Norwalk as both a member of the Board of Education and a former public defender for juveniles in court (among other legal posts), recounted several ways in which the case involving Tanya McDowell, 33, accused of illegally putting her son in a Norwalk school, is unusual. Much of what Colarossi had to say was also pointed out by other school board officials. In part, these unusual aspects have led to widespread misperceptions and anger both in Norwalk and around the country, he said:

• McDowell, according to school officials, never told school officials that she and her five-year-old son were homeless. Although others have said that homeless people are often to embarrassed to admit their homelessness, McDowell would have had a number of services available to her and her child if she had done so.
• McDowell was very clear and insistent in an interview with Norwalk Patch on Monday that she was called by a school employee who told her that the boy would have to leave the Norwalk school district. But a telephone call would be completely against the established procedure for that kind of communication, Norwalk Public Schools officials said repeatedly yesterday. Tony Daddona, the assistant superintendent for curriculum, announced in a news release that school officials could find no employee who made such a call. Daddona said McDowell herself seems to have made the decision to withdraw her son from the school.
• Ironically, one of the services available to McDowell and her child would be free or low-cost childcare after school. McDowell was paying a woman at Roodner Court to babysit her child after school. When the woman agreed to let McDowell use her name and address in a notarized enrollment application for Norwalk Public Schools, that got the woman in so much trouble with the Norwalk Housing Authority that she was evicted. A confrontation between McDowell and the woman over the eviction reportedly caused an incident in which McDowell was arrested on disorderly conduct charges.
• Also ironic is that by not identifying herself as homeless, McDowell left herself vulnerable to being arrested on the larceny charge that led to today's appearance in state Superior Court in Norwalk. Under the McKinney Vento Act, families who claim they are homeless can enroll their children not only in the school district where the child is currently homeless, but in many cases where the child was previously living. The definition of homelessness under McKinney Vento is so broad that it includes stays at the homes of friends and relatives, so long as the child or family are guests, not permanent residents.
• In another odd twist, according to Board of Education member Jodi Bishop-Pullan, Superintendent of Schools Susan Marks did not know that the mother of a student in Norwalk schools had been arrested on charges of stealing educational services from the school district "until she read it in the papers" after the fact. Marks was away until today due to a death in her family and could not be reached for comment on Monday and Tuesday. Dadonna, who was filling in for Marks, said he knew of no one in the school district who was informed of the investigation or anyone in the district who knew of the arrest until it occurred. Yet the arrest warrant application for McDowell did mention that a police detective asked Norwalk school officials about the cost of educating an average Norwalk student.
• If school district officials had been informed of the investigation or even the subsequent arrest, they might have offered McDowell the standard protections she may be entitled to if she is a homeless mother. Even in cases where homelessness is not an issue, parents who may have to remove their children from a school because they are found to be living outside the district are sent a letter offering opportunities to make their case before hearing officers and opportunities of appeal before children are removed from a school.
• Colarossi, who was aware of all of these aspects of the case by Tuesday evening, was never informed about them by school officials or any other officials until after he started reading about the case in the news media. Other Board of Education members on Tuesday said they also were never told about the case, and Daddona said the school district as a whole was not informed.

Suzannie Vieux, chief prosecutor in state Superior Court in Norwalk, said Tuesday that she would not discuss the pending case, including any possible communication between law enforcement and Norwalk Public Schools officials.

The normal process for dealing with improper enrollments

Norwalk Public Schools do investigate cases in which out-of-district students are illegally getting an education in the district's schools, but when they do it follows a much different course than the one with McDowell, Daddona said in an interview and in a news release.

When a school principal gets a tip about a student, the principal can inform Daddona, who brings in a private investigator to see where the student goes home. The process normally takes weeks, in part because students whose parents are divorced may go to different homes as a matter of course.

Once the school district believes that parents have improperly enrolled or kept a student in Norwalk schools while the student really lives elsewhere, a form letter is sent to the parents, Daddona said. The letter describes how the parents may dispute the determination that the child lives outside the district, including asking for the case to be argued before an administrative hearing officer and an appeal to a state hearing officer.

The letter states that the student will be disenrolled after a certain number of days, although if the letter is sent near the end of the school year or the end of a marking period, the student is allowed to stay to complete tests and get grades for that quarter. This happens because the school district's primary responsibility is not to disrupt the education of a student, who is considered an innocent party even if participating in the parents' deception.

The school district typically does not ask for reimbursement of tuition, and parents are typically not charged with a crime, Daddona said, although there have been reports of parents being arrested elsewhere in Connecticut for theft of services from a public entity, including in Weston and Stratford. Norwalk Public Schools has not asked parents to reimburse the school system or sued parents in civil court to retrieve money for services expended on the students.

Two issues in the court case

Two matters that may arise in the court case are whether McDowell was in fact homeless. She listed an address of 66 Priscilla Circle, Bridgeport, as her address in an arrest many years ago in Bridgeport, according to Mayor Richard A. Moccia. She also said repeatedly in a Norwalk Housing Court hearing earlier this hear that she lived at that address.

McDowell said in an interview Monday that she only is allowed to stay overnight there, which is the home of a friend. She gave a Norwalk address when she enrolled her child in Brookside Elementary School, according to the arrest warrant application for this case filed by Norwalk police.

The McKinney Vento Act may also come up in the case as a defense for McDowell. If she and her child qualifiy as a homeless person with sufficient ties to Norwalk, the school district may have been obligated to educate her child, meaning no theft of services could have taken place, and theft of public services is the underlying allegation used to justify the charge of first-degree larceny in this case, according to court documents.

The notarized statement that McDowell gave school officials in enrolling her child in Brookside Elementary School conflicts with statements made under oath in Norwalk Housing Court, but McDowell has not been charged with perjury. Prosecutors are entitled to file new charges during court cases.

Involvement of others in the court case

Crosland, the new attorney for McDowell, indicated that she might have been in a situation where she was arrested because she is black.

"What really happens here is that you find there are disparities," the Advocate reported Crosland saying during the news conference. "It brings up the question of racial disparities."

Moccia on Tuesday evening mentioned that he had heard Crossland's comment and indicated it was a bizarre, wildly unfair accusation, although the reports on Crossland's comments didn't directly accuse the mayor or city of racism.

Earlier that day, in both an article and the video accompanying it on Norwalk Patch, Moccia had described how the city provides many services to the poor and homeless and is looking for more ways to help the homeless, many of whom are members of minority groups.

A news conference called by the Connecticut Parents Union, a supporter of McDowell, has been scheduled on the sidewalk in front of state Superior Court in Norwalk for 9 a.m. Wednesday, an hour before McDowell is due in court.

Correction: Earlier versions of this article stated that Steven Colarossi was a prosecutor in juvenile court cases. He was a public defender in them, among other legal positions. The article has been corrected.