Tanya McDowell, Homeless Connecticut Mom, Pleads Guilty In School Residency Case

NORWALK, Conn. (Associated Press) -- A Connecticut woman who was homeless has pleaded guilty to fraudulently enrolling her son in the wrong school district.

Tanya 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.

McDowell was homeless when she was charged with felony larceny last year. Authorities allege she used a babysitter's address to enroll her son in kindergarten in Norwalk instead of Bridgeport, her last permanent address.

Her case drew national attention and support from civil rights leaders.

The Hearst Connecticut Media Group reports her lawyer says she insists she's not guilty. Lawyer Darnell Crosland says people "shouldn't be arrested for stealing a free education."

Comments

[Matt LeBaron]

29 minutes ago ( 7:28 PM)

The problem is she Black...selling drugs ( what do you expect she had to bring in money somehow)...homless....just totally undesirable! she should've enrolled her child in the innercity schools like the other undesirables of that state. they've already taken away all of the money and good teachers pay and distributed it to other schools...they haven't taken from that one yet! he could have gotten a mediocre education like the rest of the state1 geez! (these comments were made with EXTREME SARCASM)

[HipsterCorgi]

03:43 PM on 04/24/2012

So does this mean they are going to prosecute Rick Santorum for felony larceny for stealing from the school district in PA while he lived in VA? Just wondering ...

[Juliet Jeske]

01:11 AM on 04/23/2012

The sentence does not fit the crime, even with the drug conviction. Now this kid doesn't have a mother for the next five years. I think it is safe to say his life is going to be damaged from this. He'll probably end up in the system himself, it is such a shame.

[Rickyrab]

08:53 PM on 04/23/2012

yeah, dumb sentencing.

[The Orange Cat]

07:41 PM on 04/22/2012

According to the Stamford Advocate, Ms. McDowell was caught with a substantial amount of drugs in front of the school, packaged to sell. The prosecutor seems to think she was using her child's enrollment at the school as an excuse to be there in order to sell drugs. Regardless, she was in possession of drugs in a school zone, and sold to an undercover police officer. This is not a martyr to the cause of educational reform. If your child went to that school where she was selling drugs out front, I think you'd feel that 5 years was too short a sentence.

[Rickyrab]

08:48 PM on 04/23/2012

Um, okay, so punish her for drug dealing. Why bring the mom's kids and their education into it?

[Vicki Perez]

09:46 PM on 03/13/2012

Problems in society arise when there is a great disparity among standards of living. In nature this phenomenon doesn't exist, only when human egoism enters the picture do we see how out of balance we are. Inequality breeds evil.

[Bagombo]

03:28 PM on 03/01/2012

Whoa, whoa whoa. This woman was charged with felony larceny last year and still had custody of her young child? This shows a major oversight and failure from the community for not catching this and calling CPS or intervening via other means. By all accounts, this is a story of a child losing. Heartbreaking...

[gevan]

11:37 AM on 03/03/2012

Yes, stealing something that is supposed to be free is quite the felony.

[Bagombo]

02:53 PM on 03/03/2012

Agreed- my comment has more to do with selling narcotics. I misread the felony as a previous charge. No qualms with enrolling her child in the school using a babysitters address.

[pegbundy84]

01:12 PM on 03/05/2012

Public education is NOT free. Its paid for by tax paying residents. So it actually IS stealing when you expect to eat from a pot you did not contribute to.That same attitude is the reason why Bridgeport schools are shameful. There are way too many people there with their hands out, expecting free services who do not contribute financially. People need to get this idea out of their heads!!! Nothing is free. The sooner people take personal responsibility for their children and their education, the better off they will be. And she is serving time for the fact that she sells narcotics. They decided to make an example out of her.

[HipsterCorgi]

03:45 PM on 04/24/2012

Felony larceny for registering a child in the wrong school district should not warrant removal from the home.

[ccardoza02]

01:15 AM on 03/01/2012

I would like to know how much of her sentence is due to her drug dealing v. stealing education. I agree that it is ridiculous to sentence someone to jail for "stealing education" especially for public schools education (our own government doesn't even value education), but I guarantee her long-term sentence probably has more to do with her drug dealing. The media needs a story so they hide in one sentence that oh yeah, she was also convicted for drug dealing... why? Journalism is suppose to be able telling ALL the facts not just the ones you think will outrage people the most. Outrage it has caused, but all the facts haven't been told. I'm sure if the media talked more about the drug conviction this would not be such a hyped up media story.

[Kirk Lammert]

04:55 PM on 02/28/2012

Ok… this story had me quite riled up… until I did a little digging. She was NOT sentenced to five years in prison for “…sending her five year old son to a school district where she- surprise- didn’t have a permanent residence.” She WAS sentenced to five years prison and five years probation for “…four counts of sale of narcotics as well as one count of first-degree larceny”. Here’s the link to the news article.
http://www.thehour.com/story/520360/mother-pleads-guilty-to-stealing-a-norwalk-education-may-pay-fines-up-to-6-200

[Stephanie Morosi]

09:34 PM on 02/29/2012

that is the part that pisses me off too

[DeAndre Fowlkes]

10:34 PM on 02/29/2012

The title is extremely misleading

[cmgillispie]

11:47 PM on 03/03/2012

Does that misleading title surprise any of us??? It's The Huffington Post...not known for any news integrity or truth in reporting except for shock value...so disappointed that AOL has anything to do with them...

[phylliscooper1]

02:28 PM on 02/28/2012

My daughter attended the elementary school across the street from her sitter throughout her elementary school education. We had to get permission from the school district but it was not a problem. There was no difference in the quality of the schools in our neighborhood and the one she attended. It was a matter of convenience.

[schawing]

02:01 AM on 02/28/2012

How dare she try to get a public education for her son. Who does she think she is anyway, a US Citizen? Get back to the ghetto where you belong, black family, and leave opportunity to the good christian white folks where it belongs. (That would be sarcasm). This story makes me ill.

[Mary Kreutz]

11:06 PM on 02/27/2012

Such a sad case. Where is her safety net, Mr. Romney? How would you fix this?

[gevan]

11:44 AM on 03/03/2012

I think he lets homelessness work itself out.

[Mary Kreutz]

07:32 PM on 03/03/2012

I don't think that he has a clue of what the real world is and how many are homeless. I'm a retired teacher, but I've had many homeless children during the past few years. It's tragic to see kindergarten children that are homeless and most have been the children of the working poor or those that have lost their homes.

[meanlady21]

08:14 PM on 02/27/2012

This is OUTRAGEOUS!!!! Only in AMERICA can a black women get persecuted for wanting a better education for her child!!! America deserves all the awful things that are happening.

[gevan]

11:45 AM on 03/03/2012

The people I know (who are white) who have tried to sneak their kids into a district they didn't live in just had the child expelled from that school. End of story.

[GWBear]

03:58 AM on 02/26/2012

How feaking out of line can you get?!

Corporations and the rich and over-priviledged have created rules and gamed the system for every possible advantage... and then scream and complain if we complain or even sulk abiut it. This woman - with no address or resources - is demonized by the law for trying to give her child an advantage. The disparity and cruelty here... Where do I even start?!

[treemonkey]

08:23 PM on 02/25/2012

But there is no right school district for her. She has no home. Yet the only address where the child actually is cared for, besides on the street is in the school district she chose. Why is there any question at all, and what happened to compassion, especially for school children. This may have been said, but if the mom had been white, and looking for a better school, or district for her child, she never would have even been questioned. Jim Crow certainly is alive and well in Connecticut. If there are any open-minded citizens Norwalk, Connecticut, why are they not standing up in defense of this family. A pox on all of them.

[cmgillispie]

11:53 PM on 03/03/2012

White, black or purple...in Minnesota you have to provide an address that is within a school district in order to enroll your child. This is not discrimination, just fact. If the only permanent address she could provide was the day care, then she had every right to enroll her child in that district...on a side note, I had two kids (long ago) in daycare and it cost a lot of money even back then...if she has no home or job, how does she afford day care and why would she need it?

[El Chingaso]

01:31 PM on 02/25/2012

Time for CT taxpayers to file suit against Norwalk Superior Court to recapture all of the money spent on something so inane. She's on her own, however, with the drug charges.

[Julz922]

08:18 PM on 02/27/2012

El Chingaso you make an excellent point on suing to recover tax payer dollars wasted in this insane case; however, I disagree with the notion that we abandon this mom on the drug charges. The mismanaged & corrupt system you suggest we rise against is part of why this woman likely made the choice to take part in the sub drug economy....When government funds are mis managed programs that help homeless people are slashed leaving vulnerable people to their own resources. I'm single with no children, but I imagine that if I had children then faced with their starvation, or my committing a criminal act - then I'd do whatever might be necessary. ~juliana

[Krissy Marheine]

06:12 PM on 02/29/2012

I completely agree with you Julz922. It sounds like she was using the best resources she had available to do the best for her child. As a society, rather than help an obviously struggling woman we throw her to jail and leave her child to the system to ensure that he also struggles.

How many white collar criminals do we see do 5 years or less if they even do time for ripping off millions of dollars from their communities, states or investors?

[El Chingaso]

04:49 PM on 03/09/2012

You know, Juliana, that's an excellent point. Very persuasive, in fact; I retract my previous thought on the drug possession charge(s). Life is, indeed, grueling out there...often times beyond imagination.

(See, an old El C. enjoys intelligent feedback such as yours, and can change accordingly. Thanks!)

[gevan]

11:49 AM on 03/03/2012

drugs = bad
drug stores = dens of iniquity.
doctors = pushers
homeless = criminals