The Criminal District Attorney Replies

Remember the post where I blasted the Criminal District Attorney for sending me a letter relating to my kindergartener's excessive unexcused tardies in which I was ordered to attend a meeting where they lock the doors and subject me to a lecture on the virtues of attending school and ask if we need counseling?

Well, click here if you need to catch up.

Is everyone caught up now? Good.

So what I didn't tell you is that I happen to know the Criminal District Attorney and about a week after I posted about the letter, I happened to sit right next to him at a dinner function. I jokingly mentioned to him that I had received a letter from him about my gangster kindergartener who was excessively tardy. He took quite an interest and explained how the school's computer system automatically generates a list of unexcused absences and sends that to the assistant DA who then sends out those letters. He said there was quite a rumbling about the increased letters being sent to students at Luke's school. I was interested in that, and he explained that it had more to do with our new principal than with the DA's office. I accepted it, and we all - the entire table - laughed and made jokes throughout the evening about the delinquency of my kindergartener and how dangerous Luke's school is (which is widely-known to be one of the best schools in the area).

That conversation took place about a month ago and I didn't see the Criminal District Attorney again until we met at the same group function this month. The dinner was last night and he sought me out specifically to tell me what I had started. He told me that after our dinner last month he decided to look into the matter. He got a copy of the letter and was upset to find out how harsh the wording was and that it had been placed on his letterhead. Then an assistant DA who has a child in Luke's school received the same letter this month and when her husband attended the meeting he took pictures with his iPhone of all the delinquent thugs he had to attend the meeting with. Well, the Criminal DA decided to go undercover and attend one of the meetings wearing a hat pulled low so that no one would recognize him. He wanted to get there right on time so he went to the doors at 6:15, but apparently it was 6:16 according to the people who ran the meeting and they locked the doors on him. He was livid.

So, my understanding is that he is pissed off with the way this is being handled and there will be changes in the system. I can't emphasize how mad he was, and it isn't really my place to tell you all the stuff he told me he was going to tell his assistant DA that's in charge of this process, but my favorite part was when he confronted her about kindergarteners being thrown into the same room as all these gangster thugs. She responded that attendance is of utmost importance and the delinquency starts in kindergarten. (Can you see me rolling my eyes?) Needless to say, he didn't buy it. I told him it was like using a bazooka to kill a mosquito. He heartily agreed, and thanked me for bringing the situation to his attention. He ended the conversation shaking his head and saying, "I just wanted to you to know what you started." I can't tell if that is good or bad, but I'm going to take it as good.

So, without any intention of changing the system, it appears that the system may be altered. All of you FWISD people can thank me now.