The Tardy Bell Chronicles

 

This morning, Dallas Independent School District Police, together with Dallas Police, Dallas Area Rapid Transit Police, and the Downtown (Dallas) Safety Patrol descended on DART’s West Transfer Center to catch any truant in sight.  The Downtown Patrol seemed to be the unit charged with the responsibility of catching truants getting off trains at DART’s nearby West End Station (A popular hangout for school-aged teens during school hours).  Once caught, the teens were herded. . . uhhmm humm. . .escorted to a parking lot immediately North of DART’s West Transfer Center.  There, the truant students were questioned, then cuffed with plastic wrist bands, awaiting a fate only few people know.

The City of Dallas recently passed a daytime curfew for school aged children in an effort to address the widespread truancy problem affecting DISD.  Under the new law, parents, students, and businesses that welcome these kids will be given two warnings before citations with fines, up to $500.00, are handed out.

My question is:  “where do the police take these children after publicly humiliating them with arrest?”  I hope they’re escorted to school, and not some juvenile detention center.  After all, isn’t that what the law is partially aimed to achieve?. . . . keeping more kids in school?

copyright © (including all photographs) 2009 Raimundo Mbala