Way back in January, this nasty kid on Heidi's bus sprayed her in the face with cologne. We couldn't get any action by the school administrators. They told us to go to the police and so we did. A few weeks ago, we got a letter from the courts asking Heidi to appear April 16 at 6:30 p.m. Linda warned us that we'd probably have to wait a long time and it was a good thing she did because then we were prepared.
What is it about municipal buildings? You have to wait for a long time in a warm room that doesn't have nearly enough seats! We stood up near the door for an hour. Then Heidi and I decided to go out the door and sit on benches outside. At least it was cooler out there.
We were seventh to sign the list soon after we arrived. The hall outside the courtroom began filling up fast. Heidi spotted Tony with his father, looking very nonchalant. The father looked annoyed. Who wants to be in a municipal court on a Friday night?
There were other parents and kids milling around. The parents were giving advice to their kids: don't curse, don't roll your eyes. Across the hall from us, there were a whole gaggle of kids and possibly 2 or 3 adults. They were all strutting around, being all loud and oh so cool. TB and I talked with a man whose daughter was beaten up by a bunch of kids. These dumb kids videotaped their attack. Apparently that group of kids were the ones who beat up on the man's daughter. Yeah, they all looked like fine upstanding citizens. :P
None of us seemed familiar with the routine. Did we get called according to the order we'd signed in? Was it alphabetical? Was it lottery? Was it some other luck of the draw type thing? The man with the beat-up daughter thought it might have to do with the seriousness of the crime. Or ... maybe it was alphabetical after all. His daughter was called next, and the last name was Smith so the alphabetical theory flew out the window.
Another person explained that there was a parole officer in there listening to both sides of the story. Apparently they called the 'victim' in first and then the offender.
Oh.
Heidi was called next. TB and I went in with her. The courtroom was empty except for three people sitting behind a table. They invited us to sit down and then explained that they are a committee that hears the cases of first time offenders. They try to mediate the conflict and hopefully deflect the case away from a full hearing in front of a judge.
I think it's a great idea except for the waiting part.
The people asked Heidi to tell what happened. She did but I could tell that she was nervous. She smoothed over the rough language by saying Tony used obscenities in general to everyone on the bus. She explained that he picked on her probably because she was near him and his friends. She described what happened after Tony sprayed her with the cologne.
Although they still needed to talk to Tony, I felt a whole lot better about things. They said that if nothing else, they would issue a sort of restraining order on Tony to keep him away from Heidi. He's not supposed to talk to her or come near her and if he does, we'll call the police.
It's really too bad that the school never followed through with some kind of conference. They never even contacted Tony's father. He didn't find out about all this until he received notice in the mail from the court! If the school cooperated, all this would have been settled a lot sooner. But at least Heidi sees that there is justice. And at least now Tony will think twice before hassling another kid!
Yesterday was tax day! Are you one of the folks who waited until last minute to file, or were you done long before?
Actually, I didn't have to do either. My wonderful hubby worked his way through all the nasty forms and filed a couple weeks ago! Yaaaaay, TB!