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School District Peace Officer Jurisdiction To Serve Citation?

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jopincar

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas.

I recently had 4 KISD police officers surround me on my porch and threaten to arrest me if I did not sign a citation for "Parent Contributuing to Non-Attendance."

I've already filed a formal complain againts the officers involved. I am going to appear in Court Wednesday (4/29) and request a jury trial unless the charges are dismissed -- my daughter is a straight A student with very few absences that had mono and they erroneously recorded 3 unexcused absences in a 4 week period.

My question is, under what authority can school district police come to my home and threaten me with arrest? And if they have no jurisdiction to come to my porch, how can I challenge the validity of the citation I recieved?

I've reviewed the relevant statue (Texas Education Code 25.091) which seems to explicitly limit the authority of the "Peace Officers" with respect to the statute. Is there some general Criminal Procedure statute that would allow them to come to my home without court-ordered process or a warrant?
 


Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
You received a citation - deal with THAT. Don't worry about the mechanics in which you received it.
 

jopincar

Junior Member
If you can't read...

don't reply.

I already indicated in my post that I'm going to court Wednesday to deal with the citation.

I posted a simple question. If you can't or don't want to answer it, then don't post a reply.

And if no one else posts any replies like your and Zigner's, it won't bother me a bit.

However if someone really can answer, please do, I will greatly appreciate it.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Ok, I'm in a good mood and I can relate to your situation. I've had a sick child who missed a lot of school too.

I'm really not sure what you're looking for...

Based on the scenario you posted, the citation should be dismissed. However, the cite was valid in the first place.
 

jopincar

Junior Member
I'd like to know if school district police officers can legally storm your front porch without more than a computer-generated referral caused by incompetent attendance clerks. No one ever called. I see the attendance clerk almost every school day and she never said anything to me. And then when we turned in a parent-signed note when she returned to school after missing three days due to mono, they recorded unexcused absnences without saying anythign to my daughter or us. What amazes me (and perhaps I've led a charmed life so far) is that either no one really believes this all happened to me or everyone else is used to this kind of treatement.

If they can, I may actually try to do something to change the law. I'm really not concerned about getting the citation dismissed -- I'm very confident it will be. I'm hoping to prevent other innoicent parents from being abused by the the school district like I was.
 
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Some Random Guy

Senior Member
The police did nothing wrong when they issued a citation based on the faulty information. You are required to sign the citation to indicate that you received it and promise to appear in court, not that you agree with it. Failing to sign can give you a free trip to jail.

Since the attendance data is faulty, go to court and get it dismissed.
 

lealea1005

Senior Member
In addition to the other replies.....

Why didn't you just get a medical excuse from the Physician who diagnosed your child with mono (which certainly would have been more than 3 days)?

Does your school system have requirements for medical notes when a child is absent 3 or more days in a row?
 

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