Chapter 8 - BRADY AND JASPER STAY HOME
The Collins boys were not expelled overnight.
The district placed both on temporary home assignment while conducting a safety review.
Schoolwork provided.
No conclusion of guilt yet.
Kathleen Collins objected.
Her lawyer sent a letter.
Not a lawsuit.
A preservation notice and demand that the school avoid prejudging her sons based on:
“selectively recorded child conversations and a parent’s inflammatory characterization.”
Fair language.
Then she called me.
I did not answer.
She left a voicemail.
“You sent recordings of my children around the neighborhood.”
True enough.
“You’re a forty-one-year-old man building a case against middle-school boys.”
That sentence hurt.
Then:
“If you come near Brady again, I’m calling police.”
Also fair boundary.
I had no intention of approaching him.
I replied through counsel:
I will have no direct contact with either child. All communication should go through the school, counsel, or their parent.
Good.
Then Rosalie asked:
“Are they in jail?”
“No.”
“Why home?”
“School is checking what happened.”
“Did I get them kicked out?”
“No decision has been made.”
“But recorder.”
“The recorder gave adults information.”
She looked worried.
“Brady said if he gets kicked off team, his dad hates him.”
There.
A motive.
May you like
Not an excuse.
A thirteen-year-old had apparently been carrying his own fear.
