Mr. Sweatman had been called to truancy court for excessive unexcused absences. He says he had been skipping class, all right. They're going to forever do that, as long as there's school. He missed about a month of school, he said, tending to the custody of his daughter, Uniqua. She tested positive for marijuana at birth and was taken from her mother and awarded to Mr. Sweatman's mother.
College is a maybe, someday.
He still has time to get a diploma. Students may enroll in public school before they turn 21. With two sons and a third child on the way, she had more pressing cares than classrooms. And after arguing with her mother about money, she and the boys moved to their father's home in East Dallas. I wasn't motivated enough to be catching the bus.