I am a School Resource Officer in a Southern California city. I received a call for service this week from a parent whose son was refusing to go to school. Over the past three years, I have received many of these type of calls. The scenario is very predictable. It usually entails a single mother with a teenage son that lacks discipline and structure in their lives.

This call was no different. The mother, let’s call her Janet, met me on the steps to her apartment door and told me her son, let’s call him James, was in his bed refusing to go to school. His father has never been in the picture and James has been diagnosed with ADHD.

I know James. He is one of my 8th grade students at one of my 14 schools I am responsible for. I have talked to James on several occasions when he has been brought to the front office for disrupting one of his classes. He’s a nice kid but suffers from severe ADHD.

Janet tells me that when he refuses to go to school, he plays on his computer all day. She’s tried to take his iPad and computer away to discipline him, but she said he “jumps on her” when she does. Janet is a small woman. She works full time to support her only son and the small apartment they live in. As she tells me how she is loosing control over her son, tears start to well up in her eyes. My heart goes out to single parents that are overwhelmed but still do everything they can for their children. I asked her if I could help her. I asked her if she would like to have me hold on to her iPad and the power cord to her son’s computer until the end of the week. She said, “Yes, please.”

I went into James’ room and found him in his bed, dressed for school. James looked surprised to see his School Resource Officer standing in his bedroom. I told James I was going to hold his iPad and power cord until Friday after school. It was Tuesday. If he went to school everyday and was on time, he would get his iPad and computer back after school ...