Teachers Hoodwinked By Second-Grader’s Handwritten Excuse Note — And Sent Her Home

Seven-year-old Rosabella Dahu is too clever for her own good, and her teachers at Sheldon Elementary in Houston are far too gullible.

The second-grader wrote a note to dismiss herself from school, and it worked. Now her father, Charlie, is so angry that he’s promptly transferred his daughter to another school, ABC News reported.

The excuse note that did the trick: “I want Rosabella to go too dus (sic) 131 today!”

The note was meant to tell teachers that her parents wanted her to take the school bus home, rather than go to an after school program, United Press International explained.

The note is clearly written by a young child. The handwriting is large and clumsy. Rosabella wrote “bus” with a backward “b.” She wrote “too” where she should’ve written “to.” Its written on a half-sheet of notebook paper and addressed to a teacher named Ms. Reign.

7-year-old writes "parental" excuse note, tricks school staff into letting her go home early https://t.co/lAPlLqYfnM pic.twitter.com/sJZZ2y78HP

— ABC News (@ABC) May 5, 2016

Even her own father admitted that his daughter’s writing skills were lacking in the forged note — and that should’ve been clear to anyone.

“You can clearly see she did not even spell the word bus right?” Dahu exclaimed to KTRK.

Rosabella pulled the trick on her teachers on Monday. She was supposed to go to an after-school program at the end of the school day, but evidently she didn’t want to go.

So she crafted a clever scheme that shouldn’t have worked so perfectly. She whipped up the excuse note and handed it to staff members unknown. According to Charlie, the hoodwinked staff were caretakers of the after-school program.

The 7-year-old evidently presented the excuse note as coming from her parents. Convinced of the note’s veracity, they dismissed the girl without question and put her on the bus to go home.

“Obviously they didn’t have proper procedures in place. This is clearly the school’s fault. How a seven-year-old can trick you, it boggles my mind.”

So Rosabella went home, but she couldn’t figure out how to get into her house. A neighbor, Rolando Lozano, grew concerned when the child came to his front door.

“She came to ask my wife to use the restroom and that’s when I figured there was something wrong,” he said.

So he called Charlie and helped the girl inside her house; together, they waited for her dad to arrive. He was rushing home, very upset.

“I was shaking, I was scared, I was just glad to see her in good health and that nothing happened to her. I’m just glad that my neighbor, he saw something suspicious, and he called me.”

Although he admits that his daughter was pretty clever in forging the excuse note, the child has admitted that she made a mistake and “appropriate action was taken, and she knows it was wrong. I don’t condone it.”

Now, Sheldon Elementary has promised him that some form of disciplinary action will be taken against the people who were fooled by the second-grader’s excuse note. But the angry father is too angry to keep Rosabella there, noting that he doesn’t “have any faith” in them.

He also fears there would be some revenge taken on his daughter since the staff are probably upset and embarrassed by the incident.

The school district released a statement on the matter, promising an investigation.

“Sheldon ISD is currently investigating the situation. We are reviewing our training procedures to ensure that our after-school grant program staff is properly trained in dismissal procedures. As we move forward, the district is working to make sure that all of our after-school grant staff receives the same training as district employees. At this point, the district is continuing to investigate and will take proper disciplinary action. As always, student safety is our top priority.”

[Image via Andrey Bayda/Shutterstock]