Last Updated on October 31, 2024 by Michelle Ball
By Michelle Ball, Sacramento California Expulsion, Special Education, sports/CIF, College, Education and School Attorney/Lawyer for Students since 1995
Schools can be really intolerant and dismissive to parents and students in the student expulsion process. What happens if a school district denies parent and student rights blatantly, or not so blatantly?
An Example of Multiple Terrible and Utterly Illegal, but Real, Breaches
Parents are often pushed aside in the expulsion process, but it rarely gets this bad.
I have heard from a family and their story is one stranger than fiction. Luckily, what happened to them is uncommon.
The family was told their son was being expelled, and they tried to attend the student’s expulsion hearing. They were not allowed in by the school district.
They were thus denied their legal right to present evidence, testimony, or even a defense for the student. Instead, they had to sit outside the hearing room, waiting for the hearing to be done, in shocked silence.
Then, to really make matters worse, the superintendent remained with the expulsion panel while they deliberated.
When they tried to appeal the student’s expulsion, the same people on the expulsion panel were on the appeal panel. Talk about the worst story ever!
A More Common Example
Even though the above is true, but uncommon, here is a more common scenario:
A family attends a student’s expulsion hearing. They receive the school expulsion packet at the hearing, not before, despite requesting the packet before the hearing.
The family makes an opening statement for the student but are repeatedly cut off by the school and hearing officer.
The family is not allowed to question the school’s expulsion case or witnesses, and/or are interrupted repeatedly in their questioning of the school’s expulsion witnesses.
The parents are not allowed to bring in outside witnesses or are told they are limited to one witness.
The expulsion panel is impatient and openly degrading to the student and family. The panel seems to have no tolerance for the student’s discipline defense.
The expulsion panel seems like they have their mind made up already, prior to deliberations, that the student will be expelled, regardless of what the family says.
This is gross and completely unfair. This scenario also denied the family their hearing rights.
The Right to Attend the Expulsion Hearing
There were so many breaches in the above scenarios. Both of the above situations are appealable and if the appeal process were fair, the families would have a good chance of success.
Keeping any family out of an expulsion hearing about their child, will make the expulsion invalid. But, then a parent still has to follow through and file an appeal of the expulsion and get it overturned.
Student rights in expulsion hearings are outlined in the California Education Code and applicable codes should be read and understood by parents.
The Right to Present the Student’s Expulsion Defense
Additionally, parents have the legal right to present the student’s case, to cross examine evidence, and to bring in witnesses. The family and student up for expulsion should not be repeatedly interrupted and should be given the same courtesy that the school is given in their case presentation. Expulsion is no small matter, and student hearings have to be FAIR.
An expulsion panel which already has its mind made up or has no patience for the parent case, is not being fair.
Records of expulsion hearings must be kept, and these can be used on appeal, if the student received an unfair or somehow legally deficient expulsion hearing.
How to Prevent Student Expulsion Rights Violations
Parents need to become familiar with their legal rights in school expulsions by reading the relevant Education Code sections and the school district policies. They need to assert those rights if they are denied.
If the school gives an unfair expulsion hearing or tramples on parent or student rights, an appeal may be necessary.
Student attorney Michelle Ball helps with suspension, expulsion and other school discipline matters. As a California-based lawyer, she can help across the state, in places such as Sonora, Huntington Beach, Elk Grove, Roseville, Los Angeles, San Francisco and many other places.
