Know the law: trouble at school
Are you being harrassed or bullied at school? Know the law and know your rights.
Bullies: find out what you can do.
Trouble at school can range all the way from being disrespectful in class to violent assaults. Schools have a whole range of responses, too, from a teacher informally calling a class back to order all the way up to suspension and expulsion.
Informal Classroom Discipline. The teacher corrects the problem without removing the student from class. Whatever you are doing, now is the time to stop it!
Informal Removal. The teacher sends the student to the office, but the student may return to the classroom if the teacher agrees. Count yourself lucky and clean up your act.
The Attorney General's School Crime & Discipline handbook (left) explains how educators and law enforcement keep schools safe.
Formal Removal. The teacher removes a student for disruptive behavior. If the teacher formally removes you, you cannot return to class until the teacher or the discipline committee agrees that you can get your behavior under control. You are on the brink...
In-School Suspension. The student has schoolwork to complete and is held to strict behavior standards. If you wake up now, you can get back on track when your suspension is over.
Alternative Education. Every school district is required to provide a setting outside the regular classroom for disruptive or dangerous students. Alternative Education students must complete schoolwork and are held to stricter standards of conduct. At this point, you are being separated from the mainstream of your classmates because of your behavior. But if you successfully complete the program you can return to your campus.
- You can land in an Alternative Education Program because of disciplinary problems in school such as class disruption, fighting or making a terroristic threat against a school employee.
- You can also end up Alternative Education because of felony criminal activity such as assault, arson and robbery on or off the campus.
In accordance with federal law, Title 20, US Code, Section 7151, all schools must expel for one year any student who brings a firearm to school.
Expulsion. Removal from the regular school setting due to serious and persistent misbehavior in Alternative Education, or for dangerous or illegal conduct.
A student must be expelled for:
- possessing, showing or using any prohibited weapon (guns, knives, etc.) at school or at a school-sponsored event.
- committing a violent felony against another person at school or at a school-sponsored event.
A student may be expelled for any offense involving drugs or alcohol at school or at a school-sponsored event.
Now, how are you going to get an education?
Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program. Large counties provide an alternative educational setting for students who have been expelled from school. These students participate in a regular classroom curriculum and are given behavior-related instruction. These programs provide educational services to expelled or removed students, as well as juveniles who are unable to attend school due to court-ordered conditions of probation. These facilities may also teach life skills, anger management and alternatives to violence and criminal activity.
