lawprofessors

By  Michelle Ball , California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 As a California Education Attorney, I have heard horror stories for over 16 years since I started helping parents and students.  Sadly, the story of five year old Michael Davis, a student of Stockton Unified School District is nothing unusual.  It is again, a wake up call for parents. From what I can gather from internet reports ( KCRA , Newsone ), Michael is a 5 year old student who allegedly gets in fights and is a behavior problem at school.  The first thing here is HE IS 5 YEARS OLD.   There is no legal obligation to put your kids in school until they turn six years old .  A student who can't sit still, who fights, etc. may just be a rambunctious student and not ready for the controlling environment that the public schools have turned out to be.  Also, sometimes five year olds can simply be wild and enthusiastic in a physical or distracting way.  It was not until the pub...

By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 As a California expulsion lawyer, I frequently meet with parents regarding pending school expulsions.  One of the questions which often comes up is whether, if the parent removed the student from the school or district prior to the expulsion hearing, the school district would still have jurisdiction to expel?  Yes.  A school expulsion hearing cannot be avoided by running or disappearing. Once an expellable act is alleged to have occurred and an expulsion hearing is pending, even if a student moves out of state, the expulsion hearing may still proceed.  Not going to the hearing does not avoid the consequences no matter how much we wish that were so.  Additionally, when the student is enrolled somewhere else, their discipline records will follow them and they may be refused admission. If a parent has committed to not returning a student with a pending expulsion hearing to a school distric...

By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 Under both California and federal law, schools CANNOT make drugging kids a condition of attending school.  This means that if a child is alleged to have "behavior issues" there is no requirement parents seek out a mind-altering substance to control them in the classroom. Despite this, there is often a LOT of pressure from school officials, teachers, etc. for parents to control a non-conforming child by use of drugs.  Prior to giving in to the pressure, PLEASE look at alternative methods of controlling behavior as described below. Over the years, I have consulted with thousands of parents with problems in the schools. Conflict arises when a student cannot sit in their seat 4-6 hours a day without distracting other students with foot tapping, jokes, fidgeting, or other activity.  The intolerance is large and the schools have become much more focused on CONTROL of children. Many parents, as a result, hav...