lawprofessors

By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 Students frequently post things online, make snarky comments to friends, and feel protected posting in "private" online forums, such as Snapchat , Facebook , Twitter , Instagram or otherwise.  However, these posts can come back to haunt them when they are called in and suspended or placed up for expulsion.  Even great kids can post something wrong sometime--and "get away with it," but how long can their luck last?  For some- the answer is not long enough. In recent months, I have seen more and more kids up for expulsion or suspension for posts or comments in electronic media.  This is really disturbing as some of the things I see students being punished for really do not support school discipline.  Schools also seem to now be lumping student groups together for punishment, rather than looking at individual culpability.  Staff are choosing to punish all student members of a private grou...

By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 Most California public school students must be fully vaccinated to attend public or private classroom-based schools.  If a student is not vaccinated, or does not fit within an exemption, they will be excluded from school until proof of vaccination is submitted.  As a majority of children are vaccinated already, most parents will yawn and send their kids to school.  However, what will happen if a student missed even one shot?  Are there any options if a parent does not want to vaccinate their child for the student to attend regular school?   The list of required vaccinations is outlined in California Health and Safety Code section 120325 and 120335  and includes slightly different requirements if a student is entering classroom-based school in seventh grade or will start under the new law in transitional kindergarten through sixth grade.  The vaccinations required if a student ...

By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 I am continuously amazed at all the issues which plague students in school and the things which they get disciplined for daily.  I also find that parents too often "trust" the schools to do the right thing until the day they end up in my office.  As such, I thought I would make a list of some of my top things students and parents should NOT do.  This is certainly not an exhaustive list by any means, but contains items which sometimes get overlooked.  Frankly, I could probably list 100 or more "do nots," but 9 seemed enough for the day.  1)  Do NOT forget your pocket knife in your pocket after camping or weekend activities, throw the same pants on, and bring the knife to school.  Can you say "expulsion recommendation?" 2)  Do NOT throw items which are improper on campus into your backpack "just for the weekend."  Inevitably these things get forgotten about and brought to s...

By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 With the explosion of social media sites, such as Facebook , Twitter , and the like, along with almost constant texting and other electronic communication between students, schools have entered a new era of discipline.  Parents need to be aware of this and caution their children about who may be watching (or find out about) what they post, text, email, or otherwise communicate. It used to be that schools would hear a report of nefarious activity and would only have traditional investigation techniques to rely on (interviews, searches).  No more.  Now they have "written" evidence available on the internet and phones. Schools still have to conduct their version of an investigation, however, their investigations often become much easier with the proof lingering on electronic devices and phones. Postings can be misinterpreted as somehow being sources of substantial disruption or threats to the school whic...

By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 This week, the California Court of Appeals, Second District, issued a decision in the matter of Yu v. University of La Verne .  This case, involving a private college and law school, is very interesting and explores the free speech rights of college students.  It also may be applied outside of its limited forum (private university) in the future. Yu involved law student Katrina Yu who was punished for alleged plagiarism and academic dishonesty when she submitted an assignment which contained verbatim internet content.  The assignment also contained content alleged to have been copied from another student.  In May of 2010, Yu and three other law students were informed that they were being investigated for plagiarism and academic dishonesty.  While the other university students involved negotiated an unknown outcome, Yu took her matter to a three panel hearing within La Verne. After the ...

By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 On June 23, 2010, the Rutherford Institute filed a complaint in federal court against Morgan Hill Unified School District (Morgan Hill, CA) for sending students home on Cinco de Mayo (May 5, 2010) who wore shirts with american flags on them.  That this happened at all in America is disturbing as the administrators did not seem to comprehend even basic freedom of speech and expression rights granted by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  Students do not lose the entirety of their First Amendment rights just because they attend school. According to the Morgan Hills Time s (newspaper) the Live Oak High School Vice Principal and Principal involved no longer work in the district, but the case is, thankfully, still moving forward.  Just yesterday (February 17, 2011), the students defeated most of the motion to dismiss filed by the school district and are proceeding with the case.  The ...

By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 Tonight (January 13, 2011), a small school district located in northern California, will vote whether to continue a policy which provides a flat ban against individuals, including parents , listed on the Megan's Law database as sex offenders, from coming onto their campuses. I have not been able to access the current policy on line, but in an article in the Sacramento Bee today:  http://www.sacbee.com/2011/01/13/3320506/placer-hills-schools-to-reconsider.html#disqus_thread , the policy is described as flatly denying access to anyone listed on the Megan's Law database.  The article also outlines that policies in other districts are not so prohibitive and that the approach to such matters varies district to district.  If true that any parents listed on the Megan's Law website are banned as a group, the district in question has taken a unique stand which likely infringes on parents rights to visit its ca...