San Bernardino school expulsion attorney serving Rancho Cucamonga, Pomona, Fontana, Victorville & all of San Bernardino County
If your child is facing expulsion, you need an attorney experienced in conducting expulsion hearings. Attorney Marcie Gardner has successfully represented students throughout Southern California in panel hearings, as well as before local and county Boards of Education. In most cases, Attorney Gardner has convinced districts to reinstate students back in their home schools, either at the panel hearing or in appeals to the Boards of Education.
The Process
Students may face expulsion for a wide variety of reasons, ranging from weapons on campus to fighting to drug possession to sexual-based conduct (and almost everything in between). Expulsion hearings are generally conducted before a panel of three district administrators. The hearings are recorded. The school will present evidence (either written, in person testimony, or both) to justify its request to expel. After this presentation, the student is allowed to ask the school questions about its evidence. Then the student is invited to present his/her own evidence (either written, in person testimony, or both).
After reviewing all the evidence, the panel will make a recommendation. If the panel’s recommendation is to expel a student, the matter will be heard at the next local School Board meeting. The student can request to be heard during the Board meeting (usually in closed session). If the local Board decides to expel, the student can appeal to the County Board of Education.
During a County-level appeal, the Board members will review the transcript of the panel hearing. Generally speaking, no new evidence will be presented during the County-level appeal. This is one reason why it is critical to be prepared and thoroughly present your student’s case during the panel hearing. The student will be permitted to argue his/her case to the County Board members.
During a pre-expulsion meeting, a district may sometimes offer a student something commonly referred to as a “Stipulated Expulsion.” This means that a student would give up his/her right to a hearing and be bound by some type of behavior contract. Whether a Stipulated Expulsion is in your student’s best interest depends on many factors. Consulting with an experienced expulsion attorney like Marcie Gardner can help. Generally speaking, if the Stipulated Expulsion requires your student to attend a community day school, it offers the student very little benefit.
How Marcie Can Help
Marcie can help your student in several ways. First, Marcie can make sure that the district has followed the many procedural safeguards built into the Education Code to protect your student. Second, Marcie can help shape the expulsion hearing to exploit the weaknesses of the school’s case against your student and present favorable evidence for your student. Third, Marcie can explore arguments about why the Education Code might not permit an expulsion in your student’s case. Just because a student is referred for expulsion does not mean that an expulsion is required or appropriate. Expulsions are unfortunately becoming more common place in public schools. Good students with little or no discipline files are getting swept up into school’s well-intentioned but overly-draconian “zero tolerance” policies.
Hiring an experienced expulsion attorney like Marcie Gardner can make all the difference in getting your student back in to school as soon as possible. How You Can Help Your Student You know your child better than anyone involved in the expulsion process. And generally speaking, the documentation the school puts together to justify an expulsion request will not be flattering for your student. You can help your student by getting copies of any awards or honors your student has received, by gathering character reference letters from adults who know your child, and by making a list of witnesses of the actual event giving rise to the expulsion request.
When working with Marcie, your initial consultation is always free of charge. No fee whatsoever. To contact San Bernardino expulsion attorney Marcie Gardner, please call 909.635.2047.
Please call today.