expulsion from school

[Anonymous]

OP, you are on the right track. A good kid who made some poor choices. Kids do that. They are not mature. The things he’s in trouble for are things that would hurt him. He’s not hurting others. And that matters.

I’d take a good look at the drug use. But from a health perspective. I hope the school goes easy. He wasn’t a threat to others. Suspension and expulsion often do more harm than good in the long run. If the school actually cares about helping to shape a good responsible human being. Putting them on the. Street with nothing to do helps NOBODY. It may be necessary when someone is a danger to others. But that’s not the case here.

[Anonymous]

Holy over reaction. Every kid from the 70s would have been "ruined."

It wasn't a true weapon. And it is just pot.

I was waffling on the pot referendum in my state but now will vote to legalize.

Op get a lawyer and make it go away.

[Anonymous]

Small beans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again, I have a lawyer for the court charges. He will plead everything down. It will not be on his record for life. He is in more trouble than you can imagine at home. To the poster that said I can't control my kid, I am. He has never said one disrespectful thing to me in his life.

To the poster that said he shouldn't work. He has good grades and also works his ass off at his job. He is a great athlete. I want a kid who knows the value of a dollar and isn't handed money. I think that is a good life skill. This is a kid who really messed up, not a bad kid.

Isn't it disrespectful to go behind your back and do drugs. You can know the value of money without working year round and just summers. Sounds like you don't want to support him. You get child support if you are divorced. That money should be used for his basic needs, not his job.

You clearly have some axe to grind. I hope OP ignores your posts. There are many parents who are happy to support their kids, but think that having a job teaches work ethic. You sound like a very judgmental person who is going out of his/her way to be mean.

[Anonymous]

We need learners not burners. Brought drugs to a drug free school zone. Brought a weapon also. And now bringing a lawyer to a school disciplinary hearing? To fight what? The rules and law?

[Anonymous]

Get a lawyer for the school hearing. It was a knife, not a gun, and it was in the car.

[Anonymous]

Get a lawyer. You can say that you don’t want to send the message that you’ll just bail him out, but if he’s a good kid and this is the first trouble he’s been in, it’s your job to minimize the damage it does to his life. There’s no reason he should end up expelled or with a conviction. He should serve an expulsion and do some community service as part of a diversion agreement. He should go away to college as planned unless you have larger concerns about his drug use.

[Anonymous]

googled "school knife car" and immediately up popped three cases of students expelled for a knife found in vehicle. At least one of them happened because drug dogs alerted to vehicles in school parking lot (no drugs in the vehicles as it turned out). Kids described just like yours--one had gone fishing the previous weekend and the knife was forgotten in his pickup truck bed.

If expulsion does happen, the district will have some form of alternative high school available, and continuing his high school education will likely be a probation condition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need learners not burners. Brought drugs to a drug free school zone. Brought a weapon also. And now bringing a lawyer to a school disciplinary hearing? To fight what? The rules and law?

By which logic nobody in court should have a lawyer either.

[Anonymous]

OP, that really sucks about the knife. No advice on that front. I'm sure plenty of kids share cars with a parent who keeps something similar in the glove compartment.

My DC was caught with marijuana during a car search at school (tried to leave campus with a friend during lunch and the SRO decided to search). We immediately put DC in the county-sponsored group therapy for marijuana and individual therapy, attorney talked to prosecutor, and the charges were dismissed when the program was over. The expulsion hearing was probably worse. DC was disciplined pretty severely, but not expelled.

The college app process was a little nerve-wracking, but DC was accepted to 7 out of 7 schools. DC made sure to have some apps with no questions about disciplinary history, but a couple of them did. Kid had a very bumpy road, but is thriving in college. Some posters here are being overly harsh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, that really sucks about the knife. No advice on that front. I'm sure plenty of kids share cars with a parent who keeps something similar in the glove compartment.

My DC was caught with marijuana during a car search at school (tried to leave campus with a friend during lunch and the SRO decided to search). We immediately put DC in the county-sponsored group therapy for marijuana and individual therapy, attorney talked to prosecutor, and the charges were dismissed when the program was over. The expulsion hearing was probably worse. DC was disciplined pretty severely, but not expelled.

The college app process was a little nerve-wracking, but DC was accepted to 7 out of 7 schools. DC made sure to have some apps with no questions about disciplinary history, but a couple of them did. Kid had a very bumpy road, but is thriving in college. Some posters here are being overly harsh.

This is exactly what you need to do and not wait till someone else puts your kid into therapy or treatment. Be proactive and they will probably work with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also hesitate to hire a lawyer to get him off. I have seen so many kids whose parents do this and the kid realizes his parents will just bail him out. I do have the means to hire a good lawyer. I will not get him off on the marijuana charges. That is on him. The knife and expulsion from school is what I struggle with. I am 100% certain he had no idea it was in his car.

The attorney isn’t so that he gets away with no consequences, he probably won’t not matter what plus there’s whatever you impose at home. But he does need someone to make sure his rights are protected, that the consequences aren’t excessive, and to get him the best outcome that drives the lessons home now but hopefully don’t follow him too far into the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need learners not burners. Brought drugs to a drug free school zone. Brought a weapon also. And now bringing a lawyer to a school disciplinary hearing? To fight what? The rules and law?

That's how things work in America, you get to argue your case even if you may have violated rules/laws. Don't like it? Too bad. Also, luckily we are a country of critical thinkers who can see the difference between a pocket knife left in a car and a gun or knife brought into school to threaten others. Based on your posts, you don't sound like a learner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:googled "school knife car" and immediately up popped three cases of students expelled for a knife found in vehicle. At least one of them happened because drug dogs alerted to vehicles in school parking lot (no drugs in the vehicles as it turned out). Kids described just like yours--one had gone fishing the previous weekend and the knife was forgotten in his pickup truck bed.

If expulsion does happen, the district will have some form of alternative high school available, and continuing his high school education will likely be a probation condition.

This is why you should get a lawyer for the school hearing, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holy over reaction. Every kid from the 70s would have been "ruined."

It wasn't a true weapon. And it is just pot.

I was waffling on the pot referendum in my state but now will vote to legalize.

Op get a lawyer and make it go away.

I agree with this, and I am fervently anti-vape, and don't believe for a minute that pot is as benign as all the not-as-bad-as-alcohol people say it is.

OP, he's a good kid. He will get scared, but you ought to help him get off on the drug charges, too, or at least make sure they will be expunged at 18 or 21. He does not need a lifetime consequence for doing something that wasn't causing anyone any problems, including himself.