As the parent or guardian of a child attending public school in Garland, you hope for the best for your student as they go off to school each day. You place your trust in the Garland Independent School District (GISD) to educate and care for your child while they're in school, and in most cases, things work out okay. But sometimes they don't, and sometimes kids make mistakes at school that can lead to disciplinary measures ranging from harsh words from the teacher in the classroom to much more severe consequences such as placement in Garland's DAEP (Disciplinary Alternative Education Program). Garland's DAEP program is at the GISD Alternative Education Center.
There are many reasons why you may want to do everything you can to prevent your child from being assigned to Garland's DAEP. For one, it's a serious disruption in your child's life, being almost instantly uprooted from their usual school routine and separated from their friends. It's also a much stricter environment, with a long list of do's and don'ts that, for some kids, may be helpful but, for others, may breed resentment and further alienate them from the education system. Finally, it's likely that your child won't get the same broad range of educational opportunities in the DAEP setting as they will in a regular school program.
These are just some of the reasons why you may want to do everything you can to stop your child's school from assigning them to Garland's DAEP. But you may not know what to do, how to do it, or where to turn. That's where getting the help of an experienced student discipline attorney-advisor can make all the difference. Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team have years of experience helping students all across the US defend themselves against serious school disciplinary charges and avoid placement into programs such as Garland's DAEP. They will use this considerable experience to help you and your child take the steps and make the arguments necessary to help prevent a DAEP assignment from moving forward.
What Your Child Can Expect in Garland's DAEP School
Life for a student assigned to the GISD Alternative Education Center is very different from the life of a student attending any of Garland's other schools. Even before they enter the school at the beginning of each day, students assigned to Garland's DAEP must pay close attention to what they are wearing and bringing with them. In particular:
- They must wear a plain white polo shirt, with no emblems or logos, and khaki uniform pants with inside pockets. No skirts, shorts, cargo pants, or jean material is allowed.
- The belt must be black, white, or brown with no studs or specialty buckles.
- Shoes must be solid black, white, brown, or gray athletic shoes.
- Only small stud earrings are allowed, no other jewelry. Watches must be traditional mechanical watches; smartwatches are prohibited.
- Arm tattoos must be covered.
- Hair must not be an “unnatural” color.
- No electronic devices are allowed in the school other than those assigned by the Garland school district (iPads or Chromebooks).
- No outside food of any kind is allowed.
- Brushes, picks, lip gloss and balm, makeup, nail polish are all prohibited.
- Lighters, tobacco, cough drops, and medication are not allowed (prescriptions meds must be brought in by parents).
- Hats, backpacks, and purses are prohibited.
Entering the school building is also quite different for DAEP students. They undergo several types of checks before they even get into the classroom, and their ability to move about the school is significantly restricted compared to students at other Garland schools.
- Students must arrive with their belts in hand, and not in the belt loops of their pants. They are checked for dress code violations as they leave the vehicle that brought them to school.
- Their school-issued iPads or Chromebooks are inspected before they enter the building.
- The students must then empty their pockets and turn the pockets inside out for further inspection.
- Any cell phones or non-school-issued electronic devices, including smartwatches, must be turned in.
- Jackets, coats, and sweaters must also be turned in.
- Students must remove their shoes and socks so they can be inspected for prohibited items.
- The students then pass through a metal detector.
- After that, they are checked again for dress code violations.
- When walking to or from classes, students at Garland's DAEP must keep to the right side of the hallway with their hands in their pockets or behind their backs.
While these strict requirements and procedures certainly impose a higher level of discipline on DAEP students and make the environment a safer one for students and staff alike, they are considerably more restrictive than those that students experience in Garland's other schools. To a student who has unfairly been assigned to the GISD Alternative Education Center, it will all come as an extremely dispiriting shock. That is why if your child is in a situation where their present school is unfairly sending them to Garland's DAEP, you need to move as quickly as possible to try to intervene.
Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team are ready to help you fight for your student. Not every disciplinary situation that can possibly result in a DAEP assignment should turn out that way, and the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team understands that. They also understand how DAEP placement works in Garland and can help you make sure that your child's rights are protected at every step of the disciplinary process.
The Garland Independent School District Code of Conduct
The GISD Code of Conduct can be found in the Student Handbook and Code of Conduct. Running more than 175 pages, it covers student conduct and many other matters for all schools located in the Garland Independent School District, including Garland's middle and high schools:
Middle Schools
- Austin Academy for Excellence
- Bussey Middle School
- Classical Center and Brandenburg Middle School
- Coyle Middle School and Technology Center for Math & Science
- Lyles Middle School and Collegiate Intermediate
- Memorial Pathway Academy (6-8)
- O'Banion Middle School
- Schrade Middle School
- Sellers Middle School
- Webb Middle School
High Schools
- Garland High School
- Houston Middle School
- Hudson Middle School
- Jackson Technology Center for Math & Science
- Lakeview Centennial High School
- Memorial Pathway Academy (9-12)
- Naaman Forest High School
- North Garland High School
- Rowlett High School
- Sachse High School
- South Garland High School
Other
- GISD Alternative Education Center
- Gilbreath-Reed Career and Technical Center (11-12)
All of these schools and Garland's more than 50 lower-level schools follow the Student Code of Conduct, which is also available in Spanish and Vietnamese.
Types of Misconduct That Can Result in a DAEP Placement
The GISD Code of Conduct lists certain types of misconduct that “may” result in a DAEP placement and other misconduct that “requires” DAEP placement. In the end, the GISD campus administrator has a lot of discretion when it comes to whether or not to assign a student to GISD's DAEP when the alleged misconduct falls under the “may” category.
Misconduct That May Result in DAEP Placement
Among the types of misconduct that can result in a DAEP assignment for your child are the following:
- Serious bullying that encourages suicide
- Being involved in a criminal street gang
- Threatened assault, assault consisting of offensive physical contact, or assault with no bodily injury
- Group bullying that encourages violence against another student
- Releasing or threatening to release intimate images of a minor or a student who is over 18 without their consent
- Committing criminal mischief
- Becoming involved with any school fraternity, sorority, secret society, or gang.
A student can also be assigned to Garland's DAEP even if they haven't committed one of the specified acts of misconduct. If the GISD superintended has a “reasonable belief” that the student has committed a felony – even if the felony happened away from school – the student can be assigned to the GISD Alternative Center if their continued enrollment at their current school “threatens the safety of other students or teachers or will be detrimental to the education process.”
Mandatory Placement Misconduct
The GISD Student Code of Conduct requires a student to be placed in Garland's DAEP under the following circumstances:
- Where the student commits a number of offenses on school property, including any felony; any use, sale, or distribution of alcohol or illegal drugs; abuse of “volatile chemicals;” engages in “public lewdness” or “indecent exposure;” or commits the crime of harassment under Texas state law
- Where the student retaliates against any school employee or volunteer
- If the student commits aggravated robbery off of school property and receives deferred prosecution, is ruled a delinquent by a court or jury, or the superintendent of schools reasonably believes that the student committed the crime.
If your child is accused of any type of misconduct – whether it is of the type that “may” result in a DAEP placement or it's of the type that “requires” DAEP placement – it's important that you take every step possible to make sure that your child's rights are protected throughout the disciplinary process. Where DAEP placement is concerned, schools can act very quickly to remove your child from class at their present school and require them to register and attend the GISD Alternative Education Center.
That's why it's important to contact an experienced student discipline attorney-advisor as soon as you learn that your child may be or has been assigned to Garland's DAEP. Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team understand how tight these deadlines are, and they know how to help parents and students fight what might seem like an uphill battle when these types of disciplinary situations arise.
Disciplinary Proceedings and DAEP Placement in Garland
School administrators who remove a child from class and intend to place them in Garland's DAEP must hold a conference with the child's parent or guardian within three school days. This will be your first time to go to bat for your child, but the short time frame means you need to act very quickly once you learn of the conference if you want the advice and assistance of a seasoned student discipline attorney-advisor.
Contacting Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team the moment you learn about the conference is the best way to ensure that they will be able to help you and your child. Three school days is not a lot of time, but it can be used to learn about the incident and gather information about it from others who may have information that the school did not consider when it removed your child from class.
School administrators are required by law to consider certain mitigating factors before making a DAEP placement for a student. These include:
- Whether the student acted in self-defense
- What the student's intent (or lack of intent) was at the time of the alleged conduct
- The student's disciplinary history
- Any disability the student has that may impact the student's ability to understand the wrongfulness of their conduct
The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team can make sure that these potentially mitigating points are addressed during any DAEP placement conference. In addition, they can use their extensive experience with student disciplinary proceedings involving students from all over the US to propose alternative forms of effective discipline that can keep your child in their present school while still respecting the school's need to maintain order.
If the school decides to move forward with DAEP placement, the campus administrator will provide you with a written placement order. The order will note the length of the placement, which is more or less up to the campus administrator. While, in theory, the maximum length of a DAEP placement is one year, there are many exceptions to that rule that make it easy to keep your child in the DAEP program for longer than that.
When the DAEP placement is to exceed 60 days, you will be notified and given an opportunity to “participate in a proceeding” before the GISD school board or a school board designee. Here too, it can make a difference if you're helped by experienced student defense attorney-advisor Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team. They can make sure you raise every factor in your child's favor and that the school district has properly and fully considered all of the facts before they made the serious decision to assign your child to Garland's DAEP for an extended period of time.
Appeals to DAEP Placement in Garland
There are three potential levels of appeal to a DAEP placement in Garland. The first level of appeal (“Level 1”) must be filed within 15 days of the DAEP placement order and is filed with the school official who “has the authority to remedy the alleged problem.” In many cases, depending on who the campus administrator was who issued the DAEP placement order, this may be the principal. If the principal was the one who issued the order, then the Level 1 appeal may be skipped, and a Level 2 appeal can be filed with the GISD Superintendent instead.
A conference will be held within ten days of the appeal being filed, and a decision on the appeal must issue within ten days after the conference.
A Level 2 appeal must be filed with the GISD Superintendent within ten days of the decision on the Level 1 appeal. There will be a conference on the Level 2 appeal within ten days of when the appeal is filed, and a decision has to be issued within ten days of the conference.
The final level of appeal (“Level 3”) is to the GISD Board. It must be filed within ten days of receiving the decision on the Level 2 appeal, and the Board will schedule the appeal for one of its upcoming meetings.
During any appeal proceeding, having the help of student discipline attorney-advisor Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm can make all the difference. They have the breadth and depth of experience to help you craft and submit an effective appeal and to argue your child's case at whatever level of the appeal process you may be at.
How a Student Discipline Defense Attorney Can Help Your Child Avoid DAEP Placement in Garland
If your student is facing serious disciplinary charges that could result in a DAEP placement in Garland, don't try to face the situation alone. Because the Garland Student Code of Conduct stacks things against your child, you need all the help you can get to even the playing field. Student defense attorney-advisor Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team have helped students all across the country defend themselves in serious school disciplinary situations. They understand how the procedures work, and they also understand that school administrators don't always fairly apply the rules or thoroughly investigate misconduct allegations. The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team knows how to fight for the rights of their student clients, and they will fight for your child's rights too.
Time is very short when a school administrator wants to send your child to Garland's DAEP. Call Joseph D. Lento as soon as possible at 888.535.3686 or use the online form to set up a confidential conference with the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team. They are there to listen and help.
