As a parent or guardian of a child attending public school in Irving, Texas, you care very much about how your child is doing in school, and you want the very best for them. You follow their progress from day to day and report card to report card, meet with teachers to discuss how they're doing and how they could improve, and do your best to make sure they are getting the most out of their schooling.
But kids will be kids, and sometimes they get into trouble at school. Most of the time, misconduct issues are minor and are handled by their teachers, and you may never even hear about it. But other times, misconduct allegations are more serious. They can even get your child assigned to Irving's Disciplinary Alternative Education Program (DAEP), which in Irving is housed at a school called the Student Reassignment Center, or SRC.
What Your Child Can Expect at Irving's DAEP School
Life for a student at Irving's Student Reassignment Center is very different than what your child may be used to at their usual public school. Students in the middle and high school grades must observe the following rules and restrictions:
- Dress codes apply; high school students must wear a plain white collared shirt. Shoes and shoelaces must be black, brown, grey, or white. No hooded sweaters or sweatshirts are allowed.
- Jewelry is prohibited
- Piercings are prohibited
- Head coverings of any type are forbidden
- Decorative dental work (“grills”) is prohibited
- Alcohol, drug, gang, obscene, or weapon tattoos must be covered
- Electronic devices of all types, including cell phones, are prohibited
- No erasers, markers, pens, or sharpies are allowed; the school supplies pencils
- Makeup, fingernail polish, and lip balm are not allowed
- Backpacks are prohibited
- Students may have no more than $5 cash with them
- Students must arrive and depart the SRC by bus, in single file
- They must enter the building silently, with their hands behind their backs
- Coats and sweatshirts must be hung up when the students enter the building
- Students are searched upon entering the building and have to pass through a metal detector with their pockets turned inside out
- In the hallway, they must walk single file on the right side of the hallway with their hands behind their backs
- Students are not allowed to stop at the water fountain or bathroom in between classes
- Communication of any type is prohibited without permission
The environment at Irving's SRC DAEP school is clearly much more restrictive than the environment at other middle and high schools in the district. If you put yourself in the place of a child who is suddenly removed from the school they had been attending, possibly for years, and inserted into this extremely structured and rules-oriented environment, you can imagine what a difficult experience it must be. In addition, once a student has been assigned to the DAEP program at Irving's SRC, they are likely to be labeled as a “problem student” and treated as such even if they manage to return to their former school. On top of this, the educational options at Irving's SRC are more limited than those available at Irving's other schools.
If you're the parent or guardian of a child who is suddenly assigned to the Irving SCD DAEP program, you may wonder if there is anything you can do about it. Fortunately, there is. But you have to understand the procedures that the school district has in place to allow you to question and appeal the assignment. Working with an experienced student defense attorney will allow you to make the best case for your child's speedy return to their former school.
Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team understand how review and appeal procedures are used by the Irving Independent School District in DAEP assignment situations. They have helped students all over the country deal with a wide range of serious misconduct situations at their schools, and they will use that experience to help you and your child as well. In many cases, they can suggest alternative forms of discipline to school officials that can be used in place of the punitive option of removing a child from their usual school and placing them in the difficult and restrictive environment of Irving's SRC DAEP school.
The Irving Independent School District Code of Conduct
Irving has a Code of Conduct that applies to all schools in the district. It also has a Student Handbook that describes some aspects of how the code of conduct is applied in the school setting. Irving's middle and high schools are:
Middle Schools
- Austin Middle School
- Bowie Middle School
- Crockett Middle School
- De Zavala Middle School
- Johnson Middle School
- Lamar Middle School
- Travis Middle School
High Schools
- Cardwell High School
- Irving High School
- MacArthur High School
- Nimitz High School
Specialty High Schools
- Singley Academy
- Singley Collegiate Academy
- South Irving Collegiate Academy
Other School Programs
- Career and Technical Education Program (vocational)
- Student Reassignment Center (DAEP)
All of these schools, along with Irving's 20 elementary schools, follow the school district's Code of Conduct, which the district also makes available in Spanish.
Types of Misconduct That Can Result in a DAEP Placement
There are two basic levels of misconduct that can result in a student being assigned to Irving's DAEP program at the SRC. There is misconduct that can result in what is called “discretionary placement.” And there is more serious misconduct that results in what is called “mandatory placement.”
Discretionary Placement Misconduct
A student may be assigned to the SRC's DAEP program for a number of types of misconduct, including:
- Bullying, where it “encourages a student to commit or attempt” suicide
- Participating in group bullying that encourages violence against a target student
- Releasing or threatening to release intimate images of a minor or a student 18 or over without that person's consent
- Involvement in a gang or a “public-school fraternity, sorority, or secret society.”
- Participating in street gang activity
- Misdemeanor-level criminal mischief
- Assault with no bodily injury to the victim, including by “offensive or provocative” contact
In addition, a student may be assigned to the DAEP program if the school superintendent or someone designated by the superintendent “has reasonable belief” that the student committed certain felonies, even if that happened outside of school. All that is required is for the superintendent or their representative “if the student's presence in the regular classroom threatens the safety” of students or teachers “or will be detrimental to the educational process.”
Mandatory Placement Misconduct
The Irving Student Code of Conduct states that a student must be assigned to the DAEP program in situations such as the following:
- The student makes a false alarm, false report, or terroristic threat (such as a bomb scare)
- The student commits a felony, serious assault, sells or gives away or is under the influence of illegal drugs or alcohol, abuses volatile chemicals, engages in public lewdness, or harasses a school employee – any of these either on school property or within 300 feet of school property, or while attending a school event.
- The student retaliates against a school employee
- The student commits aggravated robbery or one of a number of felonies, no matter where the conduct takes place, and the court defers the student's prosecution, or the student is declared a delinquent by a court or a jury, or even if the superintendent believes that the student committed the crime
Your child's school can decide almost immediately that they are to be assigned to Irving's DAEP program at SRC. What's important are the opportunities you have after that decision has been made to reverse that decision. This is where having an experienced student defense attorney on your side can make a significant difference in whether or for how long your child is out of their regular school and part of the DAEP program. Because these steps happen quickly, you should contact student defense attorney-advisor Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team almost immediately after you learn that your child's school has assigned them to Irving's SRC DAEP school.
Disciplinary Proceedings and DAEP Placement in Irving
Your first opportunity to discuss your child's DAEP placement will come quickly – within three school days of the time they are removed from class because of alleged misconduct. This is the maximum amount of time that the Irving Student Conduct Code gives the school to schedule a conference with you and your child.
At this conference, the school – through its campus behavior coordinator or some other school official – must give you information about why your child was removed from class and what the basis was for removing them. You must also be given a chance to respond to those reasons.
The school is required to consider any “mitigating factors” when deciding whether to place your child in Irving's DAEP. These include whether your child was acting in self-defense, whether they intended to commit the act that prompted their removal or what their intent was when they did it; what their disciplinary history is; whether they have a disability that could affect their ability to appreciate that their conduct was wrong; and whether they are homeless.
If the school decides to move forward with DAEP placement, you will receive a “placement order” in writing. The order will include an indication of how long your child is to remain in the SRC DAEP. Because the length of stay is determined “case by case,” it's difficult to predict how long your child may be placed in Irving's DAEP. While the Student Code of Conduct states that the “maximum period of DAEP placement shall be one calendar year,” it provides for a number of exceptions that could have your child remaining at SRC for more than that period of time.
This conference provides an opportunity to find out why your child's school intends to remove them from their present school and assign them to Irving's DAEP program. It also gives you a chance to discuss the situation with school administrators, learn what is behind the decision, and argue against placing your child in a much more severe learning environment.
This is where you and your child can benefit from working with attorney-advisor Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team. The depth of experience that they can bring from their years of advising students all across the country who face serious school disciplinary situations can be used to help your child avoid DAEP placement in Irving. They can point out errors, inconsistencies, and other issues with the school's evaluation of your student's situation. They can also propose alternative forms of discipline that can both benefit your child and keep your child at their present school.
Appeals to DAEP Placement in Irving
There are several levels of appeals possible after your child's school decides to move them to Irving's DAEP school.
The first level of appeal (“Level 1”) is to the school principal and must be made within five days of the school's final decision to place your child in Irving's SRC school. The second level of appeal (“Level 2”) must be filed within five days of receiving the written response to the Level 1 appeal. It is submitted to the same person who heard the Level 1 appeal. The Level 2 appeal is in the form of a conference with the administrator of campus operations, who will schedule a conference within ten days of when you file the appeal notice.
If the Level 2 appeal is not successful, you can request a Level 3 appeal with the superintendent of schools, who will either hear the appeal or will appoint someone else to do so. This conference will happen within ten days of when you file the request.
Finally, if the Level 3 appeal does not succeed, you may file a Level 4 appeal to the Irving Independent School District Board. There is no set time for the Board to take up the appeal.
Note that during this appeal process, your child's DAEP placement will not be suspended, meaning that they will be attending the DAEP program. So it's important for their sake to move as quickly and as effectively as possible in your efforts to reverse the DAEP placement decision.
As you can see, there are elaborate procedures in place in Irving to appeal a DAEP placement decision. Your chances of succeeding at any appeal level are greatly increased if you have the help of an experienced student defense attorney-advisor who understands the importance of meeting the deadlines, following the procedures, and making strong and effective arguments on behalf of your child. Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team have that experience. They've helped students all over the country who face disciplinary issues similar to those your child is going through, and they can help you and your child too.
After DAEP Placement
While there is no set time for DAEP placements in Irving, if your child is placed in Irving's DAEP program for a period of more than 60 days, you will have an opportunity to “participate in a proceeding before the board or the board's designee” to discuss the extended placement. If a DAEP placement is to continue beyond the end of one school year into the next school year, your child's campus behavior coordinator (or the board of education's designee) must find that your child's presence in class at their original school presents a danger to others in the school, or that your child has “engaged in serious or persistent misbehavior.”
These periodic reviews present an additional opportunity to argue on behalf of your child to return them to their regular school.
How a Student Defense Attorney Can Help Your Child Avoid DAEP Placement in Irving
It can often be difficult to be a parent, particularly when your child is facing a serious disciplinary situation at school. It's not something most people have a lot of experience dealing with, and it might feel like you and your child are alone fighting against the whole world – or at least what may feel like the whole world to your child. You don't have to fight this fight alone, however. Getting the help of someone who has faced these battles over and over can make a huge difference in the outcome, not to mention your peace of mind along the way.
Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team fight these fights day in and day out all over the United States. They understand the stakes, how the procedures work, and what arguments to make on behalf of your child to school authorities at every level. They can help you help your child to stay in their usual school and avoid the difficult and restrictive environment of Irving's DAEP.
Timing is critical in these situations, so if you've received a notice that your child may be assigned to the Irving SRC, call Joseph D. Lento today at 888.535.3686, or use the online contact form to set up a confidential consultation with the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team.
