High school is a thrilling-yet-challenging at times experience for students and their parents, marking the transition from childhood to young adulthood. Students learn how to collaborate with others, enhance their sense of responsibility, and plan for college in one fell swoop. But for some students, the pressure to perform and excel leads to less-than-desirable behavior, affecting both their permanent record and their chances of going to college.
Whether it's cheating, plagiarism, falsification, or any of the many other allegations which can land a student in hot water, high school academic misconduct in Idaho can prevent your child from achieving educational and professional goals and opportunities. Parents who receive the dreaded call claiming that their child is engaging in academic misconduct may not know what to do. Although some assume that since it's high school, the repercussions won't be severe, college boards crack down hard on students who cheat. If you don't take swift and calculated action, your child's future and reputation are at stake.
Although you might panic or get angry if your child's high school accuses them of cheating, now is the time to think clearly about your next steps. Arming yourself with information and the support of a legal advisor like Joseph D. Lento secures your peace of mind and reduces the long-term impact of your child's actions.
Defining Academic Misconduct
Most high schools in Idaho have an academic misconduct policy that identifies behaviors that violate their integrity code. While the methods vary, the result almost always connects to cheating and plagiarism. Your first line of defense is to read through the high school's academic misconduct policy. Knowing what constitutes a breach of guidelines makes it easier to create a defense strategy and identify discrepancies before your child speaks to a panel.
Most high schools in Idaho define academic misconduct as:
- Cheating on a school or college board exam
- Falsifying assignment information
- Copying the answers to a homework assignment, test, or quiz
- Influencing or pressuring other students to cheat or supply them with answers
- Collaborating with others to form cheating rings
- Publishing or distributing test answers to other students
- Using unauthorized means to obtain answers to tests such as Chegg and Cliffsnotes
- Having someone complete an assignment or test and presenting the work as the student's own
- Paying other people to complete a student's work
- Plagiarizing work and passing it off at one's own
- Using another person to take an SAT or AP exams
- Using dishonest means to cheat during distance learning sessions
School administrations strive to keep a level playing field for all students. To curb instances of cheating and reduce recurrence, some administrations take overly-harsh actions disproportionate to the violation. In other words, the school sets an example for other students by the way they handle your child's case.
Penalties and Future Consequences
High Schools must define the consequences of breaching the terms of their academic integrity policy. Yet, the repercussions outlined in a manual are not the only punishments that a student faces. Depending on the violation's nature, the student may permanently lose years of hard work and even college credits when they commit an offense.
For first-time offenders, the penalties are not too severe but still include a loss of privileges and punishments depending on the case. Some of the most common responses to a first-time offense include:
- Receiving a documented offense warning
- Receiving a zero on a test or assignment
- Failing the subject
- Reducing a student's overall term grade
- Notifying in-house honorary societies of the incident
- Revoking special privileges
- Loss of leadership positions
The school administration's goal is to discourage students from cheating again. They must revoke privileges to prove a point, even for first-time offenders. Students committing multiple offenses receive harsher penalties that destabilize years of hard work and effort. These penalties include:
- Suspension or expulsion from the school
- Repeating a grade
- Not attending graduation
- The inability to attend a school of their choice later on
- Retaking a college board test
- Revoking candidacy for honor societies or other school privileges
- Having multiple notices on their permanent record
While students do receive a chance to defend themselves against allegations, school boards are intimidating and swift to take action. Your child may not need an attorney at a school hearing. Still, they benefit from an advisor's strategy to bolsters their confidence and helps them gather evidence to refute or reduce charges.
Why You Need an Attorney Advisor
An attorney advisor's advice is invaluable when your child faces a significant drawback to their educational path. As a parent, you want to see your child succeed and help them learn accountability and responsibility.
An attorney advisor ensures the application of the due process rights of your child. Regardless of the nature of the misconduct, it does not mean that the student should receive unfair treatment or punishments not written in the manual. A professional who knows the stakes and makes sure that the school's approach to your child's case is fair is an asset that gives you perspective when something is amiss. You can recognize when the process seems unduly harsh and ask for accountability
Your child's high school must define the process clearly in their academic misconduct manual. Without a clear guideline, schools can take advantage of any scenario and use vague terminology to punish your child. Moreover, an attorney advisor ensures that the process is fair and that the resolution fits the allegation.
Most importantly, an attorney advisor acts as a shoulder that you and your child rely on for help and advice. The investigation process is taxing on both parents and the student. They worry about the uncertainty leading up to the result and what a misconduct charge means for their child. Attorney advisor Joseph D. Lento understands these concerns and works with you to create a strategy to ensure the best possible outcome.
Call the Lento Law Firm
Don't let intimidating high school administrators or a hearing panel disproportionately target your child for academic misconduct. Attorney Joseph D. Lento fights for the rights of your child and works with school boards, successfully negotiating hundreds of similar cases each year. Your child's future is important to you – a mistake should not affect their educational path and years of hard work.
Call the Lento Law Firm today to discuss your options discreetly and in confidence at 888-535-3686.
Idaho high schools where Joseph D. Lento can help as your child's student's academic misconduct advisor during investigations, hearings and appeals include, but are not limited to, the following school districts:
A
- Aberdeen School District
- American Falls School District
B
- Bear Lake School District
- Blackfoot School District
- Blaine County School District
- Bliss Joint School District
- Boise School District
- Bonneville Joint School District
- Boundary County School District
- Buhl Joint School District
- Butte County Joint School District
C
- Caldwell School District
- Cascade School District
- Cassia Joint School District
- Challis Joint School District
- Coeur d'Alene Public Schools
- Cottonwood Joint School District
- Culdesac Joint School District
D
- Dietrich School District
E
- Emmett Independent School District
F
- Filer School District
- Firth School District
- Fremont County Joint School District
- Fruitland School District
G
- Garden Valley School District
- Genesee Joint School District
- Glenns Ferry School District, Idaho
- Gooding Joint School District
- Grace School District
- Grangeville Joint School District
H
- Highland School District
- Homedale Joint School District
I
- Idaho Falls School District
J
- Jefferson School District
- Jerome School District
- Joint School District
K
- Kamiah Joint School District
- Kellogg Joint School District
- Kimberly School District
- Kootenai School District
- Kuna School District
L
- Lake Pend Oreille School District
- Lakeland Joint School District
- Lewiston Independent School District
M
- Madison School District
- Marsh Valley Joint School District
- McCall-Donnelly Joint School District
- Melba School District
- Meridian School District
- Middleton School District
- Midvale School District
- Minidoka County School District
- Moscow School District
- Mountain Home School District
- Mullan School District
N
- Nampa School District
- New Plymouth School District
- North Gem School District
O
- Oneida School District
- Orofino Joint School District
P
- Parma School District
- Plummer-Worley School District
- Pocatello-Chubbuck School District
- Post Falls School District
- Potlatch School District
- Preston School District
R
- Ririe School District
- Rockland School District
M
- Maries School District
- Salmon School District
- Shelley School District
- Shoshone Joint School District
- Snake River School District
- Soda Springs Joint School District
- South Lemhi School District
- Sugar-Salem School District
T
- Teton County School District
- Troy School District
- Twin Falls School District
V
- Valley School District
- Vallivue School District
W
- Wallace School District
- Weiser School District
- Wendell School District
- West Bonner County School District
- West Jefferson School District
- West Side Joint School District
- Whitepine School District
- Wilder School District
It is critical to make certain academic misconduct charges at your child's Idaho high school are handled properly and that the accused student's interests and rights are protected from as early as possible during the investigative and disciplinary process. One reason, among many, is because even at high schools where a finding of responsibility for academic misconduct is made at a hearing, the investigation will set the stage for what the hearing panel is provided prior to a hearing (and what the hearing panel will in large part rely on at a hearing), and at high schools where the finding of responsibility is made solely through the investigative process, what takes place during the investigation itself will determine whether the accused student is found responsible or not responsible for academic misconduct.
Unfortunately, some parents make the mistake of not taking the necessary precautions as soon as possible when their child is accused of academic misconduct. Some people will mistakenly believe that if they "just explain what happened," their school will be fair and impartial and will arrive at the truth. In a perfect world this may be the case, but in a perfect world, being called to answer for alleged academic misconduct would not exist.
Fighting passionately for the future of his clients at schools throughout the nation for many years, Joseph D. Lento knows how important it is to mount the strongest defense because he understands that an accused high school student's academic future is on the line. He does not settle for the easiest outcome, and instead prioritizes his clients' needs and well-being. Joseph Lento is a licensed attorney in New Jersey and New York, is admitted as an attorney pro hac vice in state and federal court if needed when representing clients nationwide, and serves as an academic misconduct advisor to high school students facing investigations and disciplinary cases in Idaho and throughout the nation. Make certain your or your student's interests are protected - Contact National High School Academic Misconduct Defense Attorney Joseph D. Lento today at 888-535-3686.
