No matter where your K-12 student attends school in Mississippi, they're likely to go to a school that frowns on off-campus misconduct.
The world is getting a little smaller every day as we turn to social media and the internet for connection and education—and while we are benefiting from that, there are consequences, too. One of these consequences is that schools know about student behavior a lot faster. Schools may also expect student behavior in their off time to reflect school communities a little more positively. As a result, many K-12 schools are expanding their definition of misconduct to include off-campus misconduct—whether formally in regulation or simply in practice, through what schools choose to discipline.
For your K-12 student in Mississippi, this may not seem fair.
If they attend a party on the weekend that gets a little out of control, should they face a detention?
If your child is associated with non-school-related vandalism, should their teachers and school administrators have something to say about it?
Whether it seems relevant or not, school authorities will increasingly crack down on known off-campus misbehavior, directly or otherwise. If you feel your Mississippi student is facing unjust disciplinary consequences after an off-campus event, the Lento Law Firm is here to help you fight for your student's rights. Retain our team today by calling 888.535.3686 or filling out this brief form to tell us more about your case.
What Types of Off-Campus Misconduct Justify a Response from Mississippi Schools?
Depending on the specific code of conduct your Mississippi school has in place, there are a wide range of types of off-campus actions that could prompt your school to respond. Generally speaking, the type of response your school will have to off-campus misconduct depends on how close it is to your school's existing regulations or realm of authority. If your student is associated with violence toward another school member, even if the actual event occurs off campus, for example, your school may feel justified in overt action. However, if your school simply learns about something that your student did that isn't explicitly covered in your school's code of conduct—like car theft or something similar—your school may respond in slightly more subtle ways.
Let's look at the following categories of behaviors:
Misconduct unrelated to school. Actions that your school may be interested in but don't directly connect to education — and may, therefore, feel like they're not under your school's jurisdiction — include auto theft, graffiti on off-campus buildings, or damaging property off-campus. Even if these activities take place near the geographic area of, say, Aberdeen School District, the district itself likely wouldn't be able to directly sanction a student involved for that specific reason.
Misconduct tangentially related to school policies. What if a K-12 student in the Marshall or Marion school districts is found posting insensitive or incendiary social media posts? While schools may or may not yet have updated social media policies, most have language in their codes of conduct about hate speech or actions that mock marginalized communities. Even though a post may not seem to be under your school's purview, it may be at odds with your school's behavioral policies, or your school could argue that your child's actions compromise your school's sense of inclusivity or even lay the groundwork for unsafe actions.
Misconduct that directly involves other school members. One of your school's main goals, whether your child attends a school in the Biloxi Public School District or in Nettleton, is to keep your child safe. Therefore, even if your child is off campus when an alleged infraction happens, if your school thinks that your student is involved in violence against another member of your school's academic community (whether it be a fellow student or a member of the faculty), your school won't hesitate to provide punitive actions. This can be physical violence, specific cyberbullying, or threatening activities. (The Mississippi Department of Education's sample policy for schools to use includes an entire section about misbehavior related to creating a hostile environment; and since ‘environment' can be interpreted to mean digital spaces as well, your school could feel ready to get involved after both online-and in-person altercations.)
That does lead us to a pertinent question, of course: If misconduct happens off campus and isn't 100% related to school regulations, what types of disciplinary ramifications do schools feel they can mete out?
The Mississippi K-12 School Adjudication Approach After an Off-Campus Event
After an off-campus event, your school could respond in a few ways. Largely, their ability to respond should be tied to the connectedness of the event with school policy or the school community. Here are a few types of disciplinary consequences we've seen after off-campus instances of infractions:
- Your school could take an educative stance. This is a common response when the off-campus behavior is concerning enough that your school decides it needs to respond in some way, but your school's regulations don't provide an obvious path for it to do so. For example, if your student shoplifted or attended a late-night party that got out of hand, your school may step in to provide training, counseling, or other types of restorative justice to help your student understand the impact of their actions. The goal, in this case, will usually be to help students avoid making similar or increasingly destructive choices in the future.
- If your student's alleged conduct is a little more concretely related to school policy, your school may feel that it has the authority to act more assertively. Your Mississippi school may intervene, for example, if your student is caught posting harmful rhetoric online. This may be met with either restorative justice (e.g., an educative session about the perils of social media) or simple punitive justice, such as a suspension or, if the action is severe or repeated, an expulsion.
- Finally, if your student's behavior does impact the safety of another school member, whether it's threatening messages online or a physical altercation, your school may not stop to consider whether the event actually happened on campus or not and could slap your student with a long-term suspension or even a dismissal.
Here's the thing: Regardless of where the misconduct occurred, school-related discipline isn't something that simply stays at school. A suspension, even though it may seem like something that could be over quickly, can have long-lasting repercussions — even if your child is in elementary school. Suspensions and other forms of exclusionary discipline end up on your child's transcript through gaps in dates. Admissions committees are trained to look for these types of discrepancies, so to anyone who looks at your student's records, it will be clear that your child was involved in a disciplinary event. That can make subsequent admissions interviews and other opportunities for your child, such as scholarships and internships, much harder to win than might otherwise be the case.
Unfortunately, that's just the beginning of the trouble your student might experience after a disciplinary response to an off-campus incident.
The Ripple Effect of Mississippi K-12 School Discipline
There are many reasons why it's important to take school discipline seriously. If your student faces disciplinary consequences for their off-campus misconduct, especially if the allegations against them are unwarranted or overblown, your student could face significant long-term pain and suffering…as well as embarrassment and social repercussions in the short term.
For example:
- Immediately after a school realizes that punishable misconduct has occurred, your student could face disciplinary action. That will result in short-term consequences for your child that could range from tense conversations with staff to an abrupt dismissal from school (even if it's for a short period of time).
- Over the weeks to months after even a short suspension, your child may suffer consequences such as academic setbacks and harm done to their social standing. If your child missed coursework, tests, or critical education while they were out, it may be a while before they can hope to make up what they missed. If your child's participation in extracurricular activities was put on pause, they might miss out on holistic development and critical community-forming time.
- Later, you might find that your school's tendency to put your child through similar types of discipline is heightened. Your student's relationship with their teachers and even their peers may be strained.
- And, of course, even later, your child's chances of getting into their dream high school or college could be reduced since this discipline will appear on their transcript.
You need to take action now to make sure that your student does not suffer any of these or other undue consequences of discipline connected with their ostensible off-campus misconduct. Retain the premier services of the Lento Law Firm and its Student Defense Team to open lines of dialogue with your school, understand your situation and your options, and pursue other actions as necessary to protect your child's future.
What Will My Mississippi K-12 School's Disciplinary Proceedings Look Like?
Once your school realizes that your student may be involved with a punishable infraction, your school will take time to learn more about the event. This might involve a full-scale investigation, depending on the severity of the allegations against your child. This will feel stressful and invasive. When you're aware of the initiation of this investigation, calling the Student Defense Team at the Lento Law Firm immediately is the best thing you can do to support your child. It may feel premature, but having our experience at your side as early on as possible will help mitigate the consequences your child will experience. (It'll also reduce stress for you significantly.)
Our team is prepared to assist you by:
- Helping you understand the rules and regulations applicable to your case. When your school first alerts you to the allegations against your child, they should send you information about the parts of your school's code of conduct that your student has allegedly violated. Reading those parts of your school's policies should help you understand what the weeks ahead may hold, but parsing your school's legalese won't be easy. The Student Defense Team has years of experience navigating complex school disciplinary regulations. We can read the fine print, find loopholes in policies, and help you use that information to make the best possible steps forward.
- Initiating an investigation of your own. After your school conducts its investigation, it'll use the information it finds to make a decision about your student's responsibility for the allegations against them. Sometimes, this happens during an intense, high-stakes hearing in front of a panel of school representatives. To turn the tides in your favor, it's helpful if you have evidence of your own to support your side of the story. Our attorneys can help you find, preserve, and be ready to use that type of information.
We can also help you by opening direct lines of communication with your school or school's general counsel to facilitate strategic negotiation. Often, we find that speaking directly with school representation is an efficient and effective way to achieve the outcome your student deserves.
We can also assist with the appeals process if necessary. At the end of your school's disciplinary process, after your school has come to a decision and issued a recommendation, if you don't agree with what your school is saying, you can pursue an appeal. This will be challenging, as you'll need to formulate a new argument in a very short period of time, and you'll only get one shot at your appeal. The Lento Law Firm Team can help you determine the best possible defense, draft persuasive arguments, and more to make the most of your appeal.
Retain the Student Defense Team at the Lento Law Firm today, and we'll be with you throughout your child's entire disciplinary experience. Our goal will be to help your child avoid both the long and short-term implications of school discipline. Call us at 888.535.3686 to learn more, or fill out this brief form to tell us more about your case.
