Has your student received a notice about their alleged academic integrity issues?
Is your student expecting trouble at school after an easy-to-misunderstand interpersonal challenge?
What about your student's progress through school; are they keeping up with their peers and performing as their teachers expect?
You may not think these questions are vitally important to your day-to-day life as the parent of a student at an Albany metro area school (or as a student yourself), yet these questions could end up dictating your student's entire future.
Schools in these NY cities have started to impose severe sanctions on students who ostensibly set a toe out of line or fail to meet their set academic goals on time. This might not seem like a big deal — until you consider that sanctions can cause future employers to pass over otherwise-promising job candidates.
If a brush with your school's disciplinary system is in your student's future, you need to make sure that you have premier student defense attorney Joseph D. Lento's number close at hand. The Lento Law Firm can help you navigate your school's complex disciplinary system, pull together a strategic defense, and understand your options during this stressful time.
Student Defense in the Albany, NY Metro Region
The Albany-Schenectady-Troy area in New York is also known as the Capital District or Capital Region, as Albany is the capital of New York. Although New York City receives much of New York's spotlight, the Albany area has been the site of several important historical events (e.g., the Battle of Saratoga).
Today, the Albany metro area is one of the largest in the nation. Albany consistently ranks as a top city in the country for arts and culture. The area also boasts a high ranking for quality of life. As such, it draws a lot of young families to the region.
Those families send their children to the best schools in the Albany area — and those schools become increasingly competitive. This creates a pressurized situation in which schools create and uphold stringent behavioral and academic policies. It also provides fodder for students to file allegations against each other, fairly or not, in the hopes of giving themselves an additional edge.
Most attorneys don't have what it takes to provide valuable services in this highly-strung environment. Student defense is a niche field, and the stakes are incredibly high. You need a specialist to succeed. And that's why you call in Joseph D. Lento.
Joseph D. Lento and the student defense team at the Lento Law Firm understand the unique hierarchy schools operate within and are innately familiar with the structure of student disciplinary systems. Call Joseph D. Lento, and he can assist with negotiations, a strategic defense, and more.
The Concerns Albany Metro Area Students Face
Why does your K-12 or college student in Albany require the services of a professional defense attorney?
If someone does file an allegation against your student — for academic misconduct, for inappropriate sexual behaviors, or even because they're not progressing quickly enough through their studies — then your school will launch an investigation.
Being the center of a misconduct investigation can be stressful enough. But if your school finds enough to determine that your student is responsible for their alleged transgressions, it will sanction your student. If this sanction involves exclusionary discipline (e.g., a suspension or dismissal), this will end up on your student's permanent academic documentation.
The implications for your student's future could be astronomical. It's not exaggerating to say that a suspension this year, even for your younger student, could make getting into college or getting a great job much more difficult later on in life.
To protect your child's future, you need to work with Joseph D. Lento to ensure that the long-term consequences of their disciplinary experience are as minimal as possible.
Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metro Area K-12 Schools, Colleges, and Universities
Call on premier school discipline defense attorney Joseph D. Lento, and he'll be able to assist you with the negotiation and representation necessary to help you get to the most successful outcome possible. He can assist at any of the following Albany-area schools, colleges, school districts, and universities:
Albany Metro Area Colleges and Universities
- Russell Sage College
- University at Albany, SUNY
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- SUNY Cobleskill
- Union College
- Skidmore College
- Siena College
- The College of St. Rose
Albany Metro Area School Districts
- North Colonie Central School District
- Bethlehem Central School District
- Niskayuna Central School District
- Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Central School District
- East Greenbush Central School District
- Voorheesville Central School District
- Shenendehowa Central School District
- Saratoga Springs City School District
Albany Metro Area High Schools
- Bethlehem Central Senior High School
- Clayton A Bouton High School
- Maple Hill High School
- Niskayuna High School
- Shaker High School
- Saratoga Springs High School
- Columbia High School
Of course, if your student's Albany-area school is not on the above list, please get in touch with the Lento Law Firm anyway. Joseph D. Lento is proud to provide legal services to many schools in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area.
Why Students in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Area Require Disciplinary Defense
You may have been following this guide, nodding your head along, agreeing with the need to protect your student's future from undue harm — but you might also wonder:
Your students are in school, a place that's ostensibly protecting students, along with their needs, their health, and their rights. Why does your student require a disciplinary defense?
To see why, look at your Albany-area school's code of conduct. It's a document you can easily find on your school's website. (Your school may also have sent home a copy during your student's initial school orientation.)
If you flip through that code of conduct, you'll find that your school has decided upon and published a list of prohibited actions or concerning issues. Depending on the specific culture at your school, your school's list could be pretty unique. However, here is a list of standard inclusions:
- Sexual assault
- Bullying
- Damaging school property
- Cheating
- Having or using drugs in school
- Having or using weapons in school
- Harassment
If your student is associated with any of these transgressions (or even an investigation for one), their reputation could be tarnished for life.
This may seem like an exaggeration. It's not. If you believe your student could have to interact with your school's disciplinary system, you need Joseph D. Lento to ensure that your student's rights are protected every step of the way.
Albany-Schenectady-Troy Schools and Academic Progression Issues
There are two primary types of academic issues and concerns to discuss: Academic misconduct, academic integrity issues, and failure to progress concerns.
Academic integrity issues directly conflict with your school's stated honor code or mission to educate its students fairly. (We'll discuss it in a little more detail in the next section.)
Failure to progress issues can be a little harder to define. If one of your student's teachers believes that your student is not keeping up with their peers or with the school's expectations of progress, your school could move to dismiss your student.
This would put a wrench in your student's long- and short-term educational plans and may not even be justified. Teachers and schools make “failure to progress” allegations based on incorrect grades and transcript typos all the time. If your school has let your family know that your student could be in danger of dismissal because they're not keeping up their grades or academic performance, get Joseph D. Lento on the phone. You must ensure that your school isn't dismissing your student for no reason.
Academic Misconduct Issues and Your Albany Metro Area Student
Academic integrity issues tend to be a little easier to define. Common examples of academic dishonesty or integrity concerns include:
- Unauthorized Access to Educational Materials
- Fabrication of Data
- Academic Fraud
- Cheating
- Plagiarism
- Unauthorized Collaboration
If your student is (allegedly) caught cheating, that could look bad for your school. Unfortunately, in competitive academic programs, allegations of cheating can give students a way to get back at their peers or get ahead themselves! Make sure that you look into any academic misconduct claims against your child very carefully. That's where Joseph D. Lento can be an invaluable resource.
How do Albany Schools Manage Behavioral Misconduct?
Outside of academic issues and concerns, there are other types of misconduct your school will see fit to punish. By scrolling down further in your school's code of conduct, you should find a specific list of these behaviors.
At many Albany-Schenectady-Troy schools, these punishable behaviors include:
- Stealing from the school or from a peer
- Bullying
- Cyberbullying
- Being disruptive within the classroom environment
- Possessing or using drugs
- Possessing or using weapons
- Misusing school property
- Placing other students in harm's way
Your school may have unique additions, so it's always a good idea to check out your own documentation.
Each of these behaviors may be associated with its own sanction. For example, your school could have an extensive list of possible outcomes, including detailed punitive measures from behavioral contracts to community service, essays, and more.
The sanctions you need to be worried about are suspensions and expulsions. Not only are these sanctions by far the most likely ones your student will experience, but they're also the sanctions that impact your student's permanent records the most. A suspension will always appear on a transcript, either explicitly or as a noticeable gap in your student's studies.
Think your student could be facing a suspension or dismissal due to behavioral concerns? It's time to retain Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm to negotiate with your school and support your student's success.
How Will Albany Schools Handle Title IX Allegations?
Title IX — one of the Education Amendments of 1972 — establishes that all schools in the United States that accept public funding must reply to allegations of sexual misconduct in a timely manner.
In theory, this should protect victims and help American schools and colleges to work towards increased safety for everyone.
In practice, many Title IX guidelines make it incredibly easy for students to file allegations against their peers and ruin their reputations for the wrong reasons. Many Title IX or sexual misconduct allegations are filed due to a misunderstanding or because of a miscommunication. Whether your student's Title IX allegation is the result of a mistake or not, they have the right to a fair disciplinary experience.
And you need to make sure you fight for their ability to have a fair experience because being tied to a sexual misconduct case (even as early as elementary school) can weigh your child down for life.
Joseph D. Lento can help you keep your school accountable to its own Title IX policies and boost your student's chances of enjoying a successful outcome.
Consult Premier Student Defense Attorney Joseph D. Lento for NY Support
If you're a parent or a student in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area, you need to know your rights — and your options.
Long, drawn-out, expensive, and stressful issues at school are more common than you think. What's worse, students who are associated with disciplinary or educational setbacks (even if the association is untrue or unfair) are often set back for life.
Prospective schools and future employers will be able to discover information about your student's past discipline, and they will not like what they see. To support your student's best future possible, you must take action in your student's disciplinary experience as early as possible to keep their permanent record clear.
And, to make that happen amidst the labyrinthine personnel structures and conduct policies at your school, you need a professional on your side.
That professional is student defense attorney Joseph D. Lento.
For years, Joseph D. Lento has assisted students in every state of the nation with myriad school issues, from academic misconduct allegations to failure-to-progress claims and behavioral concerns. If your student requires a strong defense at their Albany, Schenectady, or Troy-area school, you need to call Joseph D. Lento. With the resources and expertise of the student defense team at the Lento Law Firm, you can pull together a strong defense, negotiate with your school, and protect your student's future.
Call the Lento Law Firm today to learn more about what we can assist you with. The number is 888.535.3686; or you can reach us online.
