Once upon a time, a kid who acted up in school or who just couldn't seem to get along with the teachers could be expelled—simply denied an education, no questions asked, and sent out into the world without a high school diploma. Thankfully, that's no longer the case. By law, all children are entitled to both a primary and a secondary education.
However, the law doesn't guarantee your child the right to attend a particular school. In fact, school districts in New Jersey regularly take students out of mainstream high schools and send them to so-called "alternative education programs." Sometimes they're sent for disciplinary problems; sometimes, they're sent for a substance use dependency or disorder; there are even specialized alternative education programs for pregnant teens.
The problem is not all alternative schools are created equal. There are some excellent programs in New Jersey where students who struggle in traditional classrooms get the opportunity to thrive. More often, though, these programs are plagued by problems. They receive less funding than the main school; they are full of teachers who don't want to be there; they can even be dangerous.
If you're a parent, you want what's best for your kids. So, what do you do if the school district is trying to use disciplinary placement to send them to an alternative education program? Below, we've put together a list of some of the most common questions we hear on this subject. Hopefully, this will offer you a general resource, a place to begin, if your child is facing disciplinary placement. The most important thing you can know, though, is that you don't have to face this situation alone. Joseph D. Lento and his Education Law Team are on your side and ready to help.
Can My Child be Expelled From Their New Jersey School?
Yes, in a technical sense, your child can be expelled from their New Jersey school. That is, the high school your child attends can decide that because of their behavioral misconduct, they will no longer be allowed to return.
However, your child cannot be denied access to education.
"Expulsion" means removal from school, and New Jersey law does give school districts the right to remove students—subject to due process—if they believe removal would be in the best interests of the student or if they believe the student is a threat to the school community.
However, because every child is entitled to an education, a district must provide some alternative means of education if it decides to remove a student from a school. This is known as "disciplinary placement," and it can take several different forms. In some cases, expelled students are placed in alternative education programs run by the same district that expelled them. If that district doesn't have such a program, it can send the student to an alternative education program in another district. Finally, in extreme circumstances, districts can also provide online educational opportunities for expelled students.
Ultimately, though, while they can be expelled from their mainstream school, they cannot be expelled from the state's educational system.
What Is "Disciplinary Placement"?
Disciplinary placement means moving a student from one educational environment to another, specifically for disciplinary reasons. Typically, it involves moving a child from a traditional-style, mainstream classroom into what's known as an alternative school. New Jersey and other states argue that such schools are better geared toward serving troubled students' needs. That claim is questionable at best. More often, disciplinary placement is used as a means to remove students from the classroom when teachers and administrators can't come up with effective methods for responding to their needs.
Can My Child Be Sent to an Alternative Education Program for Reasons Other Than Disciplinary Misconduct?
Yes. School districts that operate alternative education programs often use them for a variety of different needs. For example, they may recommend such programs to students who struggle to learn in traditional classrooms. They may send students with substance use disorders to them. New Jersey's Project Teach schools focus particularly on pregnant and parenting students.
As a result, a student with no discipline problems can wind up surrounded by students who are disruptive or even violent. By the same token, a student with no learning disability could wind up in a class that's not suited to their academic needs. In the end, no one truly benefits.
How Does Disciplinary Placement Work in New Jersey?
For the most part, New Jersey leaves decisions about disciplinary placement up to individual school districts. That is, your district has the power to enact policies creating alternative education programs. It also has the power to decide who should be placed in such programs. Usually, placement is tied to specific offenses. Of course, it must enforce these policies equally among all students. If, for instance, the student code of conduct requires students involved in fights to be placed in alternative schools, this policy must apply to every student caught fighting.
There are two exceptions to the law, two conduct violations for which the state mandates disciplinary placement: assault on a teacher or another student on school grounds with a weapon; and a criminal conviction for firearm possession on school grounds. In either instance, your district has no choice but to place your child in alternative education.
What if My School District Doesn't Have an Alternative Education Program?
If your student is expelled and your own school district doesn't operate its own alternative education program, it can force you to enroll in a program in another district. This means you may be required to make travel arrangements to get your child back and forth to school each day.
In some unusual cases, a district may offer access to online education resources to expelled students. However, online education won't provide your child with the kind of direct instruction they would receive from a classroom teacher.
What Could Get My Child Sent to an Alternative Education Program?
Generally speaking, it's up to your school district to define which types of misconduct can result in disciplinary placement. New Jersey does maintain a state Code of Conduct that lists rules that apply in every district. Offenses include
- Chronic disruption of class;
- Violations of school dress code;
- Excessive absences, tardiness, and other attendance issues;
- Academic misconduct such as plagiarism or cheating;
- Fighting, assault, and sexual assault;
- Bomb threats and other terroristic threats;
- Gambling;
- Vandalism, tampering with or destroying property, and arson;
- Trespassing;
- Indecent exposure and possession of pornography;
- Theft, robbery, and extortion;
- Misuse of cell phones and other personal electronic devices;
- Harassment, intimidation, and bullying;
- Sexting and other privacy violations and technology misuse;
- Alcohol, drug, or other substance abuse; and
- Firearms and other weapons on school property or at school events.
However, the state doesn't tie offenses to punishments. This means that legally a school district can use disciplinary placement any time a student violates any item on this list, again assuming they enforce the policy equally. However, districts typically only take such measures in the case of dangerous activities like assault or for repeat offenses.
Can My Child Be Expelled for Bringing a Gun to School?
Yes, your child can be expelled for bringing a gun to school. In fact, this is mandated by state law. However, the law is complex. New Jersey requires expulsion in two instances:
- A student uses a weapon to commit an assault on school grounds;
- A student is convicted of weapons possession on school grounds.
In other words, under the law, your child can't be immediately expelled for bringing a gun to school. They must first be prosecuted and convicted in a court of law.
Of course, this is the state mandate. Individual school districts have the authority to enact stricter rules when it comes to weapons possession. Your particular school could very well have a rule that punishes students before they are convicted. The only way to be sure how your district enforces rules and applies disciplinary placement is to contact the district office.
Who Decides Whether My Child Will Be Placed in an Alternative Education Program?
Any faculty member or school official has the authority to recommend your child be placed in an alternative education program. Often though, such recommendations are forwarded to the school district board through your school's principal. Importantly, though, only the school board has the authority to expel your student or use disciplinary placement, and they may only do this after having conducted a full and formal hearing.
Will My Student Have a Hearing Before Receiving Disciplinary Placement?
Yes. Before a school district can expel a student or force them into an alternative education program, the student has the right to defend themselves in a formal hearing before the district board. Both the student and their parents are allowed to attend this hearing and to present evidence. In addition, the school board must provide a list of any witnesses it intends to call as well as official statements from those witnesses. The student and their parents then have the right to cross-examine these witnesses.
You should also know that your family has a right to retain an attorney to help you prepare for the hearing and to assist you in presenting your defense.
Can My Family Appeal a Disciplinary Placement Decision?
Yes. Even if you should lose your disciplinary placement hearing, you have the right to appeal that decision to New Jersey's Commissioner of Education. This helps ensure your school board cannot take biased or arbitrary action against your child.
Appeals are not subject to an open hearing. Rather they are strictly in the hands of the Commissioner. However, here again, you have the right to retain a lawyer, who can review hearing transcripts and look for reversible errors, and who can help you to prepare your appeal brief.
What Happens if We Lose Our Disciplinary Placement Appeal?
You still have options, even if you should lose your appeal to the Commissioner of Education. Most school districts have oversight officials—an ombud's office, a counsel's office, or outside retained counsel—to make sure they comply with their legal obligations. Joseph D. Lento and his Education Law Team have years of experience and a national reputation, both of which have helped them to build a strong network of contacts and relationships. They're skilled negotiators and can sometimes convince an oversight official to overturn a school district's decision on disciplinary placement.
How Long Does Disciplinary Placement Last?
According to New Jersey law, once a student has been placed in an alternative education program, they must remain in that program for at least two "marking periods." In other words, your child will likely have to continue in the program for two nine-week grading periods or a semester.
What Downsides are There to Disciplinary Placement?
There are a number of downsides to disciplinary placement.
- First, your child is removed from the learning environment they know. This is known as "exclusionary discipline," and most education experts frown on the practice. It means they have to go through an acclimation process—re-learn how to learn under a whole new system. It also means they have to deal with the shame of leaving their friends and classmates behind.
- Second, most alternative schools don't offer the level of education mainstream schools do. Often, they are underfunded. They aren't staffed by star teachers but by the district's weakest educators. Lessons are marred by frequent disruption, and many of the schools suffer from violence.
- As if these problems weren't enough, it can sometimes be a hassle just to get your kid to school. If your district doesn't have its own alternative education programs, you may have to arrange for transportation to another district at your own expense.
Are There Any Long-term Effects to Disciplinary Placement?
Parents sometimes assume that an alternative school can't do their child any lasting harm. Such programs might be a hassle, and they might even interfere with a child's educational progress, but how bad could they really be?
In fact, studies show that even a small amount of time spent in an alternative school setting can have long-term negative consequences.
- Substandard Quality of Education: According to one investigation, nearly half of all alternative schools have graduation rates below fifty percent. Compare that to the six percent rate at all other public high schools. Teachers actually fight to avoid being assigned to teach in these programs. As a result, these programs are typically staffed by burned-out, unqualified staff. Even a short time in an alternative school can put a child so far behind academically that they can never re-enter the general student population. Over the long term, a student in an alternative school isn't prepared to go to college or even to start a good job when they graduate.
- Attendance Issues: These programs are often plagued by attendance issues. Many districts don't provide adequate transportation to and from these schools, so many students have no options but to miss school. Frequent absences have been shown to have serious detrimental effects on learning.
- Criminalizing School Misconduct: Forced disciplinary placement works in many ways like old-school reform programs worked. Indeed, some education experts have compared alternative schools to prisons in the sense that students are sent there with no other choice. Students who attend them are often looked down on by other students, teachers, and in general, by people in the community. Indeed, studies have consistently shown that exclusionary discipline, like alternative schools, leads students to see themselves as criminals.
- Discipline is Unfair: One of the biggest problems with alternative schools, as with all disciplinary programs and indeed the entire US criminal justice system, is that minorities are almost always treated unfairly. A study by the US Department of Justice, for instance, found that "African-American students and those with educational disabilities were disproportionately more likely to be removed from the classroom for disciplinary reasons."
- Repeat Assignments to Alternative School: Some studies have found that as many as one in three alternative school students had previous experience in the alternative school program. This suggests these programs are doing nothing to solve educational deficiencies, only exacerbating them.
- High Dropout Rates: Students in alternative schools are more likely to drop out and less likely to graduate high school.
- Contact With the Juvenile Justice System: Exclusionary discipline, including assignment to alternative schools, is actually referred to in educational circles as the "criminal justice pipeline." Why? Simple: students subjected to such disciplinary tactics are far more likely to wind up in trouble with the juvenile justice system and far more likely to face criminal charges in later life.
Can My Child Go to College After a Disciplinary Placement?
Nothing in New Jersey law bars your child from applying to, enrolling in, and attending college after a disciplinary placement. However, your child's transcript may reflect their disciplinary placement and will certainly reflect any suspension or expulsions. Such notations could very well keep your child from being accepted to college. Even if their transcript does not contain information about their disciplinary placement, school applications often require students to report any disciplinary action taken against them.
What Should I Do if My Child Is Facing Expulsion?
If your child is facing expulsion and the possibility of disciplinary placement, it's important you act quickly.
- Take the situation seriously. It is no exaggeration to say that your child's future—as a student, as a person—is at stake. Exclusionary discipline can lead to negative consequences: a poor education, limited career possibilities, and potential involvement with the criminal justice system. Find out absolutely everything you can about the charges. Make sure you under your specific district's procedures for handling such cases. Most importantly, find the best legal representation you can.
- Don't overreact. This sounds like contradictory advice, but while you're taking the situation seriously, make sure you react calmly to it. Avoid arguing with teachers, administrators, or other district personnel. Don't make threats. Doing so won't help the situation and could make it a lot worse. Instead, remain calm. You absolutely do want to protect your child's future, but let your attorney do your fighting for you.
- Find the right attorney. The situation isn't just serious; it's also complex. School board hearings don't work the same as a court case. The rules are different, the decision-makers are different, and the outcomes are different. A local or family attorney may be perfect for dealing with a shoplifting accusation or a DUI. They won't do in these cases, though. You need someone on your side who works specifically in the field of school discipline defense and who has experience representing students and their families.
Can an Attorney Help With Disciplinary Placement Issues?
Yes, having an attorney is essential in disciplinary placement cases. You're the best parent your child has. No one can replace you. But you aren't an attorney. You weren't trained to negotiate. You don't know the law as it applies to education. You don't know the right evidence to use or the right questions to ask of witnesses.
What specifically can a lawyer do for you? A lawyer trained in education law can
- Negotiate with the district for a lighter punishment
- Make sure the district treats your family with respect
- Represent your child in any investigative or administrative meetings
- Help you gather evidence to prove your case
- Help you prepare to present your case
- Come up with effective cross-examination questions
- Represent your child at any hearings
- Make sure the district gives you all the rights you deserve
- Help you file any appeals if necessary.
Get the Help You Need to Deal With a High School Disciplinary Placement in New Jersey
Joseph D. Lento's practice is built on defending student rights. He and his team have helped literally hundreds of families challenge their school district's decisions. They understand how school districts operate. They're used to dealing with teachers and administrators and to representing clients in misconduct hearings. They've dealt with every kind of accusation and allegation. Whatever your child's situation, you can be absolutely certain that Joseph D. Lento and his Education Law Team are on your side. They know how unfairly school districts often treat their students, and they stand ready and willing to fight for your rights.
If your child is facing an alternative school or worse, contact the Lento Law Firm today at 888-555-3686, or use our automated online form.
