High School Student Defense in Georgia

The four years a child spends in high school are enormously influential. Between the moment your child sets foot on campus their freshman year, and the moment they graduate, they're shaping their ethical beliefs, career aspirations, educational goals, and entire identity.

No pressure, of course—but your student is doing a lot of growing in high school. Ideally, those years should help them grow into the best person possible so their trajectory after high school truly reflects their hard-earned skills and capabilities. Unfortunately, this isn't always the case. For many, high school experiences hit hard. When students experience unjust accusations, unfair punishment, and overly strict disciplinary actions, that can have an effect on your student. Even worse, that effect can last far, far long after graduation is over and done.

Georgia high school students aren't exempt from these potential obstacles. Students in high schools all over Georgia can face failure to progress allegations in regards to their academics, accusations of academic dishonesty, or even complaints about their prohibited sexual misconduct. When you face these types of challenges, it's vital to know what your rights are—and who you can turn to when you need help navigating these tense situations.

The Lento Law Firm has years of experience working to protect student rights both nationwide and in Georgia. By working with our Student Defense Team, you'll be poised to protect your student's reputation, future, and ability to enjoy the rest of their high school career.

Need help today? Call the Lento Law Firm at 888.535.3686 or fill out this brief form to tell us more about your case.

Understanding How Your Child Fits in the Georgia School System

In Georgia—as is the case in many other states—individual schools or school districts have the ability to determine their own disciplinary systems. Those systems have to fit within Georgia state law, but each can be distinct. This means that it can be difficult to know exactly where you stand with your school, as it can vary widely depending on where you live.

Under Georgia state law, however, the development of disciplinary policies requires the involvement of many different groups of people, including teachers, administrators, and parents. Schools are also required to clearly communicate all of their rules to students and parents at the beginning of a school-family relationship. Your student may have received a paper copy of these rules during their orientation. An additional copy of your student's code of conduct and related disciplinary regulations should be freely available on your school or school district's website.

When your Georgia school (or school district) determined the rules it was going to hold your child accountable to, it itself had to be accountable to broader federal and state laws.

According to these laws, your school's rules need to include:

• Anti-bullying statutes
• Regulations against weapons on campus
• Regulations against drug use or distribution on campus
• Compliance regulations regarding Title IX and Title IV

Even with these required regulations in common, school policies can vary widely. For example, a school in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area could have extremely strict notes about dress code regulations, while a school in the more suburban Cobb County School District might focus more on electronic device usage.

This range means that you need to review your school's specific policies to understand how to protect your child. This will not be easy. Your school's policies will be dense, confusing, and filled with legalese. And, likely, when you review them, you'll be stressed and scared for your student's future—and reading the fine print will be the last thing you want to do. The Student Defense Team at the Lento Law Firm can help you understand your options so you can spend your time and mental energy being there for your student.

The general alleged offenses and accusations a student can find themselves facing include academic misconduct, non-academic misconduct (e.g., behavioral misconduct), and sexual misconduct. In some cases, students can also face disciplinary measures when schools believe that they are failing to progress academically, but more so in a moment. In this resource, we'll provide the high-level information you need to know to support your child at this time. The Lento Law Firm is ready to help you take any actions needed to ensure your student has a fair chance to succeed in their Georgia high school.

Academic Integrity and Misconduct in Georgia Schools

Regardless of the specific school in Georgia your student attends, whether it's Savannah Arts Academy in Savannah or Walton High School in the Cobb County School District, you'll likely find that your school has instituted extremely explicit policies to prevent instances of academic misconduct.

Typically, schools in Georgia include the following actions under their academic misconduct policies:

• Cheating, or the use of assistance or unauthorized materials to complete assignments (or especially exams)
• Plagiarism, or the act of presenting someone else's work (ranging from words to ideas) as your own
• Misrepresentation, or the act of submitting a source under false pretenses

This isn't an exhaustive list; some schools might add unauthorized collaboration, forgery, and fabrication of data.

The entity at your school primarily responsible for identifying and addressing academic misconduct will likely be your student's teacher. For the most part, this is a good thing; your student's teacher is the person most familiar with their work and the one in the best position to notice anything odd with your student's work.

This can become a problem when you don't exactly agree with your teacher's assessment of your student's work. Your student's teacher wields a hefty amount of authority in both determining what constitutes academic misconduct and selecting initial sanctions. And, if your student's case does escalate to particularly severe sanctions (as may be the case with repeated or serious alleged misconduct), your student's teacher may be a vital part of the committee determining the discipline your child will have to undergo. In some cases, there might not even be a formal investigation or hearing; rather, your student may be in a situation where they're expected to accept disciplinary consequences without thinking too hard about them.

Here's the thing: Even seemingly small disciplinary repercussions can have a huge impact on your student's academic potential and future opportunities.

The Impact of High School Discipline on Your Child's Potential

While something like a temporary suspension or even a more minor punishment, like a detention or written warning, may not seem like something to get upset over—it can be.

Any notation of academic, behavioral, or sexual misconduct that ends up on your student's permanent record can impact their future. For one thing, when your student applies to the college of their dreams, the relevant admissions committee will do their due diligence and uncover your student's disciplinary past. Even small punishments could be the difference between your child getting admitted to their dream college…or not.

And, even if admissions committees don't request disciplinary records or your child's suspension doesn't get noted on any type of document, there's still reason to worry. When your student undergoes exclusionary discipline, like a suspension or even a dismissal, that shows up on your student's transcript as a gap in your student's school attendance dates. Admissions counselors are trained to look for these types of discrepancies.

Not worried about your child's collegiate chances? Disciplinary repercussions can still isolate your child from their peers, put them weeks behind on school assignments, harm their mental health, and even make teachers more likely to recommend discipline in the future. Accepting any type of punitive measure now, no matter how inconsequential it might seem, is not a strategic move.

If your child is facing academic misconduct accusations from their Georgia school, it's time to retain the premier services of the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team. This isn't an overreaction; it's the best step you can take to make sure your child's future is as protected as it can possibly be.

The Ramifications of Behavioral or Non-Academic Disciplinary Misconduct

Academic issues aren't the only type of problem your school might identify and try to discipline.

When non-academic misconduct involves damage to property, injury to others, or disrupts ordinary school procedures, your school may file an allegation against your child and pursue disciplinary consequences. The types of actions that merit attention from your school will vary from institution to institution. Checking your school's code of conduct is the best way to make sure you have the specific information you need to proceed.

There are some types of behavioral misconduct that are universally applicable. These include:

• Violence. While the specific definition of violence that your school operates with may vary slightly, most schools do not condone any form of bullying, assault, battery, or other types of physical harm between students or members of the academic community.
• Substance abuse. In Georgia high schools, the sale, possession, distribution, and use of alcohol, drugs, and controlled substances is prohibited.
• Weapons use. In Georgia high schools, it is prohibited for students and members of the academic community to carry knives, box cutters, tasers, stun guns, and guns, unless the person is specifically authorized to carry these weapons by a recognized authority.

These are some of the more severe types of behavioral misconduct that many schools name, but most schools also have a more general category of lesser-seeming types of misconduct that could still leave your child open for punishment. Actions that fall in this category could include dress code infractions, public displays of affection, or inappropriate use of cell phones or other personal tech while on school property.

Sexual Misconduct and Disciplinary Ramifications in Georgia High Schools

One of the most serious types of allegations a high school student in Georgia can face is likely one of sexual misconduct. Every school and school district in the nation is under a legal requirement to have a disciplinary policy that addresses sexual violence or harassment under Title IX.

Under Title IX, all public schools or schools that receive federal funding must investigate credible complaints of sexual misconduct. This means that if your student is the subject of an allegation of sexual misconduct, your school must act to figure out what happened. This can leave your student vulnerable to overly strict punishments, especially if your student is assumed to be guilty. Whether this is true or not, your student has specific rights in this case. Your student has the right, for example, to due process. They have the right to defend themselves, too.

Unfortunately, in matters of sexual misconduct involving high school students, figuring out what happened can get extremely charged, extremely quickly. All parties involved will be scared, confused, and defensive. There may also be a miscommunication or mistake at the heart of the matter, which means that particularly harsh punishment for the alleged offender could be unwarranted.

When your Georgia high schooler is facing accusations of sexual misconduct, you should never try to handle them alone. Aside from the normal types of consequences that can be associated with high school misconduct that we've discussed above, being connected with sexual misconduct, in particular, can be damning for a high school student. You will need to proceed strategically, approach negotiations with deftness, and be ready to pursue aggressive legal action when necessary to protect your student's reputation and future.

What About Academic Progression Issues for Georgia Students?

Academic progression, or lack thereof, is not always considered misconduct or a disciplinary matter.

However, there are occasions where Georgia high school students who may not be performing as expected could risk unexpected consequences. Your school has certain ideas about how quickly your student will move through material, or how high your student's grades should be. While you might expect that underperformance on your child's part would be met with higher levels of support from your school, often, your student could just get suspended, or even held back a grade.

That may not seem fair. It isn't. But it does happen, and students are left to figure out how to manage both their academics and the fallout of discipline on top of anything else they may be experiencing.

That last factor is critical. In many cases, students who are “failing to progress” in school have legitimate reasons for their performance issues. For example, they might be going through a difficult time at home. They might also have received less-than-optimal support at school prior to their failure to progress—or even be in a situation where their educational experience has been rife with discrimination or racial bias that put them at a disadvantage.

In still further situations, students who have been labeled as “failing to progress” aren't actually failing to progress. Administrators and teachers misread or misenter data into databases all the time, which can result in the mislabeling of a child as academically struggling when that isn't really happening.

If your school is alleging that your child isn't moving through their coursework as expected and is threatening consequences instead of offering to provide support, you need to retain the premier services of the Lento Law Firm at once. Our team can help you make sure that:

• Your child is treated fairly in the classroom
• Your child's teacher employs educational strategies that are geared to their learning style
• Your child is evaluated on fair terms
• Your child's school understands how outside forces can impact classroom learning
• Biased and unfair comments about your child's ability don't appear in their academic record
• Your child is given absolutely every opportunity to succeed

Whether your child faces allegations of behavioral, sexual, academic, or failure to progress actions, the Lento Law Firm can help you and your family work to avoid unfair and overly devastating sanctions.

What Type of Sanctions do Georgia High School Students Risk?

When high schools in Georgia allege that students are involved in problematic behavior, those students risk unwanted consequences—often, whether the allegations against them are true or false.

Your school will likely have some sort of matrix in its code of conduct that matches potential consequences with alleged behavior. Very likely, there will be some type of escalation of severity. If your student has been accused of a first-time offense of cheating on a single assignment, their consequence could be very different from repeated allegations associated with sexual misconduct.

The range of consequences that your student might face include:

• Detention
• Extra Assignments
• Loss of Privileges
• Restitution
• Suspension
• Expulsion

Again, this is an incomplete list. Depending on the alleged infraction, your school could decide to recommend mandatory counseling or other more tailored remedial follow-ups.

It's important to realize that the types of punishments that remove your child from the classroom and from their peers, like suspensions and expulsions, may impact your child's right to a free and appropriate public education. All children in the United States have this right, and that doesn't go away even if your student is subject to allegations of misbehavior. However, this doesn't mean that your school can't expel you—if it does, the state of Georgia will provide alternative options, such as recommendations for alternative in-person or online programs. This does not mean that the alternative options will be good ones.

And, of course, this doesn't even touch on the psychological and emotional damage that can come with a long-term suspension or expulsion. Before you accept any type of punishment, particularly any type of exclusionary sanction, contact the Lento Law Firm. We'll help you determine if your school is treating your student fairly and help you uncover and pursue your best possible options.

How Georgia Parents Can Protect Their High School Students

As the saying goes—hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Your child's school may not mistreat your child. It may work with you to support your child's future and help your child work through any obstacles that you come across.

And, of course, it may not. That's something you really don't want to leave up to chance. If you find yourself in an adversarial position with your school, that's scary. Your school has more experience litigating difficult disciplinary matters than you do. In fact, your school will actually have a legal team ready to help ensure your school is protected, no matter what.

It's time to level the playing field. By retaining the premier Student Defense Team, you'll feel empowered to:

• Demand a hearing and an investigation
• Defend your student as strategically as possible
• Negotiate deftly with your school's legal counsel
• Know what your school's code of conduct has to say and whether your school is following its own rules
• Understand your legal options
• Protect your child and their future!

What Will the Disciplinary Experience Be Like?

After you've received word that your student might be facing disciplinary action, you may want to consider the following steps:

1. First of all, the moment you realize an issue might be forthcoming—even before you get the official notification from your school—retain the premier services of the Lento Law Firm. The earlier you can start acting to protect your child, the better.
2. Talk to your child to figure out what happened. Get their version of events, and take notes. Ask your child if there's anything else happening at school that could be influencing these events.
3. Once you get a more formal update from your school about what's happening, discuss the issue with your child's teacher. Then, if you need to escalate matters, speak with school administrators, such as school counselors or even principals. You can seek further escalation, as necessary, by taking the matter to your school district's administration or even the local school board.
4. The Lento Law Firm can help you determine if escalation is needed after that point if the matter is not yet resolved. In some cases, you may be able to appeal to the Georgia Board of Education. In other cases, revisiting a strategy of deft re-negotiation may be a more tenable solution. Our team will be pleased to help you understand and navigate your options until your case is resolved.

Just remember that you always have a right to ask questions and ask for a hearing so that you can ensure you have a chance to tell your student's side of the story. The Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team will be by your side to defend your student, talk to school representatives, help you gather evidence, and take other actions as needed to prioritize your student's ideal outcome.

What Can an Attorney Do for You and Your Georgia High School Student?

When it comes down to it, what you're looking for is a strong way to protect your family, your child, their reputation, and their future. It'd be nice if you didn't have to worry about this type of thing, but that's the situation you've found yourself in—and your path forward will not be easy.

Public schools may profess to be student-focused, student-first organizations, but the fact is that they are institutions that have a vested interest in their own reputation. Schools may or may not also remember that they have to follow their own rules. If you're up against your school, you cannot assume that they will have your child's best interests as a priority, even if you feel that you've been able to trust your school up to this point.

Moving forward in this situation can be extremely complex. For one thing, school teachers and administrators may not go by the book when it comes to disciplining your child. Instead, they may take an informal route toward justice, which means that you may need to participate in a series of informal negotiations in order to help your child thrive. This can be very confusing. It can be hard to know where you stand.

The Lento Law Firm is ready to help. After you retain our services, we can assist by:

• Being there to negotiate on your behalf even during informal teacher conversations to ensure that nothing outsized happens even during a seemingly innocent discussion. We can remind teachers and administrators of their responsibility toward your child, and help them see what your child has allegedly done in the best possible light.
• Making sure that no one oversteps any boundaries during investigations, and speaking on your behalf during any applicable investigative meetings. We can also help ensure that investigators fully consider all of the evidence, including evidence that exonerates your child, and that if the considered evidence does not objectively indicate that your child could be responsible for rule violations, their case is dismissed.
• If necessary, we can also work with you to present a full defense at a formal hearing in front of representatives from your school, school board, and school district. These can be extremely stressful affairs. The Student Defense Team at the Lento Law Firm can work with you to compile the most persuasive argument possible to bolster your child's chance of success, organize the evidence you have, and develop questions for any potential witness examinations.

After the Lento Law Firm has assisted through all negotiations and relevant opportunities for defense, we can also help you determine your next best steps—whether you need to file an appeal, talk to someone new, or consider an escalation to help your child reach their best possible outcome.

What Can the Lento Law Firm Specifically Do for You?

There's one question we haven't yet answered.

Why do you need the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team, specifically? Couldn't any lawyer near you in Georgia tackle these tasks for you and make your student's likelihood of success far greater?

In a word—no. Working with schools to sort out disputes within school regulatory systems is very different from bringing traditional legal action against a client. It requires extremely specific experience and the nuanced ability to work with both student and school to achieve a favorable outcome. Most law firms don't have the unique experience you need to make a difference in your child's case. You need a law firm that can…

• Knowledgeably discuss things like whether a student's tone of voice was aggressive
• Whether a teacher expressed instructions clearly
• Interpret a school's policy on public displays of affection for high schoolers
• Understand when a student has and hasn't violated a reasonably-worded dress code
• Bring substantive experience with laws related to education to the table—laws like Title IX, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the First Amendment
• Work outside a courtroom. Often, school disciplinary negotiations happen outside Georgia's courthouses and, instead, occur in classrooms and administrative offices. You'll need a legal team ready to go where it's needed.

That team is the Student Defense Team at the Lento Law Firm. We're ready to tackle not only allegations of academic and behavioral misconduct, but also situations in which you feel your student with disabilities isn't being supported well enough, or even assist as your student grows from high school into college and graduate school.

Retain the Lento Law Firm Today to Support Your Georgia High Schooler

At the Lento Law Firm, we understand that, sometimes, schools and school districts don't follow their own rules when adjudicating disciplinary issues. And if your student is currently facing disciplinary procedures at your school, that can be very scary. You need a way to ensure that your student's future, the one you and your student have worked hard for for years, isn't in jeopardy!

That's where the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team comes in. We're dedicated to making sure that all students receive the fair treatment they deserve—and that your student is able to continue on with their best possible education. We understand how the Georgia educational system works, and we're ready to work within your unique school's guidelines and regulations to help your student protect themselves. If you and your family are ready to fight disciplinary action, the Lento Law Firm is ready to assist. Contact us today by calling 888.535.3686 or fill out our form to tell us more about your case.