Maine is a great state in which to raise a family and send your children through high school. The stability and friendliness of the state's population, the generally good quality of the state's public schools, and the state's gorgeous natural environment can all contribute to a strong high school experience for your student. However, Maine high school students, like students in other states, can face academic progress issues and disciplinary charges for misconduct. If your student faces high school discipline in Portland, South Portland, Lewiston, Bangor, Auburn, Sanford, Buxton, South Paris, Windham, North Berwick, Waterboro, Scarborough, Oakland, or any other Maine location, retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team for your student's best defense. Call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form to get the help of our skilled and experienced attorneys. Don't leave your Maine high school student's disciplinary outcome to chance.
Your Maine High School Student's Future
Your student's future is worth defending. You remember how important high school was to your next step in education, jobs, careers, relationships, and family. Your student's Maine high school experience is no less important as a foundation for all that your student hopes to achieve. You doubtless can see the ambitions that your student holds, whether for a college, university, and graduate or professional education or for a skilled trade or other special vocation requiring a license or certification. Your student may even want to enter your own alma mater or pursue your own profession or vocation. Your student also has ambitions for friendships, perhaps marriage and children, and pursuit of charitable, recreational, and other community, leadership, and volunteer opportunities. All of those ambitions and expectations can depend on a strong high school experience, graduating with a clear school record, and graduating from the traditional high school on time with peers. When your Maine high school student faces disciplinary charges, you need to see the big picture, especially when your student may not have the maturity and foresight to do so. Let us help you protect your student's future against academic progress issues or misconduct charges.
Maine High School Parent Commitments
Your student isn't the only one with ambitions and expectations. You, too, have every right and reason to expect your Maine high school student to have a promising future filled with opportunities. You may well see things for your student that your student cannot yet see. You have the experience and foresight to know what your student may well be able to do and to achieve to make a difference in your student's life. Accept that you have an important role in your student's academic progress issues or misconduct charges. Your student may appear to you to be mature and capable of handling those school issues. However, psychologists and others who work with youths and young adults know that while they may appear mature, they are often not planning, predicting, and projecting in the way that older adults regularly do. That's your role as a parent of a Maine high school student. Let us help you fulfill your role.
Maine High School Discipline Impacts
So, you've now recognized what your student has at stake and what your role is in helping your student preserve those opportunities. The next thing to consider is how badly Maine high school discipline can affect your student's opportunities. Maine high school discipline can have immediate impacts on your student's schooling and development. Your student could lose grades and academic credit, have to repeat coursework and courses and delay your student's advancement. Your student could also lose the privilege to participate in athletic programs, clubs, and school recreational and social activities that are essential to your student's motivation and well-being. If the school determines to suspend your student, your student may have to study at home or enroll in a Maine alternative high school. Boot camp or reform school outcomes are generally much poorer than outcomes in traditional high school programs due in part to the lack of structure, peer and other social support, and expectations. Beware the serious potential adverse impacts of school discipline.
Whether or not your Maine high school student suffers any of the above immediate and shorter-term impacts of academic progress issues or misconduct charges, your student may suffer longer-term impacts. Of course, a school suspension or dismissal may mean that your student does not graduate and cannot qualify for college, university, or vocational programs. Your student may be unable to qualify for preferred programs even if your student does graduate from high school but does so with a record of discipline. Discipline can also cause your student's teachers, advisors, and mentors, both in and outside of the school, to withdraw, leaving your student without the guidance, recommendations, and references that can make a huge difference in a young adult's life. Beware the impacts. Let us help minimize them with a strong and effective defense.
Maine's High School Discipline System
Maine Statutes Section Title 20-A, Section 3271 requires that your high school student attend school to at least age seventeen. Maine Statutes Title 20-A, Section 3272 holds you responsible for keeping your student in school through the mandated age while avoiding truancy. Maine's high schools, though, are highly regulated environments. Maine Statutes Title 20-A, Section 1001 requires your student's district school board to adopt a student code of conduct closely regulating your student's behavior while in school or when attending school activities. That law and other Maine school laws require your student's high school to expel or otherwise discipline your student for a wide range of misconduct, including such things as bringing a gun into the school, substance use, alcohol use, bullying, and other endangering or disruptive conduct, or conduct that is immoral or threatens student health and safety. Violating these laws, rules, codes, and policies can compel school officials to discipline and remove your student. Let us help your student face and defend any such charges.
The Maine State Board and Department of Education
Maine's State Board of Education governs the state's public elementary and secondary school system with the support of the Maine Department of Education. The Department of Education is the primary state agency responsible for ensuring the academic integrity of the state's high school programs and the safety, health, and welfare of students in those programs. The Department of Education, for instance, prescribes the behavioral standards that your student's school district must include in its student code of conduct. Those standards must:
- define student responsibilities and unacceptable student behavior;
- prescribe consequences for student code violations;
- remove violent, threatening, and disruptive students;
- involve law enforcement when a student is violent;
- address bullying, harassment, and intimidation;
- describe procedures relating to those violations; and
- protect students with disabilities when facing alleged violations.
The Maine Department of Education also publishes the academic content standards that your student must meet to graduate from high school. While your dealings over your student's academic progress issues or misconduct charges may well be with local school officials, we can help you invoke appropriate state-level rules, regulations, resources, and procedures for your student's best disciplinary outcome.
Maine Local School District Authority
As indicated above, Maine Statutes Title 20-A, Section 1001 requires your student's local school district board to adopt a student code of conduct that applies to your student's behavior. We can help you locate, interpret, and apply that student code of conduct under the peculiar facts and circumstances of your student's own individual case. The district may also define the procedures that we can invoke to ensure that your student has a fair hearing for the best possible outcome. You and your student are likely to deal with district officials, especially if your student's matter proceeds to a formal hearing or appeal. We can help you invoke the district's protective procedures wherever your student attends, including in any of the following larger Maine school districts: the Portland Public Schools, Lewiston Public Schools, Bangor Public Schools, Regional School Unit No. 06 (MSAD 06), Regional School Unit No. 17 (MSAD 17), Auburn Public Schools, Sanford Public Schools, Regional School Unit No. 14 (MSAD 14), South Portland Public Schools, Regional School Unit No. 57 (MSAD 57), Scarborough Public Schools, and Regional School Unit No. 60 (MSAD 60).
Maine Local School District Student Codes of Conduct
The student code of conduct applying to your student's matter will depend on your student's specific Maine school district. All student codes must comply with Maine Statutes Title 20-A, Section 1001, including its provisions on firearms, bullying, and disruption. However, subject to those state-wide requirements, local student codes of conduct can vary pretty substantially. Your student's high school may have a code like one or another of the following codes in place at some of the state's larger high schools:
- the Portland High School Student Handbook includes a very long list of behaviors that the school prohibits and will punish with disciplinary sanctions;
- the Lewiston High School Mission Statement and Handbook likewise includes a long list of prohibited behaviors, beginning with a statement of expectations and followed by an itemization and definition of various violations and
- the Bangor High School & Middle School Handbook also contains a long list of prohibited behaviors and the punishments the school may impose for violations.
Let us help you obtain your student's code of conduct, interpret its provisions, and investigate, prepare, and present a defense of your student's charges.
Maine High School Academic Misconduct
Academic misconduct is the first form of misbehavior that Maine student conduct codes frequently address. Academic misconduct involves students attempting to gain some undue advantage in their academic grades or other academic performance, violating academic rules, customs, or conventions. In other words, cheating. Because high school students are still learning those academic norms, high school teachers and principals may hesitate to punish cheating with disciplinary sanctions like suspension or expulsion or loss of credit, honors, and privileges. They may instead treat cheating as warranting remedial measures like additional coursework and additional training in academic rules. But if your student flagrantly repeats academic violations when knowing better, involves other students in those violations, or reveals confidential exam materials ruining their substantial value, Maine high school officials are more likely to impose discipline up to suspension or expulsion. Take academic misconduct charges seriously and get our help.
Definitions of Maine High School Academic Misconduct
Maine high school student codes of conduct define academic misconduct in different ways. The Portland High School Handbook, for instance, gathers academic violations under the heading Academic Honesty, names only plagiarism and cheating without going into details, but mentions accessing technology inappropriately. The Lewiston High School Handbook, by contrast, gathers academic violations under the heading Cheating, demands academic honesty, and then lists nearly a dozen cheating examples, including copying or sharing assignments, sneaking formulas or other information into an exam, using electronic devices to reveal test answers, submitting another's work as one's own, or violating any academic rule the teacher imposes. Your student may thus face charges based on violating rules or restrictions in the student code of conduct itself or in teacher syllabi, written or oral assignments, or exam instructions.
Punishing Maine High School Academic Misconduct
As indicated briefly above, Maine high school teachers and principals may give some students a relative pass on the first instances of cheating, especially when the student did not understand the instructions or may not have appreciated the necessity to follow them. The level of sanction that your student's Maine high school imposes for a cheating violation may be in the student code of conduct. The Portland High School Handbook, for instance, has an elaborate set of graduated sanctions it expects teachers to apply to cheating violations. Those sanctions are lower in ninth grade, higher in tenth grade, and highest in grades eleven and twelve, reflecting the growing expectations that the student will understand and conform to academic rules and conventions. Initial violations may warrant only repeating the work, suffering the loss of credit for the work, and facing a conference with parents and school officials.
But even when the student code of conduct encourages or requires teachers to give the offending student a chance to repeat the work, the codes generally reserve to the school principal the right to impose greater sanctions in certain cases, such as repeat or flagrant offenses. The Lewiston High School Handbook, for instance, authorizes progressive sanctions of a grade reduction: zero for the assignment with no makeup, a failing grade for the course quarter, and then a failing grade for the course. The Bangor High School & Middle School Handbook simply warns that cheating violations “could result in suspension or expulsion.” Watch out for academic misconduct charges. They could result in severe sanctions crippling your student's education.
Maine High School Academic Misconduct Defense
Our attorneys know how to address Maine high school academic misconduct charges. Depending on the circumstances, our approach may be to challenge the allegations that your student cheated at all, present a case in mitigation of any cheating in which your student was involved, propose remedial measures like training in academic rules regarding plagiarism, or, with your approval, offer a compromise in which your student performs extra academic work helpful to your student's development. The goal in all cases is to avoid disciplinary sanctions that may interfere with your student's academic progress and leave a record of wrongs that could affect your student's future.
Maine High School Behavioral Misconduct
Some high school wrongs do not involve academics directly but instead threaten or affect the safety, health, education, or morals of other students or otherwise disrupt the orderly operation of the school. Behavioral misconduct may, for instance, involve fighting, bullying, intimidation, or harassment of students. Behavioral misconduct may alternatively involve insubordination and disrespect toward teachers, acting out in the classroom or other educational environments, and similar disruption of teaching. Behavioral misconduct may alternatively involve possession of weapons, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, or gang activities. Property theft, destruction, or vandalism is another category of behavioral misconduct.
Punishments for Maine High School Behavioral Misconduct
Maine high schools may punish behavioral misconduct more seriously than a first instance of academic cheating. School officials may especially pursue suspension or expulsion when behavioral misconduct harms or threatens to harm another student. Maine Statutes Title 20-A, Section 6554, for instance, requires high school officials to address instances of bullying with “a series of graduated consequences that include alternative discipline.” Alternative discipline means banishment to boot camp or reform school. The statute gives a broad definition to bullying, reaching any form of conduct that interferes with another student's peaceful enjoyment of instruction. The Bangor High School & Middle School Handbook, for instance, implements the statutory requirement with detailed rules and procedures for bullying charges that mention only expulsion as the potential sanction. Your student could face suspension, expulsion, and transfer to an alternative high school if found to have engaged in behavioral misconduct.
Maine High School Behavioral Discipline Impacts
The potential impacts of discipline for behavioral misconduct bear special mention. Because behavioral misconduct typically implicates the character of the charged student for endangering or disruptive behavior, relatively minor wrongs may have relatively major impacts on your student's opportunities. The high school may banish your student from the campus, school events, or both, leaving your student to study at home or in an alternative disciplinary program where the motivation and results may be poor. A record of behavioral discipline could affect college or university admission, admission to vocational programs, and your student's ability to gain a job or other training.
Maine High School Behavioral Misconduct Defense
Don't let these staggering impacts befall your Maine high school student. Instead, get our skilled and experienced help. Our attorneys may be able to show that the complaining witnesses misidentified your student as someone who was not involved in the alleged wrongs. Alternatively, we may be able to show mitigating circumstances such as bullying against your student or an unaccommodated disability causing your student to act out. Your student may alternatively have succumbed to peer pressure as a marginal participant rather than a ringleader and deliberate wrongdoer. Be assured that your student's Maine high school will have a procedure that we can invoke to present your student's best defense. Maine Statutes Title 20-A, Section 6554 on bullying, constitutional due process, and other rules and regulations generally require the school to offer protective procedures before long-term suspension or school removal. We know how to invoke those procedures for their best effect.
Maine High School Sexual Misconduct Charges
Maine high schools, like high schools in other states, have the obligation under federal Title IX laws and regulations to protect students against sexual harassment. Your student's high school district could lose its federal funding and face civil liability if it does not carry out that federal mandate. The Portland High School Handbook, for instance, expressly refers to its Title IX obligations when prohibiting “sexual insults, name-calling, off-color jokes, intimidation by words or actions, offensive touching, pressure for sexual activity, unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and gestures and comments of a sexual nature....” Although some high school misbehavior of this kind may amount to little more than horseplay and hijinks, Maine high school officials may construe that misbehavior as an especially serious wrong when involving a sexual element. Your student needs our skilled and experienced defense if facing sexual harassment charges.
Punishment of Maine High School Sexual Misconduct
Maine high school officials have both the incentive and authority to punish sexual harassment most severely. Title IX regulations require the school's Title IX coordinator to remove the offending student from the campus if necessary to ensure other students' safety and freedom from harassment. Campus bans and no-contact orders with other students are common protective measures in more serious cases and may even be the presumptive penalty. The Portland High School Handbook, for one example, expressly lists suspension and expulsion as appropriate penalties. Don't ignore or minimize sexual harassment charges. Doing so runs the risk of your student losing the ability to continue in the traditional high school program.
Maine High School Sexual Misconduct Discipline Impacts
Once again, the potential impact of Maine high school sexual misconduct discipline bears special mention. Of all the forms of high school misconduct, a record of sexual harassment misconduct may most adversely affect your student's future. Sexual harassment can carry an implication of both physical endangerment and corrupt character. Colleges, universities, vocational programs, licensing boards, certification organizations, and employers may all use a sexual harassment record to deny your student participation. Sexual harassment findings can also cut off peer, teacher, administrator, and mentor relationships, leaving your student isolated and without motivation, guidance, and other support.
Maine High School Sexual Misconduct Defense
In large part because of the seriousness of sexual harassment misconduct charges, Title IX regulations mandate elaborate procedures that our attorneys can invoke to ensure that decision-makers hear your student's side of the matter and reach a fair decision on the charges. Those protections include our ability to obtain a specification of the charges, communicate with the investigator, present your student's exonerating and mitigating evidence, see the investigator's report, and challenge the allegations in a formal hearing if necessary. If your student has already suffered an adverse hearing result, we may be able to appeal the findings to the district or state level for a fresh review and correction of erroneous findings. If your student has already lost all appeals, we may be able to negotiate alternative remedial relief with the district's general counsel's office or with outside retained counsel. Don't give up or give in to sexual harassment charges. Let us help.
Maine High School Academic Progress Issues
Academic progress issues differ from the above misconduct concerns in that academic progress generally involves problems completing the schoolwork, not misbehavior violating academic and behavioral rules. The Maine Department of Education's academic content standards generally require that teachers hold their students accountable for meeting those standards. If your student does not do so and cannot show a disability or other reasonable excuse, your student could face loss of academic credit, repeating courses or grades, and even a failure to graduate. In the worst case, school officials may construe your student's academic failure as a behavioral issue involving insubordination, disrespect, and failure to comply with rules and instructions, resulting in disciplinary charges. Chronic tardiness and absences may contribute to those charges. Maine high schools, like high schools elsewhere, also have incentives to remove struggling students, both to reduce the effort and expense necessary for instruction and to keep the school's academic profile and reputation up. Beware of academic progress issues. Your student may not get the help your student needs.
Addressing Maine High School Academic Progress Issues
Our attorneys have additional legal tools to use to protect your student against unsatisfactory academic progress charges. Maine public high schools, like high schools in other states, must comply with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The IDEA law requires that the high school adopt an individualized education plan (IEP) for students who exhibit qualifying disabilities. If your student's academic progress issues are due to a disability, then we can advocate for your student's referral for educational testing and services. If your student already has an IEP, then we can help you advocate for the IEP's enforcement or modification. If your student has an IEP and faces misconduct charges, then we can invoke your student's federal right to a manifestation determination review before the school makes any changes to your student's IEP services and placement. Your student's illness, injury, or other mitigating circumstances may give us other grounds to advocate for relief from academic progress issues. Let us help your student gain the remedial relief your student needs while avoiding punitive sanctions.
Maine High School Disciplinary Sanction Defense
Even if your student committed some form of wrong or engaged in misbehavior, as the high school alleges, we may be able to minimize or eliminate any punitive sanction that would leave a crippling record of misconduct. Often, the question isn't whether the student violated a rule or failed to progress academically. The question may instead be whether your student deserves a sanction or instead deserves remedial relief. Our attorneys know the remedial measures that Maine high school officials may agree to adopt. Those measures may include additional education or training, peer or mentor support, school service, and other alterations in the program that nonetheless keep your student in school and advancing with grade and age peers.
Our attorneys have additional tools when it comes to making a case to mitigate sanctions. Maine Statutes Title 20-A, Section 1001, Part 15-A, for instance, requires that the district's student code of conduct focus on “positive and restorative interventions that are consistent with evidence-based practices rather than set punishments for specific behavior and avoid so-called zero-tolerance practices,” except in certain cases such as firearm possession. The Maine Department of Education acknowledges that your student's district-wide disciplinary policy must focus on positive and restorative interventions and expectations while allowing administrators to adjust discipline to the circumstances. Maine Administrative Code Section 05-071-33.5, for another example, prohibits seclusion except under special circumstances. We can invoke these and other provisions to advocate for relief from harsh and punitive sanctions.
Premier Maine High School Student Defense
The Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team is available in Portland, South Portland, Lewiston, Bangor, Auburn, Sanford, Buxton, South Paris, Windham, North Berwick, Waterboro, Scarborough, Oakland, and other Maine locations to defend your student against Maine high school misconduct charges and academic progress issues. We have helped hundreds of students in Maine and across the nation achieve their best possible outcomes for all kinds of school issues. Call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form now for the skilled and experienced attorneys you need for your Maine high school student's defense.
