Does your Nevada teen stand accused of high school academic misconduct? Charges of this nature can seem surreal at times, but they are always serious. While you certainly didn't expect to encounter anything like this when you sent your child to a Nevada high school, it's important to know that this happens. More importantly, these types of actions have distinct consequences. Right now, it's imperative that you take action to protect your child. Otherwise, their past infractions could end up unduly dictating their future.
Are you wondering what punishments your child faces? What actions they may have allegedly taken to deserve these allegations? You may be confused about your steps forward, or your school's specific policies surrounding academic misconduct.
You don't have to puzzle through all of this alone. With the help of an empathetic and experienced student defense advisor, you can protect your child's rights and ensure they have the future you've worked hard to give them. Hiring a legal team that you trust is the most important thing you can do to help your child as you fight their academic misconduct charges.
Academic Misconduct and Your NV High School
Academic misconduct is a vague term. You might experience frustration, especially if your school is being confusing when describing your child's misdeeds. Your first recourse is your school's code of conduct. This is a document - one you can likely find on your school's website - that describes the relationship your child has with their school. Your NV high school’s code of conduct or student handbook will detail all of the specific actions that your school finds punishable as academic misconduct.
This document will also contain lots of information about your school's due process. Both the definitions of misconduct and the laid-out disciplinary procedures are extremely important. This information can help you and your legal team hold your school accountable for their own fair treatment of your child.
While the specific definition of academic misconduct may vary from school to school, most academic institutions frown upon the following actions:
- Plagiarism: There are many different types of plagiarism, including direct plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and accidental plagiarism. Any time that your student takes the work of another and represents it as their own without proper citation, your student plagiarizes. This extends to using previous work for current assignments without permission. Many schools punish plagiarism even if it's accidental.
- Unauthorized collaboration: Working with another student or students on an assignment or exam without express authorization can lead to charges of this nature. Students sometimes find themselves falsely accused of unauthorized collaboration or receiving unauthorized assistance, which is a similar charge, because they merely studied together and their answers provided were similar.
- Classroom disruption: If your student's teacher catches your student performing any illicit in-class activity that interrupts their own education or that of another, that teacher could accuse your student of classroom disruptions. This term can cover a range of actions, from cell phone use to impertinent questions, shouting, and more.
- Abuse of school materials: Your school may consider theft of materials or destruction of school resources punishable as academic misconduct.
- Cheating: Since it so directly conflicts with a school's central mission of fairly educating your child, your Nevada high school will likely treat instances of cheating quite harshly. This label can apply to times where your child cheats or times where your child helps another cheat.
As there are so many actions that schools may consider punishable, it's vital to have a legal advisor that knows how to read the fine print in your school's code of conduct and act accordingly.
Due Process at Your Nevada High School: What to Expect
The specific disciplinary process that you and your child can expect at your Nevada high school will likely depend on the severity of their alleged infraction. For example, in many school districts, if your student's misconduct was relatively mild, a teacher might mete out a low-impact punishment on the spot. Generally, schools reserve this response for less severe types of academic misconduct, such as light classroom disruption.
If your school charges your student with a more serious type of misconduct, such as repeated cheating or direct plagiarism, your student may face a series of meetings with school staff or a hearing before the school board. Your student's code of conduct will contain the punishments that your school will mete out at the end of this process. Common punishments include suspension, probation, and even expulsion in particularly serious cases.
While it can be tempting to dismiss your child's academic misconduct case, especially if the administered punishment is not overly severe, it's important to remember that the worst consequences may begin years after the event. When future schools, scholarship committees, and even employers see that your student has academic misconduct on their permanent record, they may be reticent to offer your child the awards or opportunities that they would otherwise.
Unfortunately, this means that your child's future is absolutely at stake when they stand accused of academic misconduct.
You can work to establish their innocence and ensure that they're able to enjoy their future, but only if you start now. Hire a clever, capable legal advisor to represent your child through a tough academic misconduct case.
When You Need a Smart, Savvy Student Defense Advisor, Call Joseph D. Lento
If this is your student's first experience with your school's disciplinary system, it can be very easy to get overwhelmed quickly. You'll be dealing with a lot of paperwork and personnel that you've never seen before. Every document and meeting will feel important. Your student will be afraid and confused.
In the midst of all of this difficulty, don't make things harder on yourself by going it alone.
At the Lento Law Firm, we have years of experience analyzing school codes of conduct, strategizing with students who deserve a second chance, and aggressively defending nationwide students and their families. Joseph D. Lento will stand by your side through your child's Nevada high school academic misconduct investigation, whether your school decides to adjudicate your child's case with a formal hearing or informal sanctioning process.
When you're looking for a way to give your child their best chance of a successful outcome, choose a law firm that will work hard for you. For academic misconduct defense in Nevada, choose Joseph D. Lento. Contact the Lento Law Firm online or call 888-535-3686 today.
Nevada high schools where Joseph D. Lento can help as your child's student's academic misconduct advisor during investigations, hearings and appeals include, but are not limited to, the following school districts:
C
- Carson City School District
- Churchill County School District
- Clark County School District
D
- Davidson Academy School District
- Douglas County School District
E
- Elko County School District
- Esmeralda County School District
- Eureka County School District
H
- Humboldt County School District
L
- Lander County School District
- Lincoln County School District
- Lyon County School District
M
- Mineral County School District
N
- Nye County School District
P
- Pershing County School District
S
- State Sponsored Charter Schools
- Storey County School District
W
- Washoe County School District
- White Pine County School District
It is critical to make certain academic misconduct charges at your child's Nevada high school are handled properly and that the accused student's interests and rights are protected from as early as possible during the investigative and disciplinary process. One reason, among many, is because even at high schools where a finding of responsibility for academic misconduct is made at a hearing, the investigation will set the stage for what the hearing panel is provided prior to a hearing (and what the hearing panel will in large part rely on at a hearing), and at high schools where the finding of responsibility is made solely through the investigative process, what takes place during the investigation itself will determine whether the accused student is found responsible or not responsible for academic misconduct.
Unfortunately, some parents make the mistake of not taking the necessary precautions as soon as possible when their child is accused of academic misconduct. Some people will mistakenly believe that if they "just explain what happened," their school will be fair and impartial and will arrive at the truth. In a perfect world this may be the case, but in a perfect world, being called to answer for alleged academic misconduct would not exist.
Fighting passionately for the future of his clients at schools throughout the nation for many years, Joseph D. Lento knows how important it is to mount the strongest defense because he understands that an accused high school student's academic future is on the line. He does not settle for the easiest outcome, and instead prioritizes his clients' needs and well-being. Joseph Lento is a licensed attorney in New Jersey and New York, is admitted as an attorney pro hac vice in state and federal court if needed when representing clients nationwide, and serves as an academic misconduct advisor to high school students facing investigations and disciplinary cases in Nevada and throughout the nation. Make certain your or your student's interests are protected - Contact National High School Academic Misconduct Defense Attorney Joseph D. Lento today at 888-535-3686.
