In April of 2024, the Department of Education approved New Title IX rules, which are scheduled to take effect on August 1, 2024. Our firm is closely monitoring ongoing challenges to these new rules in court, and is working hard to provide you the most up-to-date information. Click here to learn about the current state of Title IX and how we can help if you are facing accusations.
As one of the major Texan cities, San Antonio and its metro area is home to more than 2.5 million people. The students in this substantial population occupy a diverse array of private and public elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and universities. Despite being in such a populous area of Texas, students and their parents may not know where to turn when facing academic, behavioral, or other student issues.
Attorney-advisor Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm offer the help that students deserve. We help students of all ages when facing dismissal, suspension, remediation, and any other issue they want to avoid. Our team will familiarize ourselves with your school's policies, explain your options, and pursue the best possible outcome for you.
You should not wait to hire an attorney-advisor. Your school may make a rash, hasty decision, and it's responsible for having an attorney-advisor protecting your rights as soon as possible.
San Antonio Metropolitan Area - New Braunfels, Pearsall
The population of the San Antonio metro area continues to grow rapidly, putting strain on the schools within its confines. Whether you or your student attend a private or public institution, schools may find it more and more difficult to truly know your student. As a result, schools may not give a student the benefit of the doubt, or even due process, when facing adverse consequences.
Regardless of whether they're in San Antonio, New Braunfels, Pearsall, or another locale, these students are also young people. As young people, they may be more prone than most to mistakes, peer pressure, poor judgment, mood swings, and other shortcomings. These natural, everyday realities can contribute to academic or behavioral issues and should not subject your child to life-changing punishment.
We can help you or your student attending school in:
- San Antonio
- Pearsall
- New Braunfels
- Pleasanton
- Seguin
- Castroville
- Bandera
- Boerne
- Bulverde
- Floresville
- La Vernia
- Helotes
- Leon Valley
- All other communities within and surrounding the San Antonio metro area
The Lento Law Firm understands young people because we represent them as a primary practice area. We have empathy for those we represent, which leads us to seek an outcome that preserves their potential for the future.
We Fight for Students of All Ages in the San Antonio Metro Area
The Lento Law Firm understands that certain parties may scrutinize a student's every action. Parents who hope for their students to enter competitive primary schools and attend a renowned university must help their children maintain the best record possible.
We provide defense services for students of all ages and circumstances, including those who attend:
Colleges and Universities in the San Antonio Metro Area
For many students, university is the final test before you begin your career and pursue full-blown adulthood. University transcripts and behavioral records may influence your short- and long-term earning power, quality of life, and personal satisfaction.
The Lento Law Firm will work to enact a grade change, help you avoid draconian discipline, or assist you in any other way you need us to. We help students attending:
- The University of Texas at San Antonio
- Texas A&M University-San Antonio
- San Antonio College
- Trinity University
- St. Mary's University
- Our Lady of the Lake University
- Northwest Vista College
- St. Philip's College
- Palo Alto College
- University of the Incarnate Word
- Texas Lutheran University
- Baptist University of the Americas
- Texas State University
- Hallmark University
- Northeast Lakeview College
Texas serves as home to many universities and colleges. If you attend another university in Texas that is not on this list, we can help with your student defense issue.
Graduate and Specialty Collegiate Programs
Students who attend graduate school invest even more in themselves and their education than most. Students at specialty programs also put themselves out on a limb, putting their chips in the basket of a single trade or profession. Therefore, any issues that graduate and specialty students have may be magnified.
Attorney-advisor Joseph D. Lento can assist you as a student at:
- All University of Texas - San Antonio graduate programs
- All Texas A&M University-San Antonio graduate programs
- The Art Institute of San Antonio
- Baptist Health System School of Health Professions
- Concorde Career College-San Antonio
- Galen College of Nursing - San Antonio
These are only a few of the specialty and graduate programs in Texas. We extend our services to any university or college student facing potential discipline or other unwanted outcomes.
K-12 Private Schools
Parents who invest in private education or are otherwise able to send their students to a private school have great expectations. Students often have similar expectations of themselves, but even issues that occur early in one's education journey can cast a dark cloud over future goals.
Whether you're the parent of a kindergartner, second grader, middle schooler, or high school senior, the Lento Law Firm will help you pursue a resolution that protects your student. We help families of students attending:
- Keystone School
- Saint Mary's Hall
- TMI Episcopal
- Providence Catholic School
- San Antonio Christian School
- The Atonement Catholic Academy
- The Christian School at Castle Hills
- Geneve School of Boerne
- Trinity Christian Academy
- Antonian College Preparatory High School
- Living Rock Academy
- Lutheran High School of San Antonio
Attorney-advisor Joseph Lento can help your student attending these or any other private school in the San Antonio metro area.
K-12 Public Schools
We fight for students attending public schools across the San Antonio metro area. These students may not receive the personal attention from administrators that they deserve. An attorney-advisor from our team will ensure that your student receives personal, capable representation.
The Lento Law Firm Helps with Both Academic and Non-Academic Student Issues
School presents a gauntlet that tests students in several ways. From the moment they begin adding, subtracting, spelling, and playing in the schoolyard, students in San Antonio are compared with their peers, expected to perform in the classroom, and required to abide by rigid behavioral guidelines.
If a student fails to meet expectations in any of these areas, they can face the consequences. The consequences a student faces depend on the infraction or shortcoming in question but may include:
- Dismissal from school
- Academic or behavioral probation
- Suspension
- Mandatory repetition of a grade
- Relegation to an alternative school
- A failed course, semester, or grade year
- A formal demerit on the student's record
- Other consequences issued by the school
You should not consider any consequence “minor.” A blemish on a student's record may have long-ranging consequences even if they do not face dismissal or suspension.
Because students face various challenges, our firm has prepared itself to handle an array of case types. Whether you or your student have fallen behind academically, stand accused of breaking a school's conduct policy, face a Title IX allegation, or have a pressing issue of any other kind, we can help.
Some problems that we assist students in San Antonio with include:
Academic Progression Issues
Some schools and programs are particularly academically rigorous. High schoolers, undergraduates, and graduate students may have to retake coursework when they fail to progress as expected. For some students, repeating coursework is a welcome alternative to dismissal. For other students, repeating coursework may:
- Compromise their financial aid
- Compromise future entry to university, graduate programs, professional organizations, or jobs
- Be psychologically defeating and contribute to future academic or personal issues
We may help you or your student avoid remediating (repeating) coursework. Through a grade change or another avenue, we may reach a solution that serves the student's best interests.
Our team will obtain your school's policies on academic progression issues. At Texas Lutheran University, students must successfully complete at least 67% of the courses they start. Failure to do so places the student below Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) limits and could trigger consequences like the loss of financial aid or academic probation.
Other circumstances like difficulty in a specific class or course could also trigger harmful repercussions by a school. If you or your student are facing any academic progression problems, we'll work to help you find a way forward.
Academic Misconduct Allegations
Academic misconduct issues can derail the progress that a student has made. Though these issues can occur at any grade level, high school and university students may face steep consequences for allegations of academic wrongdoing.
Primary schools, high schools, and universities generally have detailed policies detailing how they handle allegations of plagiarism, cheating, or other academic misconduct. The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) handles allegations of academic misconduct by allowing faculty to:
- Investigate the student accused of academic dishonesty
- Decide whether formal allegations of wrongdoing should proceed
- Allowing the student to accept fault (and sanctions) or dispute the allegations
If the student does not accept sanctions, UTSA's Student Conduct and Community Standards office must then ensure “Administrative Due Process.” The student may have the opportunity for a hearing, appeal, and other measures for fighting the allegation against them.
Schools of all stripes take academic misconduct extremely seriously. An attorney-advisor can accompany you through interviews, hearings, and other procedures that will determine the outcome of your case.
Behavioral Misconduct Allegations in the San Antonio Metro Area
Schools in San Antonio typically expect their students to:
- Respect their teachers, administrators, and peers
- Avoid fights
- Refrain from possessing drugs or alcohol on campus
- Respect school property
- Refrain from sexual contact with others
- Abide by all other school-specific rules and procedures
Most schools have overarching mantras that reflect behavioral expectations. Students at Keystone School, for example, “are expected to display exemplary conduct and cooperativeness at all times---on campus, in classrooms, at school-sponsored activities, including off-campus activities sponsored by a class, club or school-related organization.”
The consequences of alleged behavioral misconduct may include expulsion. A school should provide students the chance to explain themselves, prove their innocence, or request leniency before facing serious consequences.
The Lento Law Firm will ensure that you or your student get the due process you're entitled to.
Title IX Allegations
Title IX allegations in San Antonio can relate to:
- Sexual harassment
- Sexual violence
- Gender-based discrimination
- Certain other practices that fall under the purview of federal Title IX regulations
Schools that receive federal funding must abide by Title IX protocols. You may face an investigation by a Title IX Officer and will need to put forth a convincing defense to avoid harm to your reputation.
Title IX allegations are always serious, considering the climate that students find themselves in. Many Title IX cases would be serious at any time in history, including those involving alleged sexual misconduct.
Title IX defense is a notable feature of the Lento Law Firm's services. Let us use our experience and knowledge of Title IX regulations in your favor.
How a Student Discipline Defense Attorney-Advisor Can Help You or Your Student
A student defense attorney-advisor has seen how many schools deal with their students. This experience gives our team unique insight into the path your case may follow and the options we have for resolving your current predicament.
Our ability to negotiate with a school's Office of General Counsel (OGC) is noteworthy. The “local attorney,” or even the student's parent, may not be able to initiate such negotiations. We can, and will, explore resolving your or your student's case with your school's legal counsel.
Hire the Lento Law Firm for Your Student Defense Issue in San Antonio, New Braunfels, or Pearsall
Our team will accompany you or your student through the disciplinary process that lies ahead. If you're facing consequences of poor academic performance, you may not be facing discipline—even so, you may have much to lose.
The Lento Law firm team can develop a defense strategy, represent you whenever we're permitted to, and prepare you for all case-related meetings and interviews. We'll continue fighting for a positive outcome until we've secured one.
Call the Lento Law Firm today at 888-535-3686 or contact us online to allow us to help.
