Education Legal Questions

If your daughter was physically assaulted by a teacher on school grounds, you must make a police report and document the incident in writing to the school and demand it be investigated. Depending on the particular facts and resulting injury you may have a lawsuit. In order to start a lawsuit, a notice of claim must also be served on the school district within 90 days after the incident and the lawsuit must be filed within 1 year and 90 days after the incident. DO NOT WAIT- put the school district and the board of education on notice IMMEDIATELY- especially since you imply this was a racially motivated incident.  ... Read More

It does not sound like you have any kind of specific claims agains the school. Has your son been diagnosed with any disabilities, learning or otherwise?  If they are not allowing for accomadations to any special needs your son has, there might be a case.  Have you considered having your son seek psychiatric counseling? From your question it sounds as if he has violent tendencies. I do not doubt that his grades are suffering, but from your question, it sounds as though your son is making poor life choices and decisions.  Have you requested a meeting with the school? Have you seen any of the administrators or the school counselor? Have you looked for any outside counseling? Has he always been like this or is this a recent development? Perhaps something in his life changed that triggered this bad behavior? I hope everything can work out for you and your family. Feel free to contact us if we can offer any further information or assistance. 203-870-6700... Read More

I believe that you can choose to home school your child and avoid the system altogether.  Have you done all of your research into this avenue yet? Also, did you take care of the criminal charges on your child? That was more concerning than anything else in your question. If you need assistance with the criminal defense issues or with home schooling your child, please contact our firm for more information. 203.870.6700.... Read More

Typically a letter of resignation is not valid until it is accepted.  However, an argument could be made that the the person to whom the letter was given accepted it on behalf of the board, and that the board was only meant to ratify the acceptance of the letter.  If there is nothing in writing from anyone accepting the letter, there is a good argument that it could be withdrawn. ... Read More

Yes, there is a way to hold the school accountable- bring a lawsuit for money damages. You can sue for the harassment and bullying but not for the suicide attempt, unless it happened on school grounds during school hours.  A school district can be held liable for damages caused by bullying if the school failed to supervise and the injuries were foreseeable. It's unfortunate you didn't take legal action sooner. You must serve a notice of claim on the school district within 90 days of the latest act of bullying, and bring a lawsuit within one year after that, if no settlement can be reached.  You might be able to reach a partial settlement with the school district fast, by negotiating an agreement that the school pay your daughter's private school tuition while the lawsuit proceeds. ... Read More

You don't say when this happened, but if it was more than 90 days ago and you didn't file a notice of claim against the school district, you can't sue them. But you still need to find out the identity of the student who assaulted your son and make a police report. You may be able to sue the student for damages and/or the family of the student if the student was underage. If there were no witnesses other than your son that will be a problem, but you should still do all of the above. Assuming this happened less than 90 days ago, serve the notice of claim and sue the school for negligent hiring and supervision for allowing your son to be injured and run out of the school over two hours.  ... Read More

A private school, including a Catholic School, does not need to comply with the same rules that a public school does.  You do not have the same rights as far as notice requirements, or them keeping your child with a bahvior problem. If the school is saying they cannot accomodate him, then they have the right to have him withdrawn.  It might be that your son would be better off in the public school where there are more resources avaialble and the school district is required to provide an education. ... Read More

This sounds more like consumer fraud than education law.  Find the advertisements indicating what you are getting, and your contract that you signed and paid for.  If you did not receive what was promised then you have a consumer fraud complaint again the company that can be filed through the Division of Consumer Affairs.  Best of luck to you. ... Read More

First speak to the Director of Special Services.  If you do not get any satisfaction, file a complaint with the Department of Education and ask for a Due Process hearing.  Your child has a right to FAPE - Free Appropriate Public Education.  If you don't already have it, get a copy of the PRISE document on line and read it.  This will help you advocate for your child.  If you still do not get any satisfaction, you may need to hire an attorney or an advocate to help you. ... Read More