School Claims Student "Fell Through the Cracks" to Justify Expulsion
by
Joseph C. Maya on Apr. 24, 2017
Other Education Civil & Human Rights Civil Rights Criminal Juvenile Law
Summary: Blog post about a student who was expelled for threatening another with a knife and his subsequent appeal to have it expunged from his record.
If you have a question or concern about special education law, school administration, federal standards, or the overall rights of a student, please feel free to call the expert education law attorneys at Maya Murphy, P.C. in Westport today at (203) 221-3100 .
In the case of Balbi v. Ridgefield Public Schools, a student and his parents appealed the decision of Ridgefield Board of Education which voted both to expel the student for allegedly threatening a fellow student with a knife, and not to provide alternative education for plaintiff student. In an appeal of a decision of an administrative agency, a court is charged with reviewing the record of the proceedings before the agency to determine whether the board acted arbitrarily, unreasonably, or contrary to law.
The board of education voted both to expel the student for allegedly threatening a fellow student with a knife and not to provide alternative education for plaintiff student. The student and his parents, appealed the board's decision. The court held that the student received adequate notice of the expulsion hearing. However, to the extent that the findings reached by the board were dependent upon the police sergeant's testimony concerning statements made to him by the alleged victim and a witness, they could not be sustained. This was because the police sergeant refused to identify the witness or the victim, or to provide copies of statements, even in redacted form, rendering any attempt at meaningful cross-examination futile. Furthermore, the decision to expel the student could not be sustained because the record failed to support the finding by the school board that the student was not a child requiring special education and related services. Consequently, the student’s appeal was sustained, and the student's expulsion was ordered expunged from his record.
The court sustained the student’s appeal and ordered the student's expulsion expunged from his record. The police sergeant's testimony concerning statements made to him by the alleged victim and a witness lacked any indicia of reliability, and the record failed to support defendant board of education's finding that the student was not a child requiring special education and related services. “It is not a valid or appropriate response for the Ridgefield Board of Education to claim that the student put himself back in the general population at the beginning of the academic year, or that he ‘fell through the cracks" said the court. “[The board of education] further seeks to justify the expulsion, because school officials did not take the initiative to promptly refer [the student to a special education program], in light of repeated misconduct at the beginning of the . . . school year.”
If you have a child with a disability and have questions about special education law, please contact Joseph C. Maya, Esq., at 203-221-3100, or at JMaya@mayalaw.com, to schedule a free consultation.
Source: Balbi v. Ridgefield Pub. Schs, 2000 Conn. Super. LEXIS 2141, 2000 WL 1228690 (Conn. Super. Ct. Aug. 16, 2000)
