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Wednesday, February 27, 2008

That Time of Year - Students in Need! By now in the current school year, many parents have come to realize that their child is not doing well in school. Often times, this reality exists even with the help of an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) tailored to the student's special needs. Private attorneys practicing education law see an annual upsurge in new client calls around this time. This year is no exception.

Just because a student has an existing IEP, or the school provides class room accommodations for the student, does not mean, that's the end of the story. The fact is, kids are the ultimate "work in progress" and its wrong to assume there's nothing else left to try to help the struggling student. Parents need to aggressively confront school issues through dialogue, meetings, conferences, and perhaps new evaluations and the careful implementation of new strategies.

In our practice, located in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., we see the need for educational advocacy on the rise at this point in the school year and encourage families to act now to get help to intercede for their children experiencing serious problems in school. Now's the time!

posted by Pat Hoover at 8:03 AM 0 comments

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Monday, February 04, 2008

School Expulsion Cases Spike Up. I don't pretend to have hard statistics to back this up but I, along with others have experienced a sudden rise in the number of drug and alcohol related school expulsion this school year. Having many years of experience representing students suspended and facing the real possibility of school expulsion (leaving aside the subject of formal prosecution) -- accused of having alcohol or drugs on school grounds -- my office and many others like it, have seen a sudden and sharp rise in cases loads. It has become clear that virtually all of the public schools in this region are handing out suspensions and following up with school expulsion, like there's no tomorrow!

The number of students accused of committing drug and alcohol offenses has spiked well over the usual numbers typically seen at this point in the school year. The rise in school related drinking and drug cases, cuts conspicuously across demographics. Students of both sexes are fairly represented. These are kids from both regular education and special education placements, and students from affluent, middle and lower income families, living in cities throughout the region. We see students from middle school all the way through high school and into college, arrested for possession on school property or at after school activities. The increased numbers we see in youth alcohol and drug possession, present a startling turnabout from recent years, especially when it comes to drug related charges.

I have no explanation for the bump in cases we've seen in school expulsions cases this year. But I wonder if the increased number of students who are suspended and faced with expulsion from school, comes more as a result of our schools' hardening policy than it does from any drastic shift in attitude by the student population.

posted by Pat Hoover at 8:42 PM 0 comments

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