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Since the sanctions against students for sometimes even minor behavior are so Draconian, I have often been able to successfully argue that if school, faculty and staff do not precisely follow the system’s own rules, charges against a student cannot be upheld. For example, in reaction to numerous cases where I successfully challenged expulsions and […]

Once your client has been charged with an infraction of The Baltimore County Public Schools Student Handbook and the Principal unilaterally decides it is serious enough to warrant a hearing, the Principal refers the matter to one of the Superintendent’s Designees. They are spread out geographically so  where the student attends school will determine which […]

Once the school Principal has decided that a student should be suspended for more than 10 days, the matter must be referred to an administrator designated by the Superintendant of schools, hence the name Superintendant’s Designee. In Baltimore County there are usually a half dozen of these hearing officers who divide the county up geographically. […]

Baltimore County Public Schools are among the strictest in the state in terms of zero tolerance. The Baltimore Sun recently reported that zero tolerance policies grew out of events like the school shootings at Columbine. In my opinion, this is incorrect. Zero tolerance policies occurred much earlier in an attempt to address the racially disparate […]

May is prom season and school officials are waiting to impose their zero tolerance, Draconian sanctions on high school seniors just a few weeks from graduation. The most common scenarios include a student acting visibly intoxicated once they get into the dance–vomiting, staggering, or  reeking of alcohol–who is then coerced into giving up the names […]

My intention is to regularly update this space with information about school expulsion and suspension cases in both the public and private sectors from kindergarten to post graduate students. I will also include information about special education matters including Section 504, IEP and Due Process hearings at the Office of Administrative Hearings(OAH). I also represent […]