What is the name of your state? Indiana
My son was suspended for 10 days because he pulled a fire alarm at school. I just recieved a letter from his school saying they was going to expel him for the rest of the year. He has never been in trouble for anything, and gets good grades in school. I also got a letter for a probation officer about a informal intake appointment next week. What will happen to my son? He says it was an accident and he stayed at the alarm until a security officer came. Thank You
I'm a juvenile Probation Officer in Indiana. For certain offenses, the school will "due process" the student, which means the school wants to expel the student. What you need to do is to contact the school superintendent's office ASAP to request an expulsion hearing. That hearing will be the opportunity for the student and parents to present reasons why the student should not be expelled.
The expulsion examiner (possibly the superintendent or assistant superintendent), a school official (probably the principal), the student, and the parents will be present, as well as anyone else that is pertinent to the case. As a probation officer, I try to go to all expulsion hearings that involve my clients. I can only go if the parents allow me to be present. If they don't want me there, I don't go.
The school official will explain the circumstances that caused them to recommend the expulsion, and will tell how those circumstances violated the law or school rules. The child and parents will then get a chance to refute the allegations, and to tell why the student should still be allowed to attend school. Has your son ever been in trouble in school before? Be prepared for your son to explain why he did this, and how he plans to not do anything similar in the future. He needs to think hard about how he would answer if the examiner asks him why everyone is there at the hearing, specifically why mom and/or dad are there at the hearing.
The decision by the hearing examiner is final. If he/she recommends expulsion, there are no appeals.
Not for the Preliminary Inquiry at the probation department. Make sure you take your son's social security number, as well as your own. Both parents are not required to appear, at least in my county. They'll want the social security numbers and birthdates of both parents, also.
The Probation Officer will read your and your son his rights, when ask you to sign an acknowledgment of rights form, which is not signing away any rights. At that point, if you choose to speak with the officer, the officer will probably read the police report to you, and ask him for his version of what happened if it is different than that in the official report.
The officer will want to know about your son's history. Does he behave? What kind of friends does he have? How does he get punished when he misbehaves? When I do these, I want to get a pretty good picture of what the child and the family is like so that I can make appropriate recommendations to the prosecutor.
After the interview, the probation officer will write a report to the prosecutor giving information on the case, and with a recommendation for how the case should be handled. There are several options: 1) the case is dismissed, which means it goes away; 2) it gets referred to the Department of Child Services, if there are neglect or abuse issues; 3) a formal petition gets filed, which means your son has to appear before a judge to admit or deny the charges; or 4) the child gets placed on a Program of Informal Adjustment (an IFA).
An IFA is sort of a "probation lite" or deferred adjudication for minors. It's usually only offered for first offenses, and for misdemeanors or status offenses. Since, if I remember correctly, a false fire alarm is a Class B Misdemeanor, the IFA might be recommended. This is just MY OPINION, so it could be different in your son's case. Your son will probably have to do some community service, attend classes of some sort, and other terms.
When are you scheduled to see the Probation Officer? (I doubt this is my county since I haven't seen a police report for this offense, unless it just came in today.)
Any questions?
