Please Help

What is the name of your state? Washington

My 13 year old son was charged with Arson 2 which is a felony B. He was in his middle school's bathroom with a friend and decided that they would set the smoke alarm off by lighting a piece of toilet tissue on fire. His intent was to have everyone get out of school by setting off the alarm. It worked and he
is in serious trouble. The fire self extinquished because the bathroom was mostly tile walls. He has never been in any kind of trouble before and is an honors student in school. He was shocked at the reprocussions, and so am I.
What will happen to him with this kind of conviction? Is there anything I can do to help him? I have him in counseling and have tried to sign him up for fire prevention classes. I'm frightened about how this charge will affect his future.
Will he go to a juvenile facility. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[Shay-Pari'e]

Originally Posted by chorkles

What is the name of your state? Washington

My 13 year old son was charged with Arson 2 which is a felony B. He was in his middle school's bathroom with a friend and decided that they would set the smoke alarm off by lighting a piece of toilet tissue on fire. His intent was to have everyone get out of school by setting off the alarm. It worked and he
is in serious trouble. The fire self extinquished because the bathroom was mostly tile walls. He has never been in any kind of trouble before and is an honors student in school. He was shocked at the reprocussions, and so am I.
What will happen to him with this kind of conviction? Is there anything I can do to help him? I have him in counseling and have tried to sign him up for fire prevention classes. I'm frightened about how this charge will affect his future.
Will he go to a juvenile facility. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

I don't understand why you are so shocked.

He will most likely be expelled and no one can say for how long. He has obviously been charged by the police and no one can tell you the outcome of that either.

His intent to evacuate the school is something you need to take seriously. I would not want my child attending the school if your son remained there, honors or not.

ZERO TOLERANCE policy has been the rule ever since Colombine, so you have alot of things to think about.


He also set more than a piece of toilet paper on fire to cause all this.

I do take it very seriously!

Obviously, I take what my child did very seriously, that is why I have him in counseling. He was expelled from school and sent to an alternative school where he was assaulted by another 13 year old with a knife who threatened to kill him. The other student was not disciplined at all. This happened within the same school district. Two psychiatric evalutions proved that my son was not a threat nor danger to anyone at the school. The intention was a prank to get out of school for a few minutes not to start a fire. And no he did not do anything more then light one piece of toilet paper, I was told so by the fire investigator myself. There was no fire, it self extinquished. His purpose was to set off the smoke alarm, not commit arson.

[CdwJava]

His intent aside, what he did amounted to the crime of arson. And my guess is that there are procedures to get a child reinstated and appeal a suspension or expulsion. You might want to look those up at your school district and see what your appeal options are before the time might expire.

Additionally, if your son was threatened with a knife, and the school won't do anything, call the police. If there's more to the tale and its not QUITE that obvious, then maybe not. But if someone pulled a knife on him, he should be toast. In CA it's a felony just to HAVE the knife on campus! I can't imagine that WA is that different from CA in this regard.

Carl

[rmet4nzkx]

Do yourselves a favor, please get your son assessed by a neuropsychologist, to find out the real problem for such socially inappropriate behavior. If your child is a honors student he may still have other dysfunctions, that is what the assessment will show, just because he has learned by rote the correct answers in a psychiatric examination doesen't mean he will act appropriately in real life. Accept this intervention as a positive thing and you will do your son a greater service than trying to get him off. If he is in an alternative school he may even be able to move forward at a faster pace and receive more individual care and attention. Make use of the resources to get help, his arrest may be a blessing in the long run.

We did have him assessed by a professional psychiatrist at the request of the school. There was six page evaluation stating that this was indeed a "one time poor judgement error." The professional stated that he was a normal healthy kid with above average intelligence, who did this out of boredom without realizing the serious consequences.
Also, that he was not a saftey threat to anyone or thing. We then sought out another professional opinon just to confirm and that professional also said he was a young kid that made a serious judgement error with no bad or unsafe intentions. We have choosen to have him remain in counseling, because we are taking this very seriously. He is a decent kid that has never been a problem in any way.
He feels terrible about what he did and is very willing to stay in counseling
and accept all accountability. We are concerned about the charge of Felony
for a first time offense. It seems so severe at his age. By the way we did file a police report on the child who assaulted him with a knife but the same school district who called the police on our son refused to acknowledge the incident even happened.
They claim that at the time the incident happened that particual child was in the company of an adult aide, and was not where my son said he was. It's his word against theirs and there were no wittnesses as the other kid had him up against the wall with the knife pointed towards his side. Thank you for your excellent response and advice!

[rmet4nzkx]

I'm sorry if I didn't make it clear, I said a NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT not a psychiatric assessment, they are different. Just because he knows the correct things to tell the psychiatrist, that is different than examining how his brain functions to get at the root. Is there some dysfunction, if so, what, so it can be treated, if not that it is behavioral, it takes specific training to do this. If he has some brain dysfunction, it is better to identify it now, while he is a minor, in case he repeats it as an adult.

Thank you, I have taken your advice and contacted a Neuropsychologist in our area. I am waiting for her to return my call about having our son tested.
I am so grateful for this advice.

Carl, can you tell me what else I can do about the assault on my son with the knife? It happened inside a school computer lab where there was no adult supervison. No one wittnessed the actual event and the school is trying to suggest it never transpired. I called the vice principal immediately upon finding out and his reaction was so nonchalant I went right to the police with my son who pressed charges. I then contacted the security cop on campus and he told me there was nothing more I could do and that it was no longer my problem. this took place the day before school was out for the summer. I havn't heard from the police or anyone since this happened. It has been close to a month now. Should I be doing anything further to speed up the process
of this person being held accountable for what he did? Thank you for your time.

[CdwJava]

You can call the police department and see what the status is, but, without witnesses, and without an admission by the other kid, there may not be much that can be done. Ideally, the school would have immediately held on to the student so that the police could search him for the knife. But since there apparently was no knife found, it makes the case tough at this late date.

Unfortunately, there may be nothing that CAN be done to get it before a court.

Carl

This particular school is known in the district as "Three Mile Island." It is a dumping ground for the most problematic, behavioral children. There is insufficent adult supervision and often there are physical fights and altercations on the campus, when this is the case.
My concern was not only for my son, but the weapon being on campus and some other child getting hurt badly.This particualr child is a bully and my son luckily kept calm and reserved throughout the whole ordeal. But what if he continues this behavior and brings the weapon back to school again? Does California have a particular proceedure they go through to make absolutely sure there are no weapsons brought onto school campuses? How do they screen for that?

[CdwJava]

If things are that bad, you might consider sending him to another program somewhere. There are almost always alternative education programs you could enroll your child in from home schooling to special day classes. You might want to check with your county or state office of education.

Originally Posted by chorkles

Does California have a particular proceedure they go through to make absolutely sure there are no weapsons brought onto school campuses? How do they screen for that?

Nothing in particular. Most the time it's simply a matter of heeding rumors and searching a child that is said to be armed. I do not know of any school in CA that has kids walk through metal detectors - though there might be a few somewhere.

When I was a School Resource Officer I found plenty of knives on kids on campus by looking at the pockets and seeing its outline there, or, heeding stories from other kids and finding it on a subsequent search.

But there is no state-wide standardized procedure to look for any type of weapon.

Carl