school filed theft charges

[im my kids dad]

What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania

According to my 16 yr old son and his friend, he was in the doorway of a classroom after school showing his friend a piece of lab equipment (a glass beaker of some sort) comparing it to his own (he is a science nut and has lab equipment at home) and they were talking about how excited they were to be in next years bio class. A teacher asked if he had permission to have the beaker, he said no. Teacher takes the beaker and tells the boys to go. Next day we are informed that my son (other boy had no discipline or referral) was suspended for three days for theft and the case would be forwarded to the resource officer (school police). Both boys say they did not even think about stealing it or removing it from the classroom. Went to a meeting with the v/principle, teacher and the two boys. v/p & teacher said they could not be sure that he was stealing it but the schools definition of theft was "possession w/out permission” so would handle it as a intentional theft. The police sent a letter saying the charges had been filed by the school and that they were referring it to the Juvenile Probation Office. The police have not spoken to my son about this. We have not yet heard from the Juvenile Probation office.

question: I believe that my son is innocent of this charge, what is the best way to handle this?

Thank you.

 

[seniorjudge]

question: I believe that my son is innocent of this charge, what is the best way to handle this?

A: Hire a lawyer and fight it.

 

[im my kids dad]

Thank's

Thank you. I will.

I have written the school with a request of all of my son's records related to this, they denied the request saying that because they turned these records over to the police, the records (of the meetings and teachers written account etc..) are now evidence.

Does their denial of my request sound credible?

 

[AlanShore]

Thank you. I will.

I have written the school with a request of all of my son's records related to this, they denied the request saying that because they turned these records over to the police, the records (of the meetings and teachers written account etc..) are now evidence.

Does their denial of my request sound credible?

That is something your lawyer will take care of.

 

[msiron]

wow, this world is going to hell. It's a shame your son will be labeled a criminal and thief when he was just examining, comparing and discussing a glass beaker.

In the 70's we were encouraged to come after school to cook, sew, use the shop, and use the labs, teacher or no teacher, as long as the building was open and someone of authority was there. People weren't sue happy then and teachers didn't assume you were a thief for holding a glass beaker in your hand.

 

[im my kids dad]

Advice taken

Thanks everybody for your advise/input. We have hired an attorney who has been very helpful. He will be present at the upcoming intake hearing with Juvenile Probation. The attorney could not believe what he read in the police report and wondered why it was taken seriously. The police have yet to interview anyone but the teacher, perhaps that is normal but I thought the police would interview my son (he knows to not say anything w/out his attorney present). He was cautiously optimistic so hopefully we can see a positive outcome.

The school does have its share of crime and drugs that they have to deal with but it makes me wonder why the police or Juvenile Officers would push it forward, I know they are overwhelmed with all of the school kids already on probation. It is an in school probation program with one case officer and she (I have been told) has more than 100 children she supervises at the high school. Sounds like a lot for a town of 12,000. "Hershey PA the sweetest place on earth" ??

 

[Slip]

that is absolutely ridiculous. Please update us on the outcome of this scenario

 

[notsmartmark]

[QUOTE\]I have written the school with a request of all of my son's records related to this, they denied the request saying that because they turned these records over to the police, the records (of the meetings and teachers written account etc..) are now evidence.
Does their denial of my request sound credible?

That is something your lawyer will take care of.[/QUOTE]

Your lawyer should request you child's records, but you also have the right to access and review you records. FERPA is the statute that allows you access to all of your child's educational records.

Here is a good resource, http://www.fetaweb.com/04/ferpa.summary.htm.
It briefly describes what are education records and parent's rights of inspection and review of education records.

Here is ed.gov's website, http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html

 

[im my kids dad]

Attorney’s help & records request

It sounds like you and our attorney are on the same page. Our attorney is requesting records from the school and the police and aslo asked us to make a formal request from the school. Thank you for the links, I will take time to read more so I know what rights we have. A friend gave us a link that provides a sample record(s) request letter. I was impressed by the specific documents it listed that we have a right to view i.e. staff memos, interoffice memos, emails, letters, notes and comments of any kind, including notes of telephone calls... it goes on and on. I am becoming skeptical though and wonder if they would ever release anything that would be detrimental to their case, how would a person ever know if they pick and choose what to give? Anyhow, it feels good to begin the process of learning these things and it also relieves some of the stress to be doing something (writing, sending the letter) productive rather than wait around for things to happen. I will keep you posted….thanks again

 

[moburkes]

Please remove that link. Its advertising.

 

[im my kids dad]

Done.

Thank's for the heads up.

 

[im my kids dad]

school theft charges finally over

After months of waiting we finally went to court. The prosecutor read the charges and called the teacher who found the boys in the classroom, when our attorney asked if he thought my son was stealing the glass beaker he said that he really did not know he may have been but could not say for sure", the vice principle was called up and asked some questions and then our attorney asked if the boy that was with my son told him that he was not stealing anything, he said no.(it was on record that he had told the VP that my son was not stealing the beaker) then the judge asked "who called the police about this?" the v/p said "well I referred it to the resource officer" the judge said "so you called the police, doesn’t the school have an internal discipline policy to deal with this sort of thing?, there is no evidence of theft here, this should not be on my desk." Then the judge dismissed the case. WOW!! We were shocked. The judge was not happy with the school or the police for pushing the case forward. The V/P and the officer were visibly angry. I wish I could tell you that it all ended there but two days later the same V/P suspended my son for three days for ....theft. This time because he was at a dance when a purse was stolen and another student placed my son near the purse at the time of the theft. My son is devastated and I wish I knew how to stop the school from doing this. Now we wait to see if the police will refer it to the J/probation office. We are probably going to change schools but still have to deal with this new charge.