Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Washington

Re: Need to find a Lawyer

There are lawyers who have special expertise in "school law," and I'm not one of them. But based on what you've said, I'd suggest that at the very least, if your son didn't do as well as expected on that state testing, he ought to be allowed to take a make-up test. You'd THINK this incident would have shaken him up a bit, and affected his test scores; and, you'd think he would have been excused from the test as a result of the threat.

Other than the test issue, there could be a claim against the kid and/or his parents, for making the threat in the first place, although I would think that the greater issue is a police matter, as to your son's safety. Was this just a hoax, or did the kids who wrote the list actually harbor some enmity for your son?

It does sound as if the school handled it badly, but your son apparently wasn't harmed by how they handled it. The ordinary analysis there would be "no harm, no foul," but again, I strongly suggest you obtain the advice of an attorney who handles school law. The Washigton State Bar's referral service may be of some help there.

Best of luck to you and your family. I sure hope THIS never happens again.

Regards,

Sam

Re: Need to find a Lawyer

That's insane.

Get a lawyer and get to the bottom of this. What they were thinking to traumatize a child so, without immediately (and I mean IMMEDIATELY) contacting his parents, is beyond me. Their first obligation was to keep the child safe.

You might keep close tabs on your child for a while, the hell with what the school has to say, until you get to the bottom of this.

Re: Need to find a Lawyer

Sorry about that: what you need is a civil rights lawyer with experience in education law.