What happens if your kid gets expelled?

[Tamryne]

@yBeayf

In grade 9 (freshman year of high school) I got kicked out for pulling a box cutter on someone who richly deserved it. I got sent to what was called ALC (“Alternative Learning Center”) for a semester (this was in Houston in the mid '90s). It was basically like a combined junior high and high school, with all of the core classes and many of the electives that would be offered at a normal school, just with much tighter regulations on behavior. We had to go through metal detectors and be searched every morning, for example, only had one minute between classes, and one class period of every day was devoted to a group therapy-type session with a bunch of other students and a counselor.

It wasn’t that bad – most people there were for drug-related offenses, and it seemed that more class time was spent sitting back and bullshitting with the teachers than actually working on the material.

Thats the exact same system they had in place when I went to public school in Houston. A friend of mine’s father was a teacher/administrator at our ALC, and talked about the hasle of having to scan everyone. They also had uniforms, and bars on the windows. When you were admitted you had to go through an orientation of some sort with your parents and the principal. Since it is a public school system, they had to send the expelled kids somewhere until they were 18, at which point they could be expelled from the district completely if they messed up badly enough.

[yBeayf]

Thats the exact same system they had in place when I went to public school in Houston. A friend of mine’s father was a teacher/administrator at our ALC, and talked about the hasle of having to scan everyone. They also had uniforms, and bars on the windows. When you were admitted you had to go through an orientation of some sort with your parents and the principal. Since it is a public school system, they had to send the expelled kids somewhere until they were 18, at which point they could be expelled from the district completely if they messed up badly enough.

Hmmm… what school district it was for? I was in Cy-Fair, and am wondering if it’s possible that I passed through there during his tenure. I still remember a lot of the cooler teachers there. We didn’t have window bars or uniforms, though, and even had some classes in outside trailers, but those could have been implemented after I left. We did have the orientation and the “here’s how we will control your kids” presentation given to the parents.

[ouryL]

Depends on the reason for expulsion. In my state, there usually is a punishment portion in which the child must remain out of school, usually a month to six months (a suspension) and that after a suitable time period, the child might be eligible to return to school or if the infraction was worse, to another school, or if the infraction was worser still, to a remedial type school or tutoring. Because the state is mandated to make sure each child is suitably educated.

[CC]

As one who has been in the edu-biz for many years, I can tell you that in most cases, a kid can miss part or all of a year at most levels - until high school, anyway - and will essentially miss nothing significant. If s/he can read and do basic arithmetic, s/he’ll be just fine. Most of us make it through school despite what happens there, not because of it. And, the more competent and literate the student is (i.e. parents are) the more likely it will be that the event will be a learning experience worth far more than the weeks or months in school would have been.

[Tamryne]

@yBeayf

Hmmm… what school district it was for? I was in Cy-Fair, and am wondering if it’s possible that I passed through there during his tenure. I still remember a lot of the cooler teachers there. We didn’t have window bars or uniforms, though, and even had some classes in outside trailers, but those could have been implemented after I left. We did have the orientation and the “here’s how we will control your kids” presentation given to the parents.

Yep, Cy-Fair ISD. Do you remember a short guy by the name of Mr. Bunn?

I think the bars were added later, I never noticed them until I started going to an after school class at Windfern and drove by every day. I know there was a uniform requirement, everyone I saw wore khaki’s and polo shirts.

[yBeayf]

Yep, Cy-Fair ISD. Do you remember a short guy by the name of Mr. Bunn?

I’ll be damned if that name doesn’t sound familiar, though I can’t quite place it with a face. Did he have a mustache?

I think the bars were added later, I never noticed them until I started going to an after school class at Windfern and drove by every day. I know there was a uniform requirement, everyone I saw wore khaki’s and polo shirts.

Uniforms were definitely after my time there. Heck, we didn’t even have the daily metal detectors until halfway through my semester there. Sounds like it got quite a bit stricter there after I left.

[Tamryne]

@yBeayf

I’ll be damned if that name doesn’t sound familiar, though I can’t quite place it with a face. Did he have a mustache?

He has, on and off. Kinda short, medium skin, dark hair and a round-ish face. Really jolly guy, but not afraid to put people in their place if need be.

@yBeayf

Uniforms were definitely after my time there. Heck, we didn’t even have the daily metal detectors until halfway through my semester there. Sounds like it got quite a bit stricter there after I left.

The district itself has gotten a bit tougher, rougher neighborhoods and rapid development out west along 290. If I remember correctly (I intervewed the current Superintendent when I was a senior a few years ago), the Superintendent was actually thinking of adding another ALC center or expanding the current one sometime in the near future, because of how crowded it has become.