George was a junior high school student with no history of disciplinary reprimands. One typical school day George exited the boys’ bathroom and informed the school safety officer that someone had drawn graffiti on the bathroom walls. The school safety officer accused George of writing the graffiti, and promptly hand-cuffed and arrested George in school. George received a 5-day superintendent’s suspension which, if he failed to prevail at his hearing, carried penalties of up to a full year suspension from school.
Advocates for Children of New York’s education specialist accompanied Georges and his family to his suspension hearing and successfully persuaded the hearing officer to dismiss the charges due to lack of sufficient evidence. Although George was able to return to school immediately, however, George still needed AFC’s help to get the criminal charges against him dismissed by making certain the principal contacted the New York Police Department to confirm that George had indeed won his hearing and was no longer suspended. AFC continued to pursue George’s principal to make the call until the charges were finally dropped. Today, George is in high school and doing well.
