Pubdate: Sun, 24 Feb 2008 Source: Record-Journal (CT) Copyright: 2008 The Record-Journal Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.erecordjournal.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4705 Author: Amanda Falcone Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) LAWYER CHALLENGES SCHOOL EXPULSION MERIDEN - A local attorney is seeking a permanent injunction that would prevent the Board of Education from expelling a 16-year-old Maloney High School student who was arrested on drug charges away from school grounds. The request is prompting discussion about whether automatic expulsion hearings for students arrested in connection with off-campus incidents violate their right to due process. Police notified Maloney that a student had been arrested on Feb. 5, and the school immediately suspended the teenager for 10 days. Administrators are now looking to hold an expulsion hearing. Attorney Ramiro Alcazar claims state statutes requiring expulsions for off-campus incidents are broad and unconstitutional. "The statutes are wrong and no one has ever challenged it," he said. Alcazar said he took on the case pro bono. He has already won a temporary injunction, forcing the school district to wait to expel the student, who is listed as John Doe in the complaint filed in New Haven Superior Court. Alcazar is now seeking a permanent injunction to prevent the expulsion. School Superintendent Mary Noonan Cortright could not be reached for comment. The Maloney student was pulled over by police on Broad Street Feb. 5 at about 11:30 p.m. and was charged with possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana within 1,500 feet of a school and possession with intent to sell, Alcazar said. As a result, Alcazar said, the arresting police officer faxed a copy of the police report to Maloney administrators and Assistant Principal Donald Panciera suspended the student for 10 days without holding an informal hearing as required by law. Panciera and police spokesman Sgt. Lenny Caponigro could not be reached for comment. While an informal hearing is required when a student is suspended, Alcazar said such a hearing would have violated the student's rights under the Fifth, Eighth and 14th amendments. The Fifth and Eighth amendments protect citizens from self-incrimination and from being tried twice, while the 14th Amendment entitles them to due process. People should be presumed innocent until proven guilty, Alcazar said. Alcazar says the police also did not follow the law when they notified Maloney of the incident directly. Police are required by law to tell the school system when students are arrested on certain charges, such as drug charges, but Alcazar said the law says that the school superintendent should have been the one provided with a brief oral description of the incident. The district has too much information, he said. School administrators are now planning an expulsion hearing. The state mandates expulsions for infractions that deal with drugs and weapons. Alcazar, however, said such a hearing would also violate constitutional rights, which is why he's seeking a permanent injunction. Willie F. Dow III, of Jacobs, Grudberg, Belt, Dow & Katz in New Haven, said students who try to defend themselves during expulsion hearings are at risk of self-incrimination. But Dow also said the expulsion hearings are not normally challenged. The Constitution requires that people receive due process, but the definition of due process varies depending on the proceeding, Dow said. Sometimes just telling someone the charges against them is considered due process, he said. Gerard I. Adelman, of Meriden's Weigand, Mahon & Adelman, said he would understand if schools held expulsion hearings for students arrested on school property, but he does not believe schools should hold hearings for students arrested off school property. Adelman, a former Meriden Board of Education member, said that if criminal charges are in the early stages, students are limited when defending themselves in expulsion hearings. It conflicts with due process, he said. "I'm glad attorney Alcazar is challenging this," Adelman said. "I think he's doing his job." Board of Education President Mark Hughes said he could not comment on individual incidents, but said the school board follows the law. His job is not to question state laws, but to follow them, he said, adding that the school system is sensitive to due process. The board and school administrators must keep information discussed in an expulsion hearing confidential unless a student's family requests otherwise, but other witnesses at a hearing do not have to, Hughes said. Sometimes the school board asks people to step out of a hearing if they think a student is at risk of self-incrimination, and the student does not have to answer questions, he said. Any information from expulsion hearings is sealed. "We can't hand that over to the police department or the courts," Hughes said. In addition to securing a permanent injunction for the Maloney student, Alcazar said he wants lawmakers to consider making state laws clearer, and wants to see that the laws already in place are followed. But at least one state lawmaker questioned the validity of Alcazar's claims in the lawsuit. "It sounds like he's grasping at straws," said Sen. Thomas P. Gaffey, D-Meriden, co-chairman of the General Assembly's Education Committee. "He's making broad statements to prop up his case." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek