See You In Court! CABE Monthly Column
“See You In Court!” is written by Thomas Mooney and appears in the CABE Journal, a publication of the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education.
With the arrival of spring, misbehavior by students in Nutmeg has escalated. For example, Joe Blow, a sophomore at Nutmeg Memorial High School, was caught on video defacing a wall at the high school with spray paint, writing a message that threatened Ms. Principal with harm. Ms. Principal was understandably upset, and Mr. Superintendent brought a recommendation for Joe’s expulsion to the Nutmeg Board of Education.
It has been a couple of years since the Nutmeg Board of Education has been called upon to consider expelling a student, and Board member Mal Content called Mr. Superintendent to learn about the related procedures. Mr. Superintendent assured Mal that the procedures are quite simple – the Administration will present its case against the student, the student will have an opportunity to respond to the Administration’s case, and the Board members will then deliberate and make their decision. Mr. Superintendent assured Mal that this case will be particularly easy. “We have Joe Blow on videotape writing a threatening message. I hope that I can count on you and the other Board members to do the right thing here.”
The day of the hearing arrived, and Mal was joined by fellow Board members Red Cent, Penny Pincher and Bob Bombast. Mal convened the hearing, and the Board members promptly voted to go into executive session to hear the case. As predicted by Mr. Superintendent, the Administration presented its case first. On its behalf, Mr. Board Attorney explained that Joe had spray painted a threatening message on a hallway wall late after school, not realizing that a surveillance camera was recording his actions. Mr. Board Attorney then played the video with Bob’s misconduct for the Board members, and he ended his presentation by calling Ms. Principal to testify as to how upsetting Joe’s actions were to her.
For his part, Joe’s father had little to say. He described Joe as a good kid who made a mistake, and he implored the Board to show Joe mercy by agreeing that Joe’s ten-day suspension would serve as an appropriate response to Joe’s misconduct.
After hearing from the parents, the Board asked Mr. Board Attorney if he had anything else to say, who responded that he would reserve any further comment for the Board deliberations. With that, the Board members and Mr. Board Attorney retired to a nearby conference room for deliberations.
Penny Pincher started the conversation at the beginning of deliberations by expressing surprise that Joe was the student under consideration. She explained that she will be recusing herself from the decision because Joe Blow had bullied her daughter in middle school and, accordingly, she could not be objective in this case. She told the other Board members that Joe is a terrible person who deserves whatever he gets, but in fairness she would leave that decision to the other Board members.
Mr. Board Attorney thanked Penny for her sensitivity and asked the other Board members had any questions about the case, which he described as open and shut. Mal, Red and Bob all agreed with Mr. Board Attorney that Joe should be expelled.
Mal reconvened the hearing and made a motion to expel Joe for one calendar year, provided that Joe can return to school on probation at the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year if his father presents evidence that Joe has participated in counseling in the interim.
