School Laws

R

reintjesme4

Guest
Jurisdiction
Colorado
Hi! I want to help my friend out to see what her rights are in the school system. I have a friend who has had a few absences this term due to illness, losing a close friend, dealing with a lot of family matter, and the school has decided to hold her for lunch time and the class that she has missed the most. She is a junior and the upperclassman are allowed to leave campus for lunches if they want. They do not let her leave for any reason until the next class starts. So in total she is in the office until 11:10-1:25. They are practically letting her starve and won't grant her any freedom. I believe it would be okay if they kept her for the person she missed the most but lunch time is not a reasonable option. Thanks for your help!
 
She must follow the directions of the school. She can go before the school board (possible) and ask them to look into this matter. She also could provide the school with a written statement from her doctor explaining her medical condition. Question... Do you think her friend would of wanted her to screw up her school after their passing? I know this... I have lost family, friends and never put my job in jeopardy. No one is going to die from missing one meal a day. :)
 
adjusterjack said:
Then your friend's parent(s) should be taking the matter up with the school administration or school board.

There isn't anything you or your friend can do about it.
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I wasn't planning on doing anything about this, I simply came here for advice and to see if it was legal to keep kids for 2 hours a day for a few absences.
 
reintjesme said:
That's not the point and not very helpful. She has the freedom to be able to go get some lunch during school hours. And her family struggles with money so she can't just "bring protein bars" when she can't even bring her own lunch.
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You can BUY her protein bars, or a hot, nutritious lunch.
After all, you said she was your friend.
So, YOU buy her lunch, problem solved!!!!
 
reintjesme4 said:
Hi! I want to help my friend out to see what her rights are in the school system.
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Simple... she doesn't really have any. Students have rules to follow, not rights.

I have a friend who has had a few absences this term due to illness, losing a close friend, dealing with a lot of family matter, and the school has decided to hold her for lunch time and the class that she has missed the most.
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This is completely normal for a school to do this. They have a lot of discretion for how to handle such matters.

She is a junior and the upperclassman are allowed to leave campus for lunches if they want. They do not let her leave for any reason until the next class starts.
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That is a privilege that the school allows, and she has apparently lost it.

So in total she is in the office until 11:10-1:25. They are practically letting her starve and won't grant her any freedom.
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They surely aren't starving her. The school has a cafeteria and I'm certain she is given opportunity to eat. She might choose not to, but its her choice. She WAS granted freedom with the open campus policy but lost thtat freedom by missing too many classes. Consequences are a B.

I believe it would be okay if they kept her for the person she missed the most but lunch time is not a reasonable option. Thanks for your help!
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Your opinion on the matter is irrelevant. School administrators are responsible for the decision making and have made their decision based on circumstances and knowledge that you are likely not fully informed of.

The simple solution here is for her to comply, attend all her classes on time, and eventually have her privileges restored. Given that it is just about time for school to be out for the summer she probably won't see those privileges until next school year.
 
reintjesme4 said:
Hi! I want to help my friend out to see what her rights are in the school system. I have a friend who has had a few absences this term due to illness, losing a close friend, dealing with a lot of family matter, and the school has decided to hold her for lunch time and the class that she has missed the most. She is a junior and the upperclassman are allowed to leave campus for lunches if they want. They do not let her leave for any reason until the next class starts. So in total she is in the office until 11:10-1:25. They are practically letting her starve and won't grant her any freedom. I believe it would be okay if they kept her for the person she missed the most but lunch time is not a reasonable option. Thanks for your help!
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There's nothing illegal about what the school is doing. Does it suck? Yep. But she has to pay for the consequences of missing too much class.

It's not the end of the world if she has to stay in school for lunch. I think your friend and you need to make yourselves aware that sometimes life isn't fair. There are consequences to people's actions.
 
reintjesme said:
That's not the point and not very helpful. She has the freedom to be able to go get some lunch during school hours. And her family struggles with money so she can't just "bring protein bars" when she can't even bring her own lunch.
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No she doesn't have the freedom to leave school for lunch. How is she being "starved?" Doesn't your school have a cafeteria and lunch program? She can eat school lunches until the school says she can leave during lunch. Even if people can't afford it they have programs for low income families to pay for school lunches. Let's not be so over dramatic.
 
If she can't afford to buy protein bars or bring her own lunch, I wonder what she eats when she's allowed to leave campus? She has to have someplace to get food, unless her friends take her out and treat her to lunch every day.

And as for "practically letting her starve", well, that's just silly. Unless she has a health problem that requires her to eat more frequently than normal, missing one meal in the middle of the day isn't going to cause her to "starve".
 
So your friend is serving lunch detention for missing too much school. Totally legal. If they are not giving her an opportunity to eat at all, it *may* be a violation of your school system's policies, but if she just isn't allowed to leave campus and can eat a brown bag or school purchased lunch, that is entirely legal.
 

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