<p>momofthreeboys - Thanks for the info on the hosting responsibility by people under 18.</p>
<p>Here is some information relevant to this case: The Social Host ordinance, approved by the City Council in April, went into effect in early May. Anyone found guilty of violating the ordinance can serve up to 90 days in jail or be fined up to $1,000. </p>
<p>This is the first person charged in this city and the case will be sent to the city prosecutor. Five others were cited for underage consumption.
From what I read, the boy’s mother was sleeping upstairs and won’t be charged. This young man is extremely talented. That doesn’t mean, of course, that he isn’t an 18-year-old boy… and most of them make a few mistakes.</p>
<p>Wishing the best for all involved.</p>
<p>In a case like this, what thethe parents should advise the young man to do is to let the college know. By doing this, you have defused the situation of someone else telling the college. In the latter situation, it is possible and even likely to lose your seat at the school. Yes, I’ve known kids for whom this has happened. If you let the college know, what will likely happen is that the college will insist on the student taking a year of absence, a gap year before going to school. That has been the case in the situations where kids I’ve personally known have gotten into trouble and had to inform the school.
In those cases, the private high school found out and forced the kids’ hands, and it was truly to those kids’ benefits they did so knowing what could otherwise have happened.</p>
<p>The year can be well spent in counseling and community service. It would be good to have that goal of that college awaiting the student, and this may have prevented a true disaster when the kid went away to college where even fewer constraints exist and more availability of contraband is there. </p>
<p>That the student is taking responsibility, taking action and consequences, has notified his college will be on his side at court. The court might even let him go with a slap on his hand. For what he is being charged and how it pans out with delays and negotiations makes it difficult to know what is going to happen. The kids I know got off pretty lightly when the charges were more severe since they were first offenders, making retribution via service, getting treatment and notified the college and taking a hiatus from that. Yes, judges do take things like that heavily into account. </p>
<p>Yes, federal aid can be affected by drug convictions, but that may not happen and even then can be appealed. It’s going to take a while for the case to be resolved, all the more the reason for the student and parents to take a deep breath and take off the year so that the college acceptance does not loom over the immediate matter at hand. With an experience attorney and proper mea culpa and showing that these charges and deeds are taken seriously, this can be a year well used.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Didn’t we have a thread on this by the father of one young woman in a similar situation?</p>
<p>
If the kid has graduated, what right does the school have to inform anyone about anything?</p>
<p>Anyone, including a private school official, has the absolute right to inform a college about anything. The threat can certainly be implied. There have been some high profile cases where someone informed Harvard of some student’s transgressions and they lost their admissions. Some classmate, jealous neighbor, someone in the know can just let the college know. They will check on things like this.</p>
<p>^ Tortuous interference with a contract?</p>
<p>If you commit an act that convinces someone to break a contract with me, I can sue you. Not a lawyer, though, so I could be wrong.</p>
<p>notrichenough, it most likely wouldn’t be tortious interference with contract. First, the contract with the college is conditional, and conviction on this kind of a charge could be a condition that permits the college to withdraw the admission. Second, the interference, if any, is not tortious as informing the college a publicly-known incident is not wrongful.</p>
<p>The episode likely made the local police blotter which is often in the local paper. It is public information. And these private school look upon it as their duty to report ANY info that they get pertaining to their students, graduated or not. </p>
<p>But, you know, it isn’t likely to be the school. The kid is lucky if it is, since these schools deal with this stuff all of the time and will help a kid compose a letter and work with the college in such cases. If the kid is accepted to a top school, someone, a neighbor, a classmate, someone is very likely to report him. By reporting himself, he can put himself in a better position. It is the right thing to do.</p>
<p>That is a tough one. I don’t think I’d advise one of mine to report charges. Report convictions yes if there was jail or probation that might impact the college calendar or a drug charge that could impact aid, but not charges. So often charges change during the process or officers incorrectly check the wrong box or check a box that doesn’t pertain or mix up local infractions with other types of infractions or charges are dropped…some charges, as the article I posted earlier pointed out are more severe in certain jurisdictions. Pot is a prime example where charges can vary wildly from area to area even sometimes within a region. There was a huge brew haha many years ago with kids in Michigan traveling to Windsor (and drinking legally) when they crossed the border back to Michigan with zero alcohol tolerance for minors were charged even though the consumption was legal. It’s very easy to take a moral high road but it’s important, too, to protect your rights as far as the legal system allows and charges are not convictions. I have personally seen HR managers bang their heads on a desk because a great candidate gave out too much information that they didn’t need to know putting them in incredibly awkward positions…I imagine colleges would feel very much in an awkward position if they hear about a bunch of charges that haven’t even been prosecuted. If I were the Dean you betcha I’d say call me after you’ve been to court and let me know what happened, we’ll talk then. What they COULD do and what they WILL do could be very different.</p>