My son, a senior, who attends a prep school was recently found to have a tobacco “vape pen” on campus. It was his second offense (bright kid, poor judgement) He has been accepted to a small liberal arts college on the East coast. The school has given him the option of facing the school’s disciplinary committee, which has the discretion to impose sanctions up to and including dismissal, or to voluntarily withdraw. It is half way into his senior year. What would the options be to finish high school on time if he is dismissed or withdraws? And I am assuming that would cause his college acceptance to be revoked and now it is past the application deadlines for most other schools, so I am not sure what he could do on that front. Any thoughts on how to handle this would be appreciated. At this point in time, it sort of seems that dismissal and withdrawal are likely to lead to the same end result, but do colleges handle them differently? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Could he transfer to a public school?
yes. Thats’ an option but there is not a good fit for his current courses. They don’t have AP classes.
Private parochial or independent day school?
I would think colleges would look at dismissal and “voluntary” withdrawal differently.
@MomofFiveCT I just PM’d you - check your inbox.
He’s at an independent day school.
If the semester is over, he may have to attend your local high school in order to graduate.
Is there a large discrepancy between the grad requirements at the prep school and your state’s hs grad requirements? Is it the end of the first term or the beginning of the second term?
A dismissal will hurt more than a withdrawal, assuming that he is able to complete HS elsewhere. In any case, colleges would need to be notified of the change.
his school is on the term system, public high school is on semester. Wouldn’t a withdrawal at this stage in the game look like a dismissal, but without the hassle of going through the process? It’s not really “voluntary” despite the school’s terminology.
Gnocchi, thanks for the message. I will follow up.
Maybe @Hanna can weigh in.
I’d consider hiring/asking an educational consultant who specializes in such things for guidance.
A withdrawal could look like your family ran out of money for tuition. Can he self-study for the AP’s?
At this point…good fit probably isn’t important and neither are AP classes. Your kid needs to graduate from HS. That should be your number one concern. The local public high school should not be ruled out.
@Hanna any suggestions?
I think I’d try to get more info from the school, if he really would be dismissed. I do think seniors get different treatment.
It is going to have to be explained to the college either way. Can you throw yourself at the mercy of the prep school and ask for suspension, community service, a speech about the evils of vaping…anything to allow him to graduate on time from there?
Get into the leader of the school. Not an assistant, but the head person. Assistants don’t have discretion. You’ll find they usually are very pragmatic and may be able to make it go away with something less than dismissal or withdraw. A lot may depend on the circumstances. Was he lighting up in class? Or just found on his person? Second semester seniors are a difficult breed. But theses vapes are apparently very common these days.
Of course, if the worst case occurs (dismissal or withdrawal results in losing all college admissions), then he will learn a lesson on rules and power. But also, you may have to figure out how to help him break a likely addiction that could otherwise become lifelong.
Even if the worst case occurs, he could test for a GED, start at a community college, do well there, and then transfer to a university to complete a bachelor’s degree.
Is he 18? Is it legal for him to buy a vape pen, but just against school rules? I would like to think that the committee would be a little more lenient with this (if he is 18) since he is a senior. If he were coming to school drunk/impaired or had alcohol or some other illegal drug it would be a different story. I would beg for mercy. (I am usually not sympathetic to rule-breakers, but if I were on the committee, I’d give this kid some other punishment --community service, etc. I would consider this too small of an issue to make a last-semester senior change schools, change college plans.) Good luck.
In my school he would be gone… no choice to withdraw. You can ask the two Juniors who were expelled last week-- on the first strike.
Two strikes isn’t a mistake, it’s a pattern.
Absolutely, ask for any thing he could do to stay. But if they don’t allow that option, ask his guidance counselor frankly which would look better for college admissions.
“Is he 18? Is it legal for him to buy a vape pen, but just against school rules? I would like to think that the committee would be a little more lenient with this (if he is 18) since he is a senior.”
Private schools I know aren’t going to be lenient. they already were for the first strike. Repeating the pattern after being caught and disciplined already for it is not looked upon favorably. Schools play by their rules and code. Making exceptions doesn’t send a good message when an administration is working to keep hundreds of kids in check all year.