In the boarding school context, any discipline matter goes before a disciplinary council that includes various faculty members, administrators, and even students. A bogus claim just wouldn’t fly.
Right ^^ but even the accusation is stressful. This happened to my friend at college. He was accused of plagarizing by a crazy professor (this professor had assigned the same paper for 30 years, and he accused him of using a prior student’s paper becauase “fraternity boys do that”. Friend had to have a hearing where they admitted he had done this to other students but he was " tenured and we can’t do anything". He ended up failing the assignment and getting a D in the (otherwise very easy freshman English) class. And he swore he wrote his own paper.
Away from hypotheticals, does anyone here have actual concrete examples of students being falsely accused of plagiarism at the boarding schools that get traction and discussion here? I sure haven’t.
Boarding schools, idk. Regular schools. yep. Was talking about regular schools in my comment.
Also, at the collegiate level, I definitely echo @sunnyschool. I don’t know what would’ve happened to those kids had another faculty member not intervened. They clearly did NOT cheat, and yet yep, professor was tenured, and there wasn’t much the school could reasonably do without just removing him from the course (which they did, apparently). But without that advocacy backing the students up, 3/4s of the class probably would’ve been failed by a crazy old paranoid professor.
/shrug
To the OP so sorry you all are going through this very tough learning lesson. I think the bigger question is at what point should a school really enforce the honor/behavior code? My kids went to a private school (day) when they were younger and the high school had a similar incident happen. A student was at an off-campus party, smoked pot and then came to a school basketball game under the influence. He was caught and asked what other students were at the party. Because of the honor code, he told the truth, and all the kids were brought into the office the next school day and questioned. Each was given the opportunity to decline the drug test (in the school rule book they have a section clearly outlined on drug/alcohol) if they declined they were asked to remove themselves from the school; if they tested positive they would be expelled. Harsh punishment… one of the kids( first time ever to smoke pot) was up for valedictorian and had to transfer to the public school the last semester of his senior year. However, all parents knew what they were signing up for when they paid the tuition and sent their kids to this particular private school. While I am sorry that several lives had to change course because of the “dumb mistake” ultimately it probably motivated other kids to really think about their choices and decisions. As a side note, several years earlier this same school had a kid involved in a fatality accident. After a night of partying, another student died… so I think the admin was very aware of what can happen with dumb decisions. And I guess my follow-up question if a student does not get caught after the “first time they try drugs” is that more problematic going forward? Isn’t it better to get caught deal with the consequences before they become too severe?
For all you parents who think this won’t happen to you, I’d take the OPs advice to heart.
My opinion is the school should not report a non-academic first offense alcohol or drug use infraction to colleges. Losing privileges for a fist offense (like RA duties) is appropriate.
@psparent I’m so sorry for such a stressful and expensive event in your and your son’s life. None of us have perfect kids or are perfect parents. Hopefully, your son will learn from this experience and will be impressively wise hereafter. One of the hardest lessons to learn in life is that it ain’t fair and it’s tough out there.
Does anyone know if boarding school acting as “in loco parentis” supersedes the place of parental authority in determining whether a student should submit to a drug test or request a lawyer’s assistance?
Do BS parents sign any documents allowing BS staff to make those determinations?
“Do BS parents sign any documents allowing BS staff to make those determinations?”
A big YES. @Xystus, seems like you skipped the previous 11 pages of posts where this has been discussed extensively. 
Not to an unlimited extent.
So in regard to boarding school…if a student smokes pot off campus they may be thrown out and have colleges notified but if a teacher sexually molests a student(s) they can have the charges buried and receive a good letter of recommendation (see recent front page stories in the NYT)? Interesting.
^^^^@CCresearcher. Exactly. In our combined 6 years at BS with 2 students, we had to ask school to make student handbook procedures on respect in the classroom mutual, not only applicable to students but teachers as well. This was a tough nut to crack.
@Xystus the contract controls what they are entitled to ask of the child. Standing in loco parentis does not supercede or usurp the parents’ rights.
The contract controls the student’s admission to conduct in and continued placement in the boarding school. So in the above example, a student could refuse to submit to a drug test, but that refusal would lead to automatic expulsion in many schools. And that would be noted in the transcript. Check your handbook for details
This thread has taught me that very few parents read the enrollment contract and incorporated student handbook.
Let me say: as a teen, it is SO hard to resist the temptation of doing something you’re not supposed to. Whether that means substance abuse or sneaking out, etc. Although you have to be 21+ to smoke marijuana in Colorado, I can’t even begin to estimate the number of kids that smoke on a regular basis at our local high school AND our local middle school, sadly. It’s terrifying because I know that if I was in some sort of situation at bs where I had the opportunity to do something “bad” and “crazy”, I would have an insanely difficult time resisting. I’ve just gotta remind myself that although all of the rule-breaking is euphoric in the moment, the consequences can be farrrrrrr worse.
I’ve got faith in you @“nico.campbell”! I think that by acknowledging the temptations and thinking in advance why they aren’t a very good idea you actually help yourself resist them. It is very hard to be a teen.
Based on my own high school experience, it would be very difficult.
Was this the same kid who suffered the concussion? If so, can a concussion affect decision-making, @psparent ?
Maybe, but the student is about to graduate very shortly. Colleges were notified and results in and decisions for next year already made. Hopefully much brighter things for this family in the future.