<p>You might consider Stanford online my nephew went to a public school in a rural town that did not offer many classes, so he took courses this way and got into all of the Ivy’s and MIT. He graduated from MIT last year. [Education</a> Program for Gifted Youth](<a href=“http://epgy.stanford.edu/]Education”>http://epgy.stanford.edu/) I think you just have to get permission from your local public school to get credit this way. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Ironically, kids who make this mistake early on (sophomore year, for example) may fare better than kids who err during senior year. The kids who goof up early have a longer window to show remorse, make restitution and create a clean track record. They can demonstrate a “rising trend” in behavior. Our HS GC has said college admissions folks can even view this life experience as a strength, since kids who have worked through harsh and painful consequences as a result of an alcohol or drug incident sometimes have a little better judgement when they show up for college. I’m not speaking of repeated offenses, or a pattern that points to addiction, of course. That’s different.</p>
<p>I agree with others who have said college admissions people may not see this as a deal-breaker, particularly if the student is able to articulate sincere remorse and “lesson learned”. OP, my heart goes out to you. I often feel like my kid is only as “good” as the weekend we just survived without incident.</p>
<p>^^ Very true about better to mess up earlier in high school. That was certainly true in my son’s case and it actually was a help in the application process, believe it or not.
However, this kid is mid-senior year so a different type of damage control is required. The Stanford online suggestion is a good one.</p>
<p>The University of Texas also has an online high school. You do not have to live in Texas to participate and I believe the minimum credits needed to be taken through UT to graduate is 2.0 (which I think is 4 classes):<br>
[Frequently</a> Asked Questions :: K-16 Education Center, The University of Texas at Austin](<a href=“http://www.utexas.edu/ce/k16/ut-high-school/faq/#4]Frequently”>http://www.utexas.edu/ce/k16/ut-high-school/faq/#4)</p>
<p>You might check charter schools in your area if you haven’t already. My D graduated from a very small charter school and they were very flexible in working with students/families. </p>
<p>Best of luck to your family!</p>
<p>Indiana Academy has Calculus BC online, as well as several other AP courses. Perhaps your public school will allow him to take these courses to finish out his year with the same subjects.
[The</a> Indiana Academy | Distance Learning 2010-2011](<a href=“http://www.bsu.edu/academy/distance/]The”>http://www.bsu.edu/academy/distance/)</p>
<p>Hey, don’t sweat it. A classmate of mine (he was one year ahead of me) got suspended at a high school in a major California city for drinking at the Senior picnic. He wasn’t allowed to walk to get his diploma during the graduation ceremony. He ended up the superintendent of schools in the same school district. True story.</p>
<p>You sound like a very responsible, caring parent. I really think it will eventually all turn out fine but I know you’re heartbroken now. As crappy as this is there are so many worse things it could have been (gotta look at the bright side!).</p>
<p>When my son was a jr in high school one of the top male students was caught at a dance with a alcohol in his back pack. The teacher that caught him was willing to just call his parents to pick him up and the kid wouldn’t cooperate. He was expelled and transferred to another school. Fast forward to senior year and he’s accepted @ Annapolis.( I’m assuming he fessed up to the college officials).</p>
<p>Hang in there and good luck with coordinating the upcoming semester. Your poor son has hopefully learned a lesson even though it was the hard way to learn it.</p>
<p>A friend of my daughter’s was “counseled out” of her private school at the start of 12th grade. It was horrible – she was a perfectly nice, artistic but not intellectual, and somewhat rebellious girl who was sinking lower and lower at her very competitive school and felt terrible about herself as a result. Anyway, there was a local school that provided a framework for what was essentially homeschooling for her last year, without the parents having to jump through all the homeschool hoops. She worked independently on practically everything, and went into the school one day every other week for progress reports and some group activities. It worked out fine for getting her through the last lap of high school and qualifying her for college. It was not that expensive (a good thing, because she had been a scholarship student at the private school). Maybe the OP can find something similar?</p>
<p>Hiking, you really need to inform all the schools and scholarships about what happened, not just the exclusive ones. These people all know what it means when a student “voluntarily withdraws” from an exclusive private high school in the middle of their senior year: That they have been essentially expelled for disciplinary reasons. Most colleges will not see drinking as a deal breaker, they know that young people experiment with alcohol since they see it all the time on their campuses. If they are not informed that drinking was the reason for his forced withdrawal, admissions offices and scholarship committees could easily imagine it was something that would be a deal breaker such as academic dishonesty, theft or some other crime much worse than underage drinking. Of all the things that a high school student can be expelled for, this is the one that is probably the least damaging to his or her future college admissions and scholarship prospects.</p>
<p>Agree with the above post.</p>
<p>End of a long day, but our spirits are much better this evening. We have had three different phone conversations today with the heads of the school (dean, head, etc) and all were so nice, so gracious, and so affirming. They told our son that had he NOT been so honest, he would not have been asked to withdraw, a fact that we knew, painfully, but kept reiterating to him that it was RIGHT to do… They are aware there are others who were not honest and are still there because there is no way to prove guilt. They said it was a difficult and painful decision. The bottom line: he will take his remaining courses online (in fact, he has only one semester of english left to meet grad requiremts) and the school will provide his final transcript to all colleges. We are all feeling better tonight. He surprised us by going out and coming back with job apps at a few nearby groceries, etc. Who knows? This could shape him in ways we never imagined. Thanks again to all for such wonderful advice. Still having thinking to do, but we realize this is one day at a time!</p>
<p>Lamaitre1, great thoughts and insights. I can’t tell you how much people vary in their opinions of this.</p>
<p>hiking- I am SO glad to hear that the school is being so nice and supportive. That is great for you and says a lot about the school, which is something I will remember because I am often asked about boarding and prep schools. Your son seems like a wonderful young man and that’s awesome that he already got job applications!</p>
<p>Lemaire1 is absolutely right. It’s better to get the truth out there than to have the colleges imagine worst behavior (and yes, they know that a midyear withdrawal either means a disciplinary issue or mental health problem.) Hiking 1011- do you think they will give him a diploma? I know there are some schools who even include former students in alumni activities. Was he there for four years?</p>
<p>I, too , am really glad to hear that the school is doing the right thing – it has made its point and vindicated its policy; there’s no need for it to salt the earth – AND that your son did the right thing when he was caught and is doing the right thing now to show he can learn from his mistakes.</p>
<p>It sounds like everyone is working together to make the best of the situation. Great news!</p>
<p>baystate, yes, the dean said that he could ask for and would receive a diploma in the summer. And he even mentioned attending alumni reunions. He’d been there four years. I thank you all again for your advice (which is very insightful) and support. Our friends at home have been incredibly supportive. Now, we’ve got the task of figuring out where to take the final semester of English and how he can best self study for the APs. Onward to the next step! But still with a heavy heart. Thanks again.</p>
<p>Good hiking1011, it sounds like things are falling into place. I wonder if some kind of volunteer work on top of a part time job might be a good way to fill up all of the extra time he will have starting in January? That is when the reality of the situation will hit hard (when everyone else goes back to school). It will probably help with the colleges too…</p>
<p>Hiking - Glad it is working out to be not too bad. Can he take English at a CC? I would look at hiring a tutor for the AP’s. Is he going to take them at his BS? or have you made other arrangements?</p>
<p>Sounds like a brighter day, Hiking. I will say, however, that I am a little disappointed that the school more or less supported lying as a way to avoid consequences. If you are asked a direct question - “Did you do this?” What was he supposed to do? Frankly, I support the truth because honor doesn’t come just because you got away with something. But too, if there wasn’t a direct question, I suppose that it’s true that silence is your best defense sometimes. We have two non-negotiables in our family: 1) Absolutely no drinking and driving and 2) If you are ever arrested/detained, even if you feel you’ve done nothing wrong, absolutely keep your mouth shut and ask for a lawyer. You don’t have to be rude or anything else and you can say you hope to be as helpful as possible, but that you will need to wait for an attorney. Silence.</p>
<p>But legal ramifications can be very different than a school and I always encouraged my kid to develop mutual respect, which can only come with honest and forthright behavior. I have always said my S would make for a horrible criminal as he folds like a deck of cards. When he was in MS and got in trouble at school (I can’t even remember why looking back), but I knew I could stand up for him with everything I had because he had always told me the truth. Sometimes the “fear” is that you’ll be the last to know … the my kid would never (but of course he had or would). </p>
<p>Point being… Your kid knows you will always have his back. Sometimes the consequences are what they are, but as we’ve come out the other side of a few things ours knows that if he just tells me the truth, I will fight the best way I can for whatever that truth is. I didn’t start out believing him blindly, but I’ve learned that when he tells me something, it’s the honest truth. Sometimes its hard to hear, but mutual respect and trust can get you through a lot.</p>