Student Attendance Mediation (SAM) is a team process to mediate between the school and the students and their families to assist in remedying attendance issues. The team may consist of the family court judge, a district administrator, a school site principal, the school resource officer, and a probation officer as needed.
Students and their families will initially meet with the team and discuss various options and plans to be set into motion. Efforts in the mediation process may include: referrals for assessments, mandated community service, attendance of community held counseling services, visiting various county agencies, transfer of schools, delay/revocation of the student driver's license, referral to probation as a 601(b). Student progress will be monitored and follow up meetings may be scheduled.
If a student is recommended for expulsion, the student and parent have the option of requesting a "stipulated" expulsion or an expulsion hearing.
A "stipulated" expulsion simply means the student/parent have waived their right to an expulsion hearing and agree to the recommendation of the administration for the placement of the student, either on a suspended expulsion to an alternative site in the district or an expulsion to the County Community School (Earle Jamieson Educational Options).
If the student/parent request an expulsion hearing it will be scheduled within thirty (30) school days of the incident. Expulsion hearings are attended by the student, parent(s), and the administrator(s) from the school involved, and three members of the Administrative Hearing Panel, as well as any witnesses pertinent to the proceedings. The hearings are held in sessions closed to the public to protect the student, unless you request otherwise. Because an expulsion hearing can be a threatening, uncomfortable situation for all concerned, the hearing is conducted as informally as possible. However, all witnesses will be placed under oath and the parent/student may question or refute the testimony of any witness.
The entire proceeding is tape recorded in order to provide a record of the hearing. The site administrator will review what happened and then the student will have a chance to explain what happened in his/her own words. Student/parent(s) have the right to ask any questions, call any witnesses, or present any evidence.
After the hearing, the Administrative Hearing Panel has three (3) schooldays to make a recommendation regarding the student to the Board of Trustees. The Board has forty (40) school days from the date of the incident to render a decision.
Under California Education Code, Section 48900, the student may be expelled from all schools in the District for the semester in which the expulsion occurred and the following semester as well. Should this happen, the student will be required to attend the County Community School, Earle Jamieson Educational Options, a public school in another school district, or a private school. The student may be eligible for readmission to a school in the District once the period of expulsion is completed and the student has complied with his/her rehabilitation plan. At the other end of the spectrum, the Administrative Panel may determine that the student is innocent and return her/him to school the next day. Another possible outcome is a suspended (or stayed) expulsion in which the student may attend another school in the district, under a behavioral contract. If the student violates the behavioral contract in any way, the expulsion will be enacted without another hearing (EC 48917) and the student will be transferred to the County Community School.
Should the student be expelled from the Nevada Joint Union High School District, the school records are expunged of all expulsion-related information upon graduation.