It's always exciting to read a published Ninth Circuit opinion about a lunchtime fight in a high school just across the street from the school your children attend. So I read with interest Judge Paez's opinion this morning that reversed the grant of summary judgment to various school officials who suspended a student from La Jolla High School (with a recommendation of expulsion) without giving him the opportunity to review the evidence against him or present his side of the story.
You'd have thought that, particularly given these facts, the school district would quickly and easily settle the case, especially since the relief that the student sought appears to be minimal (i.e., removing record of the extended suspension from his files). Apparently not.
Instead, the school district will now likely have to continue to pay its own attorneys, but also plaintiff's counsel as well.
Sometimes it's better to work things out if you can. And sometimes it's better to make sure to listen to both sides before trying to expel someone from school.
