Recently, a student was expelled from the Lakeside community. In an era of misinformation, division, and distrust in our society, transparency is more important than ever. Students are often confused about the steps taken by the administration leading up to the expulsion, as well as the process of how the student’s actions were evaluated, and how that resulted in a rare expulsion. This article aims to clear up any confusion regarding the student expulsion process as defined in the handbook, and accurately inform the community.
Due to privacy issues, the administration is unable to provide further information regarding the specific incident beyond what was provided at the assembly. However, Upper School Director Mr. Boccuzzi clarifies that the school has multiple ways of arriving at an expulsion, and that in all of those cases, the judicial committee process is consulted.
Afterwards, the Judicial Committee hears evidence and sends recommendations to Mr. Boccuzzi, which he typically upholds. In potential expulsion cases, the final decision is made by Head-of-School Dr. Bynum.
In situations where the matter is extremely private or personal (e.g., sexual violence), cases are heard by an administrative judicial committee, which consists of Mr. Boccuzzi, Upper School Assistant Director Ms. Suttell, and a few other administrators. “It’s a very similar process to the Judicial Committee,” explains Mr. Boccuzzi, “that uses only adults for situations that are more sensitive to student privacy, and then similarly, if we recommend a student should be expelled, that decision goes to Dr. Bynum for final approval.”
“Expulsion is usually reserved for either egregious violations of community conduct when a student clearly should know better, or in cases of repeated violations, perhaps when something is ongoing over a long period of time,” notes Mr. Boccuzzi. He also emphasizes that expulsion is extremely rare, explaining that “certainly there need to be consequences for actions, but expulsion is something that is used very infrequently, which means we are saying that a student’s growth and learning actually needs to happen outside of Lakeside in another community.”
In terms of transparency, Lakeside takes steps to ensure that the parents/ guardians of the student are kept informed throughout each step of the disciplinary process. To illustrate, the parents/guardians are first notified about a student conduct issue once there is enough clarity surrounding the situation, then once again if an incident is referred to the Judicial committee.
After the Upper School Director has accepted/amended the Judicial committee’s recommendation, a letter detailing the incident and the response will be sent out to the parents/ guardians. “We try to give the family and the student an understanding of the possible consequences that the Judicial Committee will discuss,” explains Mr. Boccuzzi, “[If] it’s their very first offense ever for something more minor like copying a homework assignment, we pretty quickly tell the family that as long as the student is honest and forthright with us, it is unlikely that they are going to be suspended or expelled for this, although they’re probably going to have a serious academic consequence…However, there are serious actions that a student could take where even if it is a first offense, we would make it clear to the student and family that the possibility for suspension or expulsion is a realistic consequence. Examples might be situations where someone enacted sexual violence, exhibited blatant racist behavior, or sold drugs on campus, to name a few.”
Dr. Bynum informed us during the assembly that the incident of racial discrimination was reported by a Lakeside teacher. To offer more clarity, “When Lakeside School is put on notice by a student, an employee, or by a third party of an allegation of a violation of this policy by another member of the Lakeside community, the appropriate division assistant director will immediately commence a preliminary investigation” (24-25 LSFG, 46). The division assistant director will then take immediate action to stop the reported behavior, and provide support to the individual who was alleged to have been harmed.
Depending on the severity of the allegation, and the risk posed by the student’s continued presence during the investigation, the student may be placed on an interim leave, during which they will still be sent classwork to continue their learning, but are prohibited from being on campus and attending any Lakeside-related events. Following a review of the facts presented, the division assistant director will decide whether a situation should be referred to the judicial committee, resolved administratively, or referred to a third party investigator.
Additionally, families may choose to withdraw their student from the school prior to a disciplinary meeting, but not once a disciplinary meeting has been scheduled. “A student’s family can elect to withdraw them from Lakeside at any time and there are situations where a family might choose to withdraw a student when they learn about the potential consequences for their child’s actions. However, we have a clear policy in our handbook that a student is not allowed to withdraw from the school once the disciplinary process begins,” explains Mr. Boccuzzi. Instead, the handbook notes that, “At that point, the disciplinary proceeding will occur and any responses will be carried out and noted as per the policies above” (24-25 LSFG, 49-50).
Lastly, Mr. Boccuzzi talks about striking a balance between consistency, and evolution. “I hope that students and families expect us to grow and evolve in terms of how we educate, in terms of what our facilities look like, and in terms of how we prepare students for life after Lakeside. And I think that our discipline system has to grow as well. We want to be consistent, because we want students to understand our expectations and potential consequences, but we also want to evolve and change to make sure our process still serves the needs of our community while caring for our students in these challenging moments when a mistake is made and someone may have been harmed,” he says.
