Dropping Out at 16

**major regret** · 07-08-2012, 09:48 PM

My question involves education law in the State of: NYC. Hello im new here & i want to know Can i get the BOARD OF EDUCATION in trouble. I was 16 yrs old when i was going to High School & the Dean told me that the best thing to do was to drop out of school. He said i looked like a teacher roaming around the halls since i had a light goatee. Anyway i asked him how do i go about it and he told me to go to the general office and ask for my discharge paper and sign where it said parent or guardian signature so i did. I dropped out at the age of 16. I regret it and im now disabled. If that dean wouldnt of said to me to drop out i could of been a Doctor. I was told i can sue the Board of Ed. Is it true??? Thank you for your time...

**cdwjava** · 07-08-2012, 09:53 PM

How old are you now?

At age 16 in NY you are free to drop out of school with parental consent. You're not likely to get any traction suing a school or district for informing you of your legal options.

If you want to blame someone, maybe you can sue your parents for allowing you to do this? Or, better yet, look in the mirror at the guy who made that call.

NOTHING stopped you from continuing in school, or going back when you realized you made a mistake. Only YOU are truly to blame for your predicament, I am afraid. Instead of looking for scapegoats, look for solutions and go back to school.

**cbg** · 07-09-2012, 06:21 AM

I'm also interested in how you plan to prove, years after the fact, that the Dean even made that statement. Even if you could sue, which you can't.

And what's stopping you from going back to school now?

**BenT** · 07-09-2012, 04:51 PM

You can re-apply and go back to school. I certainly wouldn't go back to the school where a dean tells me I should drop out though. In fact, that's really weird for some dean to tell you something like that because a student dropping out counts against their overall graduation statistic. Better for them to help you get through and get your credits.

There are a LOT of schools in the NYC system, and a lot of them are able to cater to different instructional needs. That said - you'll have to do some homework (as well as your parents who should be encouraging you) and find something that makes sense, and try to find and work with people who can support your learning needs.