High School Slander, Defamation of Character by Dean of Students

[needlegaladvice]

obviously jarno, because you know one person who has autism, you dont know anything about the entire spectrum. not every autistic person is like rain man. my son has borderline asperger's. bill gates has asperger's too. why isnt he locked up in a nursing home?

the public school is mandated by state to provide their special education teachers, counselors, everyone employed about the autistic spectrum, additional training. our public high school has yet to do this. this is why there is a big problem with how the situation was handled. it is not that they can not provide for him, it is that they havent yet.

[jarno]

also put yourself in other peoples shoes. Also if you were to go to trial, think about the jury. What they did to your son has also been done in my HS just a few years ago. As a matter of fact, our dean still goes on students myspace/facebook pages and keeps an eye on the kids. For the most part they just had to stop posting inppapropriate pictures(partying mainly). All this was an unprovoked. In your case, it does warrant an investigation and from what it seems like it was a very mild one and they even took your word for it.

[needlegaladvice]

our district has a co-op for special education services, and the director of special education refused to call in 1 of the 4 autism experts, already employed within the co-op, to provide anyone working with him the additional training they need for him to succeed. i spoke with the director of the co-op and she said the district shoudl have immediately called them in as soon as they knew of his diagnosis (over 2 years ago), and they would have observed my son and trained their professionals to what my son needs. they do this individualized because no 2 people on the spectrum are alike. therefore, you comment about 1 person you know with autism who is hostile is inappropriate in this discussion.

the thing everyone seems to be missing is, they did NOT take my word for it that this is just a screenplay, nor the 2 letters from his private therapists that it is just a screenplay and my son has no intentions of acting out his fiction writings.

[jarno]

obviously jarno, because you know one person who has autism, you dont know anything about the entire spectrum. not every autistic person is like rain man. my son has borderline asperger's. bill gates has asperger's too. why isnt he locked up in a nursing home?

the public school is mandated by state to provide their special education teachers, counselors, everyone employed about the autistic spectrum, additional training. our public high school has yet to do this. this is why there is a big problem with how the situation was handled. it is not that they can not provide for him, it is that they havent yet.

in that case you can sue for inadequate training that the staff has received. Then again, if what they received is what is deemed appropriate by law you are in the hole. Defamation just doesn't fit.

[cbg]

Tell you what, needlegaladvice.

Since you are so convinced that everyone here is missing the point and not giving you the "right" answer (aka the answer you want to hear), take your situation to an attorney in your state and see if you can pay him to give you the "right" answer.

[cyjeff]

What was the mysterious action that got him sent to the principal's office in the first place?

You interviewed each child and each parent named in your son's screenplay? Yet you are willing to state that everyone is okay with what was written.

So okay, in fact, that you dismiss their feelings out of hand.

I see no defamation here... I see nothing that states that the school is passing around incorrect information on your son.

Where is that part?

My wife is a high school teacher. My mother in law has been a teacher, principal and superintendent of schools.

First, they will tell you that if your son didn't want everyone to see his screenplay, he shouldn't have posted it on the internet. Second, you state that you have knowingly created a fake account to check up on your son... why would you think that the school would not?

Especially if the content has been brought to their attention... and you don't know by whom, do you? That, alone, leads me to believe that someone wasn't quite as "okay" with this as you seem to think.

"need legal advice" - not advice from an HR manager nor college aged student.

Then get thee to an attorney.

[needlegaladvice]

"mysterious action" is due to my son's disability he had a panic attack and while being overwhelmed did not follow precise protocol for what he needs to do when he is feeling overwhelmed - he did not specifically ask for a pass to see guidance.

school called me to inform me of the screenplay. i said i knew about it and it was ok, no worries.
school said investigation dismissed.
we provided letters from his outside therapists stating that he is of sound mind and it is just a play he is writing.
school did not in fact dismiss it as said, called in friend and friend's mother to show them the next day. they wouldnt have showed them if they didnt insinuate that my son was planning on following through with his screenplay in real life - in other words psychotic or something. that is where the defamation of character is and slander.

[cyjeff]

"mysterious action" is due to my son's disability he had a panic attack and while being overwhelmed did not follow precise protocol for what he needs to do when he is feeling overwhelmed - he did not specifically ask for a pass to see guidance.

Okay, let's try this again.

I don't want to hear the spin or the diagnosis.

What did your son do to get sent to the principal's office?

they wouldnt have showed them if they didnt insinuate that my son was planning on following through with his screenplay in real life - in other words psychotic or something. that is where the defamation of character is and slander.

Oh, so you are reading their minds and then want to sue them for the thoughts you put in their minds?

If a child had written up a mass murder play with your son's name in it as a victim, would YOU want to be told?

[525601minutes]

here is some free advice from an unemployed college student

call your local bar association. get as many free consultations as you can. IF any lawyer offers to take your case pro-bono or under contingency to be paid out of the settlement, THEN you can start to think you might have a case.
WHEN all of the lawyers you consult tell you there is NO CASE here, you can CHOOSE to pay one of them $300 or so an hour to fight for your son anyway - OR you can log on again an apologize for not trusting us when we said the school did nothing wrong.

[jarno]

You seem to have missed something important:



Yes, this applies to you, too. Stop being snotty to the volunteers. It's time for you to go pay for advice.

unfortunately for you, people like us will be the jury. Now if you just want someone to agree with you that's a different story. Here... you have a million dollar lawsuit on your hands and you need to sue immediately. To get this lawsuit started, you will not need to pay 10-40k in lawyer fees and you will not need to hire a outside psychologist who will cost you an additional 5-10k. You can be in denial to jury but the jury will award your son millions in monetary damages because his reputation as an A+ student has suffered. The judge will also ignore any state/federal laws and buy your story the minute he hears you.

You seem to be missing the point and jumping into to denial and defensive mode here, it's just advice or what you should expect from the jury. No one here is against you...

If it helps, my girlfriend just graduated from law school. She would tell you the same thing, since im just a college student. Unfortunately I have also run into legal trouble if you noticed and got myself out of it. You need facts, not just a story that you believe is true.

You also need to remember that the state/school has unlimited resources to defend themselves, where as you have to pay for it. Especially when it comes to expert testimony and what not. With that said, this case, if not dismissed by the judge immediately would definitely go to trial.