Legal Question in Education Law in California

Can a school district violate a court order?

I am the custodial parent of a 16-year old senior (soon to be 17) Senior at Estancia H.S (in Costa Mesa, CA) and my non-custodial ex-husband was allowed to drop him from high school without my consent or knowledge and move him to a correctional facility. Even after I made the court orders and my rights as a custodial parent known and showed them where they were at fault, they went ahead and removed him anyway! There was no explulsion or placement hearing and obviously no agreement amongst the parents. What can I do? They sent this matter to their attorney at Parker Covert and no one will answer my question including their lawyer. I don't have a lawyer and I can't afford one.

The offending parties are Orange County Dept. of Education's, Bill Habermehl, Newport-Mesa Unified School District's Superintendent, Dr. Jeffrey Hubbard, Estancia High School's Principal, Phil D'Agostino as well as Vice-Principal, Liz Lovett and the District's Director of Student Services, Rebecca Bishai is largely at fault as interpreted our ''joint legal'' custody clause in our MSA incorrectly. She practiced law without a license and told me short of a court order showing that I had sole legal custody that he was going to be removed from the school.


Asked on 11/29/08, 12:26 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Andrew Harrell W. Andrew Harrell, Attorney at Law

Re: Can a school district violate a court order?

There are too many gaps in your story. E.g., why was your son put in a correctional facility to begin with? Did he commit a crime? If so, then he would no longer be in the school system. Why would your ex husband have any authority to do this? It would be a law enforcement matter. Your best remedy is to go back to the family court that issued the custody arrangements order and that has jurisdiction.

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Answered on 11/29/08, 1:30 pm


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