Background
When our client, a student, received a disposition of community service and completion of special education from a school violence measures committee, the student's guardian challenged it in an administrative suit seeking revocation. Changchun represented the student (the plaintiff).
The Issue — Three Lines of Challenge
School violence dispositions are usually challenged on three fronts: ① whether the written disposition set out its basis and reasons adequately (Administrative Procedure Act art. 23(1)); ② whether the school violence facts (the grounds for the disposition) that formed the premise are actually established; and ③ whether the disposition was excessive relative to the incident and therefore an abuse or excess of discretion.
What Changchun Argued
Changchun (attorney Donghwan Shin) contested the lawfulness of the disposition closely along all three lines: procedural defects, whether the grounds were established, and the excessiveness of the disposition.
A school violence disposition can be challenged on procedure, findings of fact and discretion, but courts tend to accord broad respect to the professional judgment of educational institutions. That makes it decisively important to establish the facts accurately and respond from the earliest stage of the school's own inquiry. (Outcomes may differ depending on the facts of each matter.)