SANTA MARIA, Calif. -- A student from the Santa Maria-Bonita School District was expelled but one school board member disagrees with the way the district handled the expulsion.
The board member says the Santa Maria-Bonita School District is violating state law.
The expelled student could not be identified because of confidentiality laws but a district board member says the student isn't getting the education he's rightfully entitled to.
The student was expelled for unknown but "serious reasons" by the district earlier this month.
But it's what the district did after that doesn't sit well with SMBSD board member, Will Smith.
"The school district is trying to put a child into a district program while the child is expelled," says Smith. "This is against state law."
Smith says under California law, if a child is expelled, the district must place that child in a community school but no community schools are in the area so the district is placing the child in a program where a teacher educates the child at home.
"They tried to give the child, a one day tutor, which I don't think is going to meet one day a week for one hour," says Smith. "That isn't going to meet the needs of the student. by law they can not do that."
Central Coast News reached out to the Santa Maria-Bonita superintendent but the district declined an interview saying confidentiality laws didn't allow it too.
It did release this statement saying, "The Santa Maria-Bonita School District investigates incidents that may result in a student's expulsion based on district policies and California law. The final determination and condition of an expulsion rests with the Board of Education."
The district told Central Coast News the expelled child's parents don't have a problem with how they handled the expulsion but Smith says some parents may not have all the information.
"I want parents to know that if their child gets expelled from our school district, they have a lot more rights than the school district is explaining to them," says Smith.
Smith says he the district should have placed the expelled student in a community school or changed the student's status from expelled to probationary so he can legally participate in the home school program.
